BUSINESS CHESS

Ovakimyan G.K. The Third Revolution in Sports. Moscow: Russian CHESS House, 2019. 96 p. ISBN 978-5-94693-887-7. 

The Informational Technological Revolution had transformed practically all the spheres of human activity. Sports will not be an exception, and new kinds of sports, distinctive of the information society, are bound to emerge. The author of this book believes that these will be spectacular intellectual games, based on such popular sports as chess, go, xiangqi, shogi, renju, etc.

The author is convinced: the team game scenario he had developed will resolve the issue of these sports’ staginess by ensuring an active discussion in the course of the entire game. It results in the harmonious combination of a highly dynamic game and sufficient time for effective creativity, which, along with the exhilaration of a team discussion and availability of new information, guarantees the staginess of intellectual competitions.

The book is intended for the general public.

Copyright 2019  © Ovakimyan G.K.

All rights reserved. No parts of the publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Translated and edited by Yana Solominskaya
Typeset and design by Alexey Belov

ISBN 978-5-94693-887-7

“It’s unfortunate that you can’t see the beauty of my thoughts!”

World Chess Champion
R. Fischer

“How can we attract investors, how can we make our sport spectacular,
so that chess players’ earnings equal those of football players and boxers?”

President of FIDE
K. N. Ilyumzhinov
(Address at the FIDE Congress, late 20th century)

Dedicated to my wife

In order to become spectacular, chess, this Great Mute and Blind, has to start speaking and seeing!
The only solution to these problems is collaborative deliberation with calculation of variants on team discussion boards.

Preface to the Russian-language edition

The issue of staginess of intellectual sports games, including chess, go, xiangqi, shogi, renju, draughts, reversi (Othello), etc., is of a truly global importance. It’s paradoxical, but still true that popular sports, which have up to 2 billion fans worldwide (!), are still being neglected by the sports show business.

The stumbling block in the attempts to make intellectual sports games more appealing to the audience in their current format is that an increase of the game pace in order to achieve a dynamic image affects its creative component. Needless to say, this has a negative impact on the image of any intellectual game. For instance, mass consciousness portrays a chess player as an intellectual capable of calculating several moves ahead. Calculations, however, require time. A typical example is the introduction of fast and blitz chess, which do resolve the issue of dynamics, but, unfortunately, at the cost of quality.
  
In 1992, I had first published an original scenario for conducting intellectual games, which enhances their dynamics not by reducing game time, but, rather, through an active team discussion. The latter not only retains, but expands the creative component of the intellectual game. Meanwhile, the sharp contradiction between the two crucial elements of such games’ staginess (dynamics and quality) turns into their harmonious combination.

Moreover, team discussion exposes and makes available to the spectator the entire internal logic of the struggle, which the individual competition had previously concealed. The dramatic quality is imparted to the game by the fact that in popular modern game formats, a chess player’s inner, personal experiences are transformed into the participants’ emotional behavior in the process of team discussion and decision-making.

In order to promote my idea, I’ve published a number of articles and books in the recent years, illustrating various aspects of this scenario’s implementation: sports, scientific, pedagogical and even philosophical. Nearly all publications touched upon the issue of staginess to different extents. My fundamental book “Business Chess,” with the entire chapter devoted to the issue, was released in 2001.

However, up until now there has not been a generalizing work devoted specifically to the staginess of intellectual games, for the sake of which this scenario was created. Considering the paramount importance of this problem, I tried to collect and summarize all my thoughts on this topic in this book. The publications included in this book enable the reader to trace the evolution of my idea. Of course, its driving force was the accumulation of experience in conducting and analyzing tournaments in various formats with the participation of chess players with different qualifications, and a collection of photographic materials and video records of live Business Chess games.

The materials in my book are arranged in a particular order, from general to specific. It starts with the article “Sports Business Games and the Third Revolution in Sports,” which outlines my view of the future of the entire sports movement. At the end of the book, there are specific tips for broadcasting Business Chess games, which are based on my personal filming experience at such events. The final part of the book comprises a detailed scenario of the family TV game “Check and Mate,” the implementation of which will allow to showcase the staginess of team discussions – the key element of Business Chess.

Some of my articles and books, in particular, the “Business Chess: the Key Provisions,” were published many years ago. For this reason, while retaining the temporal logic, I ventured to come up with minor clarifying changes that take into account the experience I acquired over the years. Therefore, this is a fresh edition of the presented materials. Certain previously unpublished ideas and tips are also included in the book.

I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who helped me promote the idea of Business Chess over many years. Among them are students of children's and youth schools who took part in experimental and demo games, chess masters, coaches, judges, managers and staff members of chess clubs that hosted competitions, reporters from chess publishing houses, websites, sports and news TV channels that published my materials, and representatives of chess federations of Russia, Armenia, Moscow and Yerevan. Of course, I’m also grateful to my friends and family for the understanding, support, and patience they’ve exhibited.

