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‘Beautiful board’: How chess saved an Indian village from alcohol, gambling

The game helped a south Indian community escape alcoholism and gambling. Now, it’s known as the Chess Village of India.

Marottichal, India – Phones, wallets and half-drunk teacups clutter empty tables – except for one – at a teahouse in southern India, where a crowd has formed around a chess board and two competitors.

One of them is 15-year-old Gowrishankar Jayaraj. Surrounded by spectators vying for a view of the chess board, Jayaraj is competing blindfolded.

Playing blind from the game’s opening means the teenager must visualise, maintain and update a mental model of the board, as moves from both players are communicated aloud by a designated referee.

Jayaraj is playing a much older Baby John, whose expression is taut with discomfort. His shrinking shoulders and pursed mouth betray that he is a handful of moves away from losing his fourth game in nearly 40 minutes.

“Gowrishankar is just 15 and already something of a chess prodigy. He beats me even when he is blind,” says John.

Jayaraj and John are residents of Marottichal, a sleepy village of nearly 6,000 residents located at the foot of the Western Ghats in the picturesque Thrissur district of India’s Kerala state.

In the early 2000s, Marottichal became known by the chess community in Kerala as the “Chess Village of India” because at least one person in every household here is believed to be chess-proficient. Across the village, people regularly sit across chessboards, competing in the shade of bus stops, outside grocery shops and on the playground.

“More than 4,500 people here – or 75 percent – of the village’s 6,000 residents are proficient players,” says John, who is also the president of Marottichal’s Chess Association.

Jayaraj is currently ranked within India’s

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