By Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
I recently returned from a three-week trip to Goa. Last year around this time, it was Singapore for a fortnight. Bills paid by the employers, these are dream assignments. Right? Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was actually trembling in fear when I landed in Singapore. Although to a lesser extent, trepidation was the companion again before boarding for Goa.
I was there to cover top-level chess. The first one was the FIDE World Championship between Ding Liren and D Gukesh. The second was the FIDE World Cup. Most of my relatives, friends and colleagues know how the pieces and pawns move on the board. I am no different. That’s where it ends. To cover an event of that magnitude, where two players seated opposite each other make moves I am clueless about, was a terrifying prospect. My instinctive reply when Boria Majumdar asked if I would be interested was ‘no’.
It took some self-preaching to flip that decision. Having covered cricket for 25 years, this world was beginning to saturate. A feeling was growing that there was not a lot to contribute. Something else could be a solution. I always thought of myself as a sports reporter, rather than someone who focuses solely on cricket. Because of circumstances, opportunities, popularity of cricket content in India and my liking for the game, I didn’t think twice when given assignments. It never meant that interest in other disciplines waned. There was scope to write also. Yet, at end of the day, 1-10 was cricket and then came everything else.
I was looking for other sports and chess was not quite a priority. But this occasion was huge and the challenge greater. Easily more difficult than everything I had handled, including four ODI World Cup finals. Chess is cultivated in four continents. What I was into was not global. This was the biggest event in that sport and an 18-year-old Indian was playing. This was a prestigious and once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity. A combination of factors influenced my decision to say ‘yes’, not to mention the encouragement from our editor-in-chief Boria, who used to be a capable chess player himself in his schooldays.
Gukesh becoming the youngest world champion made my trip. History unfolded in dramatic manner. I recorded videos of that and the immediate aftermath, where fans started raucous celebrations. Gukesh broke down in tears. Visuals reached office within minutes and streamed instantly on the RevSportz platforms. We were among the handful of media in the world to have done that and the first to interview Gukesh’s father, Dr Rajinikanth. There were live shows and the excitement was the same in Singapore and the Kolkata studio.
The World Cup was comparatively easier. In Singapore, there were two players. In Goa, there were 206 from 84 countries. The scope for reporting was larger. How do I manage — or pretend to — when I don’t comprehend what’s happening on the board? I don’t get into chess at all. For in-depth discussions on that, there are dedicated platforms. My job is to report what’s happening around the competition; reporting more from the fan zone than the playing hall. There is no and never will be any substitute for news. So that is the primary target. A lot of things happen when so many characters are in one place. Observing and interacting with them is another way of doing stories. In short, it’s about bringing to readers what they don’t find on chess platforms.
For example, chess websites will analyse how one Levon Aronian is playing. They are unlikely to talk about his interest in Hindustani classical music or Satyajit Ray films. That’s my role. To present content that means something to the common reader. There are human interest stories everywhere. One day, a former national champion in chess for the disabled turned up in a wheelchair with his father. They had travelled from Bengaluru. There were FIDE officials opening up on recent controversies. If one tries to look for matter not directly related to what happens on the board, there is always something. It’s a challenging and rewarding experience.
Having completed three years at RevSportz last month, I sense a lot of energy. There are ups and downs, but no dearth of determination to explore and excel. Hardly any organisation sends correspondents to so many events. It’s the best way of grooming youngsters, which I believe is done at times despite funds crunch. I have met people speaking highly of us and introducing RevSportz to others as “India’s fastest growing sports website”. Here’s wishing that my younger colleagues in RevSportz make the most of this opportunity to learn.
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