In conclusion, I would like to invite all interested organizations and individuals to finally combine their efforts and make intellectual games (chess in particular) a spectacular sport activity. I’m completely convinced that all the necessary conditions are in place to realize this plan. As a result, spectators will have an opportunity to enjoy a highly intellectual sports show, while entrepreneurs will acquire a new high-yielding investment sphere. This way, chess players’ payouts will finally reach the level of boxers’ and football players’ fees. That’s what FIDE President K.N. Ilyumzhinov had imagined back in the 1990s.

Grachya Ovakimyan, 2017

Preface to the English-language edition

The book presented was published in Russian in 2017 under the title “Spectacular chess and other intellectual sports games.” It presents a sports project, the implementation of which will bring an innovative international product to the market, along with huge political, social and financial dividends for the committed investors. That’s a revolutionary new direction in 21st -century sports, which I call Sports Business Games. It’s the result of the Informational technological revolution.

At the core of the project is a spectacular team scenario, which I had developed to conduct intellectual sports tournaments, such as chess, go, xiangqi, etc., which boast a total of up to 2 billion fans worldwide. Without changing the very essence of these games, the given scenario allows to conduct a live TV stream of the entire game, which would mean the transition of these sports to a higher level. It’s also important that global superpowers, including China, India, Russia, and the United States, are the recognized leaders in these areas (unlike, football, for instance), which enhances the intrigue of intellectual sports rivalry.

Business Chess is the first exemplary type of this new trend in sports. For the last 27 years, numerous games have been played in this format in Armenia and Russia. Chess players of different qualifications, including grandmasters, have participated in these games, a number of books and articles were published, and there were relevant news reports on TV, including federal TV channels.  

The publication of my three scientific articles on this topic in the reputable Russian journal “The World of Psychology,” the official periodical of the Russian Academy of Education, provides a serious scientific substantiation of this project. These publications demonstrate various objectives of Sports Business Games implementation, sports being only one among them. These aims include the resolution of strategic challenges of the modern information society, particularly, in education, social organization and creation of new technologies. The new chapter of this book, entitled “Introduction of Sports Business Games: Objectives,” contains more detailed information on this topic.

This edition also comprises several sections with information drawn from “Strategy: the Indirect Approach,” a book by Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart, an outstanding English military historian and theorist. The thoughts expressed in this book turned out to be very much aligned with my theoretical views.

Unfortunately, notwithstanding the positive feedback about the project by representatives of chess federations of Armenia, Russia, Yerevan and Moscow, and reputable teachers, psychologists, and sociologists, I have been unable to find organizational and financial support for the full implementation of my idea in the Russian-speaking environment.

I really hope that the English-language edition of my book will not only please its new audience, but also help to find a committed sponsor for the Third Revolution in Sports.

Grachya Ovakimyan, 2019

Sports Business Games and the Third Revolution in Sports

The fate of all existing sports depends largely on whether they are included in the “golden” list of Olympic disciplines. This list is regularly updated in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s requirements, which state that the game needs to be spectacular and highly popular with the general public. In order to comprehend the foundations of the human interest in sports and attempt to look into its future, one needs to discern the roots and understand the patterns in the evolution of the sports movement.

In the recent years, there has been an active public discussion of the hypothesis proposed by the Harvard University professor Samuel Huntington, who believes the clash of civilizations to be the dominant factor in world politics. Basing his concept on the fundamental importance of the mode of production, renowned American sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler identifies three main civilizations in human history, engendered by three global technological revolutions – Agrarian, Industrial and Informational. Toffler is convinced that these revolutions have made the key contributions to colossal changes in all spheres of human activity and shaped the new social rules, ultimately determining the type of new society, its lifestyle and culture.

Throughout history, it has been a natural striving to identify the exemplary type of new toiler who exemplified each of these civilizations, to determine the specific skills and talents of the people of each era that gave them an advantage in the competitive struggle for survival, and to learn the limits of their capabilities. The result was the emergence of sports games, which, being an integral part of culture, underwent revolutionary changes along with the entire society, continuously generating new kinds of sports distinctive of every civilization.

The main productive force of the ten-thousand-year-old Agrarian Civilization was a person who engaged in heavy physical labor and occasionally participated in wars. It is hardly a surprise then that the cult of physical strength and individual skillfulness flourished during that era. The First Sports Revolution in the history of mankind took place during the times of the Agrarian Civilization, resulting in the emergence of track and field, weight-lifting, and various types of Eastern and Western individual martial arts. The well-known Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Faster, higher, stronger”) refers to them specifically.  It’s apparent that the limits of natural human capabilities in these sports have already been reached, while the exhibited skills and abilities are not as relevant for the modern man. Does it then indicate that athletic sports are bound to disappear in the modern world? Not at all. It feels like they’re going to be popular for as long as the Agrarian Civilization exists, and it still occupies a significant economic sector in many countries worldwide.

