Chess Chess is a recreational and competitive game for two players. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by an estimated 605 million people worldwide in clubs, online, by correspondence (mail and e-mail), in tournaments (amateur and professional) and informally. Aspects of art and science are found in chess composition and theory. Chess is also advocated as a way of enhancing mental prowess.
A Brief History of Chess ChampionshipsThe tradition of organized competitive chess started in the 16th century. The first official World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, claimed his title in 1886; Vladimir Kramnik, today, is the 14th Champion in this lineage. There are also biennial world team events called Chess Olympiads. Since the 20th century, two international organizations, the World Chess Federation and the International Correspondence Chess Federation have organized and overseen the top chess competitions and international titles. Origins of Chess Many countries lay claim to the invention of chess. It is presently thought that the game originated in India, since the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Portuguese and Spanish words for chess are all derived from the ancient Indian chaturanga, i.e. four divisions of the military, infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. Moreover only India had in its cavalry all three animals — horse, camel and elephant — represented by the knight, bishop and rook.
Birth of a SportThe first modern chess tournament was held in London in 1851 and was won, surprisingly, by German Adolf Anderssen, relatively unknown at the time. Since the end of 19th century, the number of annually held master tournaments and matches quickly grew. In 1914, the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who awarded it to five finalists of a tournament in Saint Petersburg (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall). This tradition was later continued by FIDE, The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation, founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1927, a World Champion title for women was established, whose first bearer was Czech-English master Vera Menchik.  In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006 there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in match format (a series of many games); the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion.
Reunification of the two lineages happened in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006, when Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion. Competitive Play Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Championship. The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships are both team and individual events. Besides these prestigious competitions, there are thousands of other chess tournaments, matches and festivals held around the world every year, which cater to players of all levels, from beginners to experts.
First International Auroville Chess Championship This year, May 13 wasn't only honouring mothers in many places around the world, but also saw the first official international chess championship in Auroville. Participants from all over the world gathered at the Mitra hostel near Town Hall, the venue for this event.
Tournament Setup Due to the odd number of participants and temporal limitations, the tournament director decided for a single elimination competition, also known as knock-out style. The neutral jury drew lots to come up with random pairings. The setup for the matches relied on fair play; they were not timed, but the international rules for chess were adhered to, taking back moves and special openings were not allowed. While the colour was decided by the pairings, players were allowed to switch or randomise colour picking for their individual matches. Fielding  The field of players consisted of,
- Tashi - Tibet
- Sergei aka xGeronimo - Russia
- Samrat Das - India
- Udaya Pradeep Kumar - India
- Marcello Colao - Italy
- Guillaume Dax - France
- Sabrina Gregoriadis - Italy
- Eugen - Germany
- Eduard Pech - Germany
Pairings Nine participants required four rounds in the tournament, with only one match to be played in the first round, and free advances for the other players. This way, from round two on, the number of matches would always remain even and thus guarantee a fair competition. The random pairings and tournament plan was as follows.
Round 1, qualifications (1) Tashi vs Marcello Sergei, Guillaume, Samrat, Sabrina, Pradeep, Eugen, Eduard: free advances Round 2, quarter finals  (a) winner (1) vs Eduard
(b) Sergei vs Guillaume (c) Samrat vs Sabrina (d) Pradeep vs Eugen Round 3, semi finals (A) winner (a) vs winner (b) (B) winner (c) vs winner (d) Round 4, finals winner (A) vs winner (B) The other ranks were not determined. Course of the Tournament From a surprisingly offensive battle, Tashi emerged victorious in his qualification match against Marcello. In the quarter finals, he faced a blunt defeat by Eduard, who callously exploited a very stupid mistake leading to an early checkmate. Sergei dominated the match against his de-facto room-mate Guillaume. In a not as surprising match, Samrat won Sabrina, who learned the chess rules just thirty minutes before the event. Similarly expected, this event's favourite, Eugen, managed a win against Pradeep.
The semi finals saw two exciting matches, Eduard vs Sergei and Samrat vs Eugen. On a very high level of game-play, Eugen finally secured his entry into the finals. Sergei, after a couple of patzers, resigned an at the time disbalanced match. In the finals, the match between Eduard and Eugen was characterised by a hugely positional and strategical gameplay. Not many pieces had been retired, when Eugen started to really play and launched his devastating offensive. Within just a few moves, Eduard had to resign a definitively lost match. Culmination of the Day All participants reportedly had a lot of fun in the event, playing their tourney matches, watching others play and even playing alongside the championship. After three hours of gameplay, Eugen was decidedly determined as the First International Auroville Chess Champion. In the days to come, many asked for individual friendly games among each other and another chance in a Second International Auroville Chess Championship.
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