On the couch - World Chess day
CHESS DAY
Today Eugene Steenkamp of the Elsies River Chess Club talks about World Chess Day, officially marked by the United Nations to recognize the game’s global reach and positive impact, as well as its ability to transcend barriers of race, age, culture and gender.
Humans have been playing chess for over 1500 years – the game is thought to have its roots in northern India in the 6th century, with a game called chaturanga. It spread from there to Persia, and from there into Europe, Russia and beyond. Today millions of people play the game regularly all over the world, and in fact there has been a surge in numbers of late thanks in no small part to the growth of online chess tournaments during the early days of lockdown.
Today I want to talk about chess here in Cape Town and particularly about efforts to get youngsters in underprivileged areas to play the game.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.