Chess as hobby in UPSC interview

Probable questions for people having chess as a hobby.

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Q Difference between game and sports?

• Sport is about physical energy while a game may involve physical energy as well as mental strength.
• Sport is usually competitive where you have to play against other players according to some predefined set of rules. A game is usually played for recreational purposes(though it too can be competitive).
• Sport usually tests the skills and abilities of an individual. While a game is usually a team activity where individual contribution matters but the overall contribution of everyone in the team is more important.
• A person playing sport is called a sportsperson on the other hand a person playing game is called a player.

Q India's first Grandmaster Chess

Humpy Koneru in 2002

Vishwanathan Anand in 1988

Q Vishwanathan Anand? 

First indian chess grandmaster(1988)
Former world chess champion(2000-2002) and 2007-13
2013,2014-lost to magnus carlsen in world chess championship

Anand is one of the 8 players in history to pass 2800 Elo on the FIDE ranking,he was no.1 for 21 months.
Recipient of inaugural rajiv gandhi khel ratna in 1991-92,padma vibhushan(2007,first sportsperson to receive this),arjun award,padma shri,padma bhushan.

Book- MY BEST GAME OF CHESS
2014- russian ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP for development of economic ,scientific,cultural ties

Q Bobby Fisher

Full name- robert james bobby fischer
Citizen- US ,iceland( 2005-08)
Grandmaster (1958)
World champion(1972-75)
At the age of 15, youngest grandmaster upto that time.
Book-MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES

1971- first official world chess federation (FIDE) number 1 ranked player(54 months).
1975- he refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with fide,disappeared from public view till 1992.
1992- won official match held in yugoslavia ( UN emargo at that time on it),conflict with US authorities over income tax,US issued arrest warrant.

During 1990s and 2000s, anti US statements -> US passport revoked-> unaware of this he travelled to japan-> arrested and detained for 8 months-> iceland granted citizenship-> freed by japan settled in iceland,died their in 2008.

Fischerandom(chess960)- he patented and modified chess timing system which added a time increment after each move, now standard practice

Q Manuel Aaron

Manuel aaron- born in 1935 he was the first Indian chess master in second half of 20th cent, dominated chess in the 60s to 80s. national champion of india 9 times. After him tamil nadu emerge as the national powerhouse of chess. Has fide rating of 2300+. Notable for popularizing chess in india. He was india ‘s first international master.

Q Magnus Carlsen
Magnus carlsen- norweigian, no.1 ranked player in world, reigning world champion, became world champ in 2013 by defeating vishwanathan anand and again defended his title in 2014 against anand. His peak rating is 2882 highest in history. Became grandmaster in 2004 . he does not focus much on opening strategy and plays a variety of openings making opponents harder to prepare against him. He has prowess in endgame. He won chess Oscars from 2009-2013. Garry kasparov coached him from 2009-2010

Q Gary Kasprov

Soviet union( croatia)
Grandmaster (1980)
World champ(1985-93,undisputed) ,1993-2000(classical)
No.1-from 1986 to 2005 ( 225 months out of 228)
He had the peak rating of 2851 highest so far till being passed by magnus carlsen in 2013.
He holds the record for continuous professional victories(15) and chess oscars(11)

He is regarded as a symbol of opposition to putin. he formed UNITED CIVIL FRONT movement against the administration of putin.

He formed GMA(grand master's association) to represent professional chess players and give them more say in fide activities.

He began opposing fide and played a match with short outside fide under professional chess association( chess organisation created by kasparov)-> fude removed them from fide rating list-> pca gave parallel rating list of players.

1995- match between kasparov and vishwanathan anand was the last match under pca because intel withdrew sponsorship due to kasparov ' s decision to play deep blue of ibm(rival company of intel).

Kasparov coached magnus carlsen and helped anand in preparation for world chess championship 2010.
Book- MY GREAT PREDECESSORS
CHILD OF CHANGE:an autobiography

1985- he defeated 32 different chess computers
1989- defeated deep thought
1997- he became the first world champion to lose a match to computer deep blue of ibm.

Q Deep blue - IBM supercomputer

Chess playing computer. Great piece of artificial intelligence

Won its first game against kasparov

Devt began in 1985 with CHIP TEST PROJECT at carnegie mellon university.this project evolved into DEEP THOUGHT and later on into DEEP BLUE. Grandmaster JOEL BENJAMIN was in the development team.

It derived its playing strength out of brute force computing(its a prob solving technique which enumerates all possible candidates for solution and checks each candidate for solving problem statement.)

Chess playing program was developed in C language and it ran under AIX operating system of IBM

It is capable of evaluating 200 million positions per second
Documentary on it- GAME OVER:KASPAROV AND THE MACHINE
Now-a-days focus has shifted from dedicated hardware to software chess program

Q USSR domination

Chess is in their culture- czar ivan 4 died while playing chess(1584),favourite pass time during russian revolution of 1917
Weather- long and cold russian winters favours play of indoor games
Success breeds success- more players are attracted to the game
Soviet sponsors chess- chess schools,hostel tournaments and promoted it as a vehicle of international domination.

MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK - international title in 1948 ,kicked off an era of soviet dominance except for a 4 year streak by bobby fischer.
GARY KASPAROV,ANATOLY KAPROV,MIKHAIL TAL,BORRIS SPASSKY are some famous russian players.
Russia developed the rule of queen moving in L shape.

Q How are ratings decided? Elo rating?

To calculate the estimate of strength of a player based on his performance against the other.

Various rating systems
1) INGO SYSTEM-earlier used by west german chess foundation.
Lower the number greater is the performance
Calcultion-
Average rating of their competition minus one point for each percentage point above 50

2)HARKNESS SYSTEM-
It was used by US chess federation during 1950-60.
If player scores more than 50% new rating will be average of competition rating + 10 points for each percentage point above 50
If he scores less than 50%- competition average - 10 points for every % point below 50
If he score 50% then average competition rating is his performance rating.
According to this GMs have ranking of 2600 & above and senior masters 2400-2599

3)ELO RATING-
Developed by Arpad Elo ,a hungarian born american physics prof and chess player
This is used by Fide
It classifies the tournament according to average rating of the players.

Each catergory is 25 rating wide.
Category 1- 2251 to 2275
Category 2- 2276 to 2300

For women tournaments ,categories are 200 rating points below

Cat1- 2051 to 2075 and so on
Rating 2600+ is of world championship contenders
Ratings 2400-2600 is of grandmasters and international masters
After every win ,winner takes points from loser

Difference between the ratings of winner and loser determine the total number of points gained or lost after a match.
In a game between a high rated player and low rated player,if high rated player wins only a few rating points will be taken from low rating player and given to winning player.
If low rating player wins ,he will take more points from the high rated player
If draw, low rating player will take few points from high rating player.

Problems with Elo eating-

1) inflation issue e.g. Nigel short with rating of 2650 was world no.3 in 1989 ,now with this rating you can find a place in 100 or so
2) in some cases rating can disrupt game activity as players are now concerned more about their ratings
3) tendency of choosing the opponent with minimum risk and maximum rating gain
4) rating deflation

Q How can one become a grandmaster?

Awarded to a chess player by world chess organisation(FIDE)
Apart from world champion,it is the highest title a chess player can obtain.
Once this title is achieved it remains for lifetime.
Titles like Grand master,international master and fide master are open to both male and female
In 1978,world champion NONA GAPRINDASHVILI became the first women grand master.
Formal recognition of the title in 1950 by fide.

Conditions to become grandmaster-
1) player must have Elo rating of atleast 2500(no need to maintain this level to obtain or keep the title) And

He sould have atleast 2 favourable results from a total of atleast 27 games involving other grandmasters,including some from other countries other than his own

Q History of chess?

Game probably originated in india in 6 th century AD.,then spread to persia and with the invasion of persia by arabs reached muslim world from there to southern europe.

ROMANTIC ERA OF CHESS- from its start down to 1880s.it it involved swashbuckling attacks,brash piece sacrifices and clever combinations. In this era winning was secondary to winning with style.

More focus was on artistic expression than technical mastery.
This era of romanticism was followed by scientific,hypermodern and new dynamism era.

In second half of 19th century modern chess began.
First world chess championship was held in 1886.

In 20th century,there was great leap forward in chess theory,estd of FIDE.
In 21st century-use of computer analysis

Earliest precursor of modern chess is chaturanga . In this game different pieces had different powers but victory depends on the fate of one piece( king)

Chaturanga means having four limbs i.e. Chariots,elephants, horseman, foot soldiers
Chaturanga is mentioned in epic mahabharata.
Common theory is that india's devt of board and chess game is due to india's mathematical enlightenment involving the creation of number zero.

Q Important chess players of India and world?

Male grandmasters-
Vishwanathan anand,vishnu prassanna,parimarjan negi,deep sengupta,ankit rajpara (36th grandmaster from india).ganesh dutt pant,amlan bhowmik

female grandmasters-

1) koneru humpy-(andhra pradesh)
Achieved fide ranking of 2606 in 2007 she became second women in world to do so after judith polgar,to exceed Elo rating of 2600. She became youngest grandmaster at the age of 15 at that time (current youngest grand master is HOU YIFAN from china)

She is an arjun awardee. Also reached the ranking of world no .3 in women category.

