‘Howes bilen Turkmenistan’

Those too were the days of Indian outsourcing. From India. Chess had reached Turkmenistan from India via the then Persia and/or Afghanistan....

Those too were the days of Indian outsourcing. From India. Chess had reached Turkmenistan from India via the then Persia and/or Afghanistan. The Soviet hegemony also brought in compulsory lessons in chess. But chess remained concentrated to the capital city of Asghabad and, to an extent, to another city, called Merv, founded by Alexander the Great.

Today, after Glasnost, the sport has survived in Asghabad where 800-900 people play. There isn’t enough of this ‘imported’ chess culture in the rest, much of it being desert anyway. Finally, there seems to be a growth in the popularity of the game in the country.

Here, at the fourth Parsvnath international chess tournament, Amanov Mesgev, a 19 year old International Master from Turkmenistan, greets you: “Salaam Hindistan, it is a nice feeling to be in a country which is considered to be the birthplace of chess.”

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Amanov, runner-up at the u-18 Asian meet, is among the four from Turkmenistan. Their country has produced four Grandmasters and ten IMs.

Simonenko Sergev, at 46, is an IM. “Whenever I come to India, I am reminded of the history and how it originated. This makes me play with more passion and more attachment to the game.”

Sergev, eldest of the lot, said back home youngsters don’t really get the exposure and most start their careers late. It has to do with growing poverty and the extreme climatic conditions. But times are changing, he says, and more youngsters are learning the game.

It’s not easy. With access to the Internet being restricted, their main source of learning the finer qualities of the game remains books. This India trip is a big exposure for them.

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So what do they carry home from here? Chess experience and memories of games? Maybe, but the first choice is surely films. And what have they brought for India? “Howes bilen Turkmenistan,” they say. “With love from Turkmenistan.”

Nitin Sharma

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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