By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Mar 28 (IANS): From normal boards to digital boards; from digital screen outside the playing hall to beaming the games across the world through the Internet; from telex machines in the press room to journalists with computers; from lower star-rated hotel rooms to villas with dedicated cooks to make players' comfort cuisine, the Chess Olympiad has journeyed a long way, said the Indian chess couple Pravin Thipsay and Bhagyashree Thipsay.

They were the King and Queen of Indian chess for a long time.

The Olympiad, after journeying in Europe, Russia and Middle East, will be arriving in India in July -- the birthplace of the game.

The 44th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to be held from July 28 to August 9 at the Four Points by Sheraton, located in Mahabalipuram near here.

Chess Grandmaster (GM) Pravin Mahadeo Thipsay is an Arjuna Awardee who has won the national title seven times and was part of the Indian team in seven Olympiads held between 1982-2002.

His wife, Bhagyashree, a Woman International Master (WIM), a Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee, has won the women's national title five times and has represented India in nine chess Olympiads.

The first unofficial chess Olympiad was held in 1924 in Paris and the year also saw the formation of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The FIDE conducted the first official chess Olympiad in 1927 in London.

"The 1980 Olympiad held in Malta was my first chess Olympiad. I was 19 then, hailing from a small town. After reading about great chess players, it was awesome to see most of them in person," Bhagyashree told IANS.

Her last Olympiad appearance was in 1998.

Looking back at their Olympiad experiences the Thipsays said that earlier the players played with normal boards and then the digital boards made their entry.

"The digital chess boards were kept only for the top few teams based on their seeding and then for the teams that were in the lead," Pravin told IANS.

According to Bhagyashree, there used to be a digital board outside the playing hall showing the games to others.

The Olympiad also gave an occasion for the Indian players to pick up several chess books, as such books were not available in India then.

According to Pravin, there used to be about 100 teams in the open category and far less in the women's category. Later the numbers went up.

The event is always conducted in a grand manner in terms of infrastructure and staying facilities for the players.

In some places, the hotels were allocated to teams based on their average ELO ratings. Higher-rated teams got higher star hotels and lower-rated ones got lower star-rated hotels, Pravin recalled.

During the 1994 Moscow Olympiad, all the teams were hosted in the hotel where the game was played, as the hotel had a sufficient number of rooms.

But during the 1998 Olympiad held in Elista in Russia, all the teams were housed in villas as the Chess Village was built specially for the event.

"Individual cooks were provided to each country. The cooks were trained in that country's cuisine. We didn't get chapati but got Indian food. Indian players also guided the cook," Pravin, a Maharashtrian, recalled.

The Thipsays said the medical facilities were also good and once an Indian women player had suffered a small fracture in her hand and she was provided good medical care.

According to Pravin, the strong Russian players were friendly and also open to analyse a game and offer suggestions. But the American players were not like that. An American GM had told his opponent that it would cost him USD30 dollar per hour to analyse the game they had played.

As to his memorable experience, Pravin recalled the 1984 Olympiad where he was pitted against former world champion, GM Boris Spassky.

"Spassky played white and offered a draw on the 19th move which I accepted. After the game, he asked whether I would like to analyse the game and I readily agreed. The actual game ended in one-and-half hours but the analysis was for two and half hours," Pravin recalled.

Spassky initially could not accept one of Pravin's moves as good but reversed his view after the analysis.

"It was a great learning experience for me. I was an unknown International Master then. I had learnt 100 things from him. A free coaching session from one of the world's top players for more than two hours," Pravin mused.

On the contrary, the Russian female players were reserved in nature and did not mingle with others, perhaps language was a barrier for them then. They used to play and go back to their rooms, said Bhagyashree.

Pravin said it was during his captaincy in the 1984 Olympiad that former world champion, India's GM V. Anand, made his Olympiad debut and gained the attention of leading players.

"Several well-known GMs after watching Anand's games told me that he has a solid game and a player to watch. Anand, then a young boy, would be watching us and he knew that discussion was about him. He used to be curious to know as to who said what about him and would ask me," Pravin recalled.

Pravin added that he had noticed former world women's champion GM Nona Gaprindashvili keenly watching Anand's games, perhaps she spotted the future world champion in the young boy.

The Thipsays also said that during their Olympiad days, their opponents would be known only at the last moment and hence studying the players' style and other things was not possible.

Pravin, who played his last Olympiad in 2002 said, "The average age of the team was half of my age. A lot of young GMs and IMs have emerged in the country."

The Thipsays said the younger crop of chess players did not mingle nor analyse their games with others. The charm of sharing knowledge is not there.

"Earlier, Indian teams would have players from different generations, some old, some young, but recently it is evolving into a largely younger team. Players are closer to each other than before," GM R.B.Ramesh, who played in 1996 and 2002 Olympiads for India, told IANS.

Ramesh was the Indian team's coach for 2012, 2014, 2016 Olympiads and the bronze medal-winning 2018 edition of the game held in Norway.

"During earlier times, there would be player politics. Now it is very less or non-existent. Players help each other now more than before. Coaches are usually professionals now. Earlier, it was the Federation (All India Chess Federation) officials who accompanied the team as coaches. Better conditions, better recognition, better atmosphere overall is there now," said Ramesh.