The BOSM English Press sat down with the captain of the chess team, Kairav Parikh, to gain insight into the team’s preparation for BOSM.

Chess is a game of strategy and wit, played on an 8×8 checkered board by two players. Each of the players control their set of pieces, with each piece moving in its own unique way. The objective of the players is to “checkmate” the opponent’s king i.e. threatening the opponent’s king with capture with no possible escape.

Kairav took up chess as a sport in his childhood, and before joining BITS Pilani, played professionally at the international level. He said that joining the Chess Team had greatly improved his game and that he intended to take up chess as a career after graduation. Elaborating on his experience as a captain, Kairav said that it had been largely positive, noting that the Sports Council had been especially helpful in arranging for coaches and other equipment that the team required. When asked how he managed to balance both academics and the captaincy, he said that the team only required a commitment of about two hours each day, five days a week beginning from a month before BOSM. He stated that this was not much to burden his academical pursuits.

The Chess team had begun training with the new coach at the beginning of August. Kairav was especially appreciative of the coach’s role, saying that the coach helped keep the team up to date with latest openings and strategies and helped them polish their skills in the latter. The team has been hard at work, improving their tactics and end-game. This edition of BOSM will feature Chess in two different formats; Classical and Blitz. The Classical format of the game allows sixty minutes to each player with an increment of thirty seconds after each move while the Blitz format of the game affords three minutes to each player with an addition of two seconds after each move. While the training required to excel at either format is not very different, Kairav noted that the Classical format was more about perfecting strategies and endgames, whereas the Blitz format was more about playing by intuition.

Speaking about the team’s performance in the past, Kairav said that the team had won the gold medal in the past edition of BOSM. The team had done exceedingly well in out-station events as well, winning the gold medal in IIIT-Delhi. While Kairav was not completely sure about the colleges that would be competing in the Chess events for BOSM, he stated that SRCC were expected to be the main competition for the home team.

When asked about the main challenges that faced the team, Kairav said that most of the team’s requests had been met. He did, however, add that the team had a pending request for a different room to conduct the Chess events during BOSM, which he hoped would be fulfilled soon.

On a parting note, Kairav urged BITSians to enjoy BOSM to the fullest, and appreciate the sportsmanship on display.