Kalmykia - Where chess is more than just a game!

For many of us chess is nothing more than a board game to be played as a pastime or in tournaments if you seek it professionally. I recently heard of a name Valery Ubuchaev. Valery is still learning how to tie his shoelaces and needs his father's help to zip up his tracksuit top but he has no trouble at all checkmating his opponent in under 40 moves. This 4 year old is from Kalmykia, a dusty country on the edge of the Capsian Sea with a predominant Buddhist population. The official language of the Kalmyks is chess! Yes and this is no joke. You're allowed here only if you know the language (though foreigners are thought to be a rather hopeless case!)

In Kalmykia, important matters of chess are debated and decided in the highest echelons of the society. Newspapers have an extensive coverage of the game and it is introduced as a compulsory subject in elementary schools.

The current FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov(there's no way I'm going to try and spell that by myself!) could be accused for many controversies during his 17 years as the President of Kalmyk but not for chess. After all he had the Kalmyk blood running through his veins! By the age of 14 he was already the Kalmyk chess champion. Now if by any chance you are thinking that's trivial job, go ahead. You probably could find me writing about you in my next blog!

At Elista's Central Square, the city has two asphalt chessboards with knee-high chessmen.

Chess and Buddhism are the twin pillars of the nation. Chess clubs here are as ubiquitous as football or cricket clubs elsewhere. The Kalmyks bare their soul every time they open the game. For them chess is not just a game, it's a religion, a way of life. So if you come across a plaster cast figure of a chess pawn in a broken eggshell here, you're certainly going to keep wondering: what came first, chess or the egg?