Last weekend, Neymar posted a story of Matheus Cunha playing online chess. In the Spanish football camp, Martin Zubimendi, Dani Olmo and Unai Simon, three avid chess players within the group, may or may not have played a quick series among themselves. In the England camp, Eberechi Eze, an avid chess buff and a player who has appeared in a commercial alongside Magnus Carlsen, may have sneaked a few games of online chess. His captain, Harry Kane, rated 1200 on chess.com, may have done something similar.
Egypt, preparing for their first ever knockout game at the World Cup, has one of the most famous recreational chess players in their ranks: Mo Salah. In an interview to Sky Sports, Salah said he was addicted to chess. In fact, Carlsen, in an interview once, said he would love to play a game against the former Liverpool winger. In the Norwegian camp, there are both players (Martin Odegaard) and investors (Erling Haaland).
The trend, then, is hard to miss. By trade, they are all footballers. But when the curtains close and the lights are switched off and they are in their rooms, most of them flip out their phones for a game — or ten — of online chess. Why? There is of course an element of fun — a game of blitz chess against a stranger on the internet is a legitimate way of de-stressing — but there's also the element of looking at the board game as a means to become better at football.
It sounds hipsterish but there are a few transferable properties between a physical sport like football and a game like chess. Controlling the central is a key element. Some of the openings in chess can also be compared to 'parking the bus', a football term where overly defensive tactics are deployed to nullify the opponent's attack It also helps in keeping up the concentration levels.
There's of course evidence to support this. One of the sport's greatest minds, Pep Guardiola, actively sought one of chess's greatest ever players, Garry Kasparov, during the former's sabbatical in New York. The Spanish coach also sat down with Carlsen a few years ago. After the pair met, the Spaniard said: "The attack is dependent on the movement of the opponent so you have to pay attention to what the opponent does in every single movement and react to that." He has also read some of Kasparov's works, including 'How Life Imitates Chess'. The Russian great, known for his proactive play over the board, spoke about the importance of always being in control.
In 'Pep Guardiola: The Evolution;, the coach talks about the same thing. "If we’re the ones initiating the action," he writes, "as opposed to simply reacting, then we will be able to control the flow of the game."
One of the midfielders very good at controlling the flow of the game is Zubimendi. When he was 12, he had to pick a choice. Football or chess. Inigo Argandona, an IM who used to coach the Spaniard in the board game when he was a kid, tells the story. "He won a regional event," he tells this daily. "He played chess from when he was six. In fact, he even refused to play the Basque regional tournament because there was also a football tournament and he picked football." When a 12-year-old Zubimendi told Argandona that his choice was football, the coach warned him. "Becoming a professional footballer is close to impossible," he chuckles. "But giving up chess was very clearly the best move for him."
Christian Pulisic, who featured for the main co-hosts on Wednesday night, also has a deep love for the game. In fact, he has a permanent tattoo of a chess piece (queen) on his arm with the word 'Mate', in a nod to his grandfather who taught him to play the game.
He and the other chess aficionados will hope to checkmate opponents both on and off the field in the remaining few weeks of the World Cup.