Mind games

It may seem profoundly misguided to be advocating the promotion of mind games in the midst of blood baths and a blanket of violence. Surely universal education, healthcare, security, women’s rights and economic stability trump all other issues in the restoration of sanity to this benighted land.
Of course they do but equally important is the promotion of a culture of healthy habits as a corollary to good governance. And whilst the promotion of mind sports in these dark days may seem the equivalent of concern for an unclosed water tap as drones hover above, the truth is otherwise.
Over 400 million across the globe play chess and bridge and are represented by vibrant supportive organisational bodies and governments that nurture and fund their development as part of their mandate to develop a culture of healthy minds and strong ethics.
When attention is drawn to the lack of interest in such subjects by our own, this is met with mutterings of elitism based on affluence or educational opportunity but when you consider that all that is required is either 52 pieces of cardboard or 36 symbols set on a square board – no special equipment, no grand acreage, no uniforms nor other paraphernalia – such criticism is unwarranted.
Indeed a legion of the incarcerated will testify to the contribution of mind games in breaking monotony and maintaining sanity. The ease in crafting chess pieces is documented in many memoirs of life in the concentration camps of WW2. One particular story from POW Camp Stalag 17 is worth repetition:
“It happened one day in the Stalag workshop. The German interpreter, who was a keen chessplayer, was challenged to a game by a POW. The German accepted the challenge without any hesitation, as, no doubt, he wished to defend the Fatherland somehow, against this arrogant Englander. The game had not been in progress very long, when the German guard became an interested spectator, as, no doubt, he wishes to witness Sieg

fur Deutschland at last, if only over the chessboard. The result was as expected, however, and quite fair – one British officer missing. So chess in a POW camp, whether played poorly or with skill, was in many ways a benefit to the POW.” (extract from POW Chess 1947 reported by F O’Malley)
More recently, a news report from AFP as reported in this paper told us the story of a nine-year-old famished Ugandan girl who discovered chess through a promotional programme at the local church enticing slum dwellers with a heady cup of tea. The programme discovered a talent which turned to passion and today nine years later, she is the Ugandan Junior Chess Champion and set to participate in the World Olympiads.
But more than personal triumphs, her real contribution is the promotion of chess amongst poor, black youth in Uganda, particularly young girls. “At first I just came for the tea!” she says but her fame has resulted in doubling the number of girls’ participation in national championships and with a Hollywood film on her life in the offing, the popularity of chess will increase.
In our community of violence where the young are indoctrinated to believe that religion not only sanctions but encourages violence and self-sacrifice, ‘conflict terrorism’ or ‘jihadist terrorism’ has excited youthful imagination. Much as it did the Black and Brown shirts of the 30s, the Black Panthers in 60s USA, the Red Brigade of Italy and Baader Meinhof in Germany. All these causes died a natural death as cultural sympathy and interest was supplanted by antipathy towards children seen to be play-acting at revolution. We, in Pakistan, must too spread the word that jihadist terrorism is not something to scare us witless but to be scoffed at as ignorance.
Promotion of mind sports may play a miniscule part in the promotion of anti-jihadi culture, albeit an important one. The common trait of all such games is the acceptance of time-honoured rules, principles and ethics. An ability to focus the mind (New England Journal of Medicine published a study proving mind sports, especially bridge and chess, lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s), cognitive stimulating activity and courteous social intercourse promotes a superior social animal. After all, no bridge player has been found amongst the jihadi groups, nor a chess player found strapped up with a suicide vest.
The Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP) was established to support the regulating organisations promoting bridge, chess and scrabble. Our objectives are in harmony with those of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) set up by the past president of the World Bridge Federation and our principal aim is to promote mind sports activity at schools and colleges.
Unlike Armenia where chess is a compulsory subject from primary level or the many countries where chess and bridge are elective subjects at secondary schools, it appears unlikely that any government in Pakistan will legislate to bring mind sports to the national curriculum. So even as it remains for the committed body of volunteers who form the MSAP and the support of a sensitive bank to carry the message, it is time for those vested with the development of young minds to step up and further that message.
The writer is founder and chairman of the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan.