One of the most enduring images of D Gukesh's bolt-from-the-blue victory against Ding Liren in the 14th and final game of the World Chess Championship was his reaction afterwards. Even as he sobbed while still seated at the board, Gukesh meticulously placed every single piece back on the board. It was only after that was done that he got up from his chair and raised his arms aloft.
For chess players, the board and the 32 pieces are often far more than just the tools of their trade. In that sense, Gukesh touching the pieces and seeking their blessings was nothing out of the ordinary. When Alexander Alekhine, world champion for 17 years across two spells, left Russia in 1921, never to return to his homeland, he gave his personal set to a close friend. There could be no greater gift.
Chess boards and pieces of various designs have been found across cultures across the world. The famous Galle Face Hotel in Colombo in Sri Lanka – where the likes of Sir Donald Bradman, Indira Gandhi and Yuri Gagarin have stayed – has a giant chessboard made up of flagstones overlooking the sea, with pieces bigger than a small child.
One set found in Uzbekistan not too long ago was more than 1200 years old, while the famous Lewis chessmen found on the Outer Hebrides in Scotland in 1831 are thought to have originated in Norway more than 800 years ago. One of them, a warder – comparable to a rook/castle – sold for as much as £735,000 in July 2019.
The set that Gukesh so lovingly rearranged, however, came from much closer to home. It was manufactured by Chopra Chess, owned by Aditya Chopra, in Amritsar.
“I was following the championship and cheering for Gukesh,” Chopra was quoted as saying in The Indian Express.
“I thought he may even wrap it up sooner. Of course, I was happy to see an Indian win the championship using the sets that we have produced.”
Four types of wood – boxwood, red padauk, ebony and acacia – tend to be used, and Chopra’s sets have been used in world-title contests since 2012, besides featuring in the hit Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit.
“My father started this business,” said Chopra in The Indian Express.
"Being in this industry, when he travelled abroad he realised that there would be great demand for Indian chess sets because these were made of wood, while other sets were mainly plastic, or in the case of pricier ones, made of marble. That’s how this started."
"Back then, it was not an organised sector, so we streamlined the process, got a small factory started and made the crafters experts in making one particular piece out of the six. That business has gone on for three decades."
Thanks to the reverence with which Gukesh treated those pieces, Chopra is likely to get a slew of orders in the coming weeks and months.
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