'Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.' - Simon de BeauvoirThe name is Arif. Arif Attar. Mohammed Arif Attar. And the story begins in Bombay in the mid-80s, probably 1985. That's when my father got me my first chess set. As a 9 year old,I had a vague idea that chess is for intelligent people. I hadn't played chess and I hadn't seen anyone play chess. Had only heard about and probably read about it. I remember that chess set very well. It was called Shalimar. That was the brand name and it had pieces made of plastic. And it also had a booklet which showed the rules of the game. Including 'en passant'. And I read the book and learned how the pieces moved. The bishop goes the diagonal. The Knight goes L. and so on. And my father learned from it as well. And we played chess. And I still remember I 'taught' chess to my friends in the neighbourhood. The one problem with the booklet was (which I realised later) it didn't mention that once you captured an opponents piece you don't get another turn immediately. Yeah that's how we played chess, me and my friends.
Cut to the late 80s and there was this Championship match between Karpov and Kasparov. Those days, the names seemed similar to me. The moves of the games were published in the sports section of the Bombay edition of The Times of India. And I started to play those moves over on my chessboard. I was not very smart and I spent hours just making those moves, without understanding them. Almost every game had that g7-g6, Bg7 thing going which I found very interesting. Half you pieces protecting the King, and the other half attacking the opponents King. That's how I looked at it in those days. I used to call it the Sicilian Defence for some reason. May be I read a different article and played the moves to a different game.
Well, I was never a good player. But Chess always interested me. And I organised every year a Chess competition in my new neighbourhood in suburban Bombay.
In 2003, I came to the UK for further studies. And it was then that I came across Chessgames.com. And I realised how little I knew about chess. Chessgames over the past 4 years has been one of my closest companions. I came to this site for the chess. But remained here for much more than just chess. After all, there is much more to life.
In the last year or so, I have found I haven't been that regular here. I don't post that often and I have found much of the discussions going on are rather beyond my capability to make any useful contributions. Recently I have started spending more time here. But I get a feeling, that the world has got much smarter in the past year. Or that I have got dull in the period.
Favourite books:
Non-Fiction
The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Against The Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk - Peter Bernstein
Fiction
Three Men in A Boat - Jerome K. Jerome
Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less - Jeffrey Archer
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
and, of course, the whole Sherlock Holmes Series.
Favourite Movies:
Hollywood: West Side Story
Bollywood: Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
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For a long time now, I have been wanting to put my forum to some use. Starting today, I am creating a collection of clips from popular media (TV shows, Films, Music videos) where there is some kind of reference to Chess.
30 July, 2008
1. It must have been love - Roxette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0DN...
Watch from 2:48 - 2:52
31 July, 2008
2. Chess scene from Choti Si Baat
A clip from one of my favourite Indian movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9b7...
Watch from 3:17 - 5.05 (Grandmaster Klotosov :))
Of course you can watch the whole clip for a glimpse of 1970s Bombay.
3. The famous chess scene from The Thomas Crown Affair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtd8...
This would easily qualify for some other collections as well.
1 August 2008
4. Chess scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge
One of Indian Cinema's biggest hits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1ck...
Watch from 8.00 - 8.40