2) dronavalli harika-(andhra)
grandmaster in 2011
International master in 2007.
Fide ranking no 15 in women cat.
Second indian women after koneru humpy to achieve the title of grandmaster at nan's level
Arjun awardee

3) aarthie ramaswamy
4) padmini rout

Q chess players in world
1) gary kasparov
2) bobby fischer

3) judith polgar(female)-
Hungarian
Grand master at the age of 15.
Ranked no.1 among women and no.65 player according to fide ranking
Only women to qualify for world championship tournament.
Only women in world to surpass Elo mark of 2700(peak rating of 2735)
Ranked no.1 from 1989 till march 2015( overtaken by Hou yifan)

Only women to have defeated 11 current or former world champion including vishwanathan anand,kasparov,magnus carlsen,kaprov,kramnik etc.

4) jose capablanca(1888-1942)
From cuba
World champion from 1921 to 1927
Exceptional endgame skill and speed play
Exceptionally difficult to beat loosing only 35 games in his entire careet
Book-HAVANA 1913

5)antony kaprov-
Russian grand master(1970)
World champion (1975-85) and 1993-99

Q Professional bodies like PCA and FIDE

Pronounced as 'feeday'. Motto- we are one people

Formation in july 1924 in paris
Headquarter is in athens,greece
Prez- kirsan ilyumzhinov (since 1995)
158 memeber nations. Recognised by international olympic committee

Function-
1) connects various chess federations around the world .
2)governing body of various international chess competition
3) organises world championship,chess olympiad (biennial),regional championships
4) defines the rules of chess and competition
5) calculate Elo ratings of players

pca: Professional chess association

Existed as a rival body to fide between 1993 & 96. Created by gary kasparov and nigel short in 1993 for marketing and organisation of their game in 1993. According to rules,bids for world championship should be decided by fide,world champ(kasparov),and challenger(nigel short)-> fide decided manchester as venue->kasparov and short opposed and lateron formed pca->played in london->kasparov won->fide stripped kasparov of world championship title->organised rival match between anatoly and jim timman-> anatoly kaprov won-> first time in history 2 world champ kasparov and kaprov

Pca's intel sponsorship issue and its consequent inability in organising matches already written.(see kasparov).

Q Various forms of playing Chess like Classical, Blitz and Blindfold

1) standard-if the expected duration of the game is 15 minutes or more . Expect duration takes into account start time and increment value.
2)blitz-expected duration of the match is between 3& 15 minutes per player.
3)lightning- less than 3 minutes per player
4) untimed-Clock will not be used during the play,these games are always unrated
5)chess 960-first rank (row) pieces are randomised with oppostion's pieces mirroring it.
6) blindfold chess- players don't see position of the pieces or touch them. Make mental map of positions. Moves are communicated via a recognised chess notation.

Q Rules, terminologies, castling rules.

Q Famous openings like Queen's Gambit, Sicilian Defence

1)sicilian defense
2)guy lopez
3)queen's gambit
4)alkhine defense
5)king's indian defense

Q Why are games like chess not so popular in india compared to the ones like cricket

Livelihood problem- if rating is above 2600 then there is chance otherwise not as corporate sponsorship is less
Media coverage of events is less 
Requires lot of analysis and long time to learn- need to introduce younger children to game but not happening so.

Q How is India promoting chess? What should be done to popularize Chess in India? What should be the role of govt and private sector in popularizing chess?

1) introduce chess as part of curriculum-gujrat has already done so
2)involve famous personalities of chess in popularising it, like carlsen and kasparov visiting schools in norway.
3)media coverage of events should be encouraged (like kasparov vs deep blue )
4)open chess academies
5)sports scholarship schemes

6)organise various events and tournaments
7) increase prize money for students8)ensure source of livelihood for the players like job reservation to medal winners

Q Why Anand failed to defeat Carlson?

Anand made blunders not recognizing the opportunities. He could not offer resistance to carlsen. He stuck to the obvious,and did not take risk. He could not figure out carlsen's style. His strength is his defense and he was weak in that

Q To what level have you played Chess?

Q  In ancient history by which name chess was known to people?

Gupta peruod -chatur ga
Persia-chaturanga
Arab-shatranj

Q Do you think indoor sports physical fitness?

Q What is a knight's tour?

A knight's tour is a sequence of moves of a knight on a chessboard such that the knight visits every square only once.  The knight's tour problem is the mathematical problem of finding a knight's tour. Creating a program to find a knight's tour is a common problem given to computer science students. Variations of the knight's tour problem involve chessboards of different sizes than the usual 8 × 8, as well as irregular (non-rectangular) boards.

Q What have you learnt by playing chess?

Knowledge, Intellect, Concentration, Foresightedness, Presence of mind

Q Virtues of playing any sports?

Many values and principles of sports are important in public services like team spirit, leadership, planning, coordination, formulation and execution of strategies, presence of mind, failure and stress management etc.

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Q What is the difference between an interest and a hobby?

Hobby is an interest that one pursue regularly. Interest has a broad scope which includes hobbies. If one has an interest, they may or may not develop it into a hobby. If someone is somewhat interested in something, he may not pursue it actively.