‘This introduction that has now been in place for sometime could well give that additional flavour for the chess players as they will be able to guess the pressure that a certain player is feeling during the course of a game.’
IMAGE: The technology is used to track players’ heartrate during Chess tournaments. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chess.com/X
The use of beats per minute (BPM), or the heartbeat monitor, has emerged as a winning formula for chess as it encourages audience’s involvement in matches by helping them connect with the game more deeply, feel former players.
It may or may not be a clear reflection of the form or the eventual result but the heartbeat monitor, in use at Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, could be an added bonus for spectators to understand chess better, believes Grandmaster Vaibhav Suri.
The technology is used to track players’ heart rate during tournaments and broadcasts.
Suri, an excellent player in his heyday and one of the coaches who guided the Indian team to a historic gold medal triumph in the Chess Olympiad, was all praise for the BPM.
“The main thing is that Classical Chess could be a little monotonous for the followers after a few moves due to long opening variations that are in vogue today.
“This introduction that has now been in place for sometime could well give that additional flavour for the chess players as they will be able to guess the pressure that a certain player is feeling during the course of a game,” Suri said.
The BPM has been used in chess events before, but during the ongoing first tournament of the Freestyle Grand Slam tour, it is attracting a lot of attention due to players making tough decisions as well as blunders.
“I am not saying it will have a sure-fire bearing on the outcome of the game as we have seen a lot of mistakes happening in the Freestyle Chess in tense moments for both players, but it surely adds an X factor, which, in my opinion, is good for the game,” Suri said.
IMAGE: India’s D Gukesh has not been able to win a single game at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam despite maintaining composure.. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chess.com/X
Former world junior champion and Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta had a different take: “This can be really helpful, many chess players work hard but not everyone attains excellence, and this could be one of the points to work on especially in key situations,” he said.
Abhijeet also pointed out that he had himself played under the watch of a monitor and was told he had a high pulse rate.
“I was in shock for a short while.”
It is interesting to note that world champion D Gukesh is one of the calmest players in the world and it was evident during his handling of pressure situations in the World Championship match against Ding Liren of China last December.
However, at Freestyle, the Indian ace has not been able to win any game despite maintaining a similar composure. Suri’s observation about the final outcome weighs strongly here.
The BPM has also been a boon for chess commentators of varied strengths and observations to find and explain some deeper aspects of the game to the live audience on the social media and other platforms.
Drawing an analogy with high stress physical sports, India’s second Grandmaster Dibyendu Barua noted that this may change the perception around Chess.
“For many years, people believed that playing chess was less stressful than other physical sports, but if you take a marathon for instance, the final stretch is always quite difficult, and in chess too, when there is less time, the stress is immense,” Barua said.
In Freestyle, the pieces are rearranged on the base rank randomly and there are 960 different opening positions possible.
Only time will tell about the real success of BPM in various tournaments across the world, including Classical chess, but for now, it’s good for the fans and organisers.