The Industrial Revolution took place approximately three hundred years ago. The key producers of that civilization were industrial workers, the so-called proletariat. Machines began to carry out heavy physical work, while workers were now required to precisely coordinate their actions. The emergence of team sports was a reflection of the changes that occurred in industrialized countries. That was the Second Sports Revolution. Football is a prominent symbol of that revolution, and it is entirely logical that it arose in England, the leader among industrialized countries. There’s no doubt these sports will dominate in the foreseeable future until another revolution takes place in sports, and new types generated by the Informational Civilization gain momentum.

In 1956, the number of white-collar employees in the USA exceeded the number of industrial workers for the first time ever. To designate this new class, the term ‘cognitariat’ has been recently coined, by analogy with ‘proletariat.’ The emergence of this new force on the international arena, a force that inhabits the entire civilized space, mostly science parks and megacities, symbolizes the emergence of a new Informational civilization. Its most distinctive features are intensive information exchange, deep knowledge, and effective management. In fact, the world is currently shifting from a two-tier system to a three-tier one, where agrarian countries occupy the lowest position, with ‘smokestack’ economies in the middle, and knowledge-based economies at the top.

Presumably, the competition of knowledge strategies will be the key driving force of the Informational Civilization. In this regard, such intellectual sports as chess, go, renju, and other similar games definitely deserve special attention. However, all of them emerged in the Agrarian Civilization era, and the way they’re played reflects the secrecy of information and individual mastery characteristic of their times. The informational revolution in intellectual sports is still to come. In order to radically change the attitude of society to these sports, one needs to understand what is important to the potential spectators – the toilers of the Informational Civilization and their employers.

The leading modern companies primarily compete in the information field. Under these conditions, the following statement made by a top manager of one of such companies becomes clear, namely, “Money moves at the speed of light. Information has to move faster.” That is only possible when employees understand each other perfectly. Furthermore, each of them must both process huge volumes of information and clearly comprehend their place within the complex social system. Therefore, they cannot be solo performers. Instead, they must be members of an orchestra, expected to have perfect pitch despite frequent updates to the entire repertoire. This can be achieved only through intensive rehearsals.

Therefore, there’s no surprise that professional trainings in the form of Business Games have become extremely popular in the recent years. It is the most effective type of vocational training, and developed countries are already spending significant amounts of money on it. Modern Business Games reflect the very essence of the Informational Civilization, in particular, profound knowledge, excellent communicative qualities, and, as a result, the transparency of information and its intensive exchange, due to which, in fact, a quantum leap in the efficiency of generating new knowledge and technologies is possible. Thousands of similar games have been developed to date in various spheres of human activity.

However, business games have one major flaw: all of them are too narrowly specialized and rigidly tied to short-term professional knowledge and technologies, which considerably reduces their attractiveness. For the same reason, they’re unacceptable in general education (secondary school and university), which already urgently needs a new system of social rules in the curriculum in the form of universal constructive communication and effective management training. There is, therefore, a need to somehow disengage from highly specialized knowledge and technology, while retaining the more fundamental features of the Informational Civilization. We can formulate the following axiom: the demand for a game grows with the increase in the relevance of the social relations it reproduces, and the less it depends on the momentary technological advances, the more enduring it will be.

Games involving the use of different machines haven’t become characteristic of the Industrial Civilization, which would have seemed logical; instead, football, hockey, and basketball were the games of that era. Hence, presumably, sportsmen won’t utilize artificial means of contest, i.e., computers, in the most popular games of the Informational Civilization either. That is because sport is, first and foremost, a demonstration of human capabilities that preserves the continuity of civilizations. Just as in football, which highly values both team skills and individual skills and the ability to run fast and jump high, elements of games from the previous epochs can be preserved in the sports of the Informational Civilization. Once again, it brings us back to intellectual sports.

Thus, the emergence of revolutionary new sports games associated with the Informational Civilization is expected to occur at the junction of the existing Intellectual Sports Games (chess, go, renju, etc.) and Business Games, resulting in the emergence of Sports Business Games. In order to resolve this issue, I developed a scenario that endows Intellectual Games with a spectacular Business Game team format. Its key elements are the unlimited opportunities for communication between members of one team and several new rules that significantly expand the game’s informational field, form an entirely new team structure and establish the conditions for the implementation of modern competition techniques.

An evident advantage of this scenario is that, on the one hand, it fully complies with the requirements of the Informational Civilization, and on the other hand, it allows to preserve the elements of Intellectual Games, which are understandable and familiar to millions of people: boards, figures, their original positions, and game rules. Business Chess appears to be the first spectacular type of Sports Business Games. This game may launch yet another, the Third Revolution in Sports.

In conclusion, we should note that, having emerged in different historical periods, the waves of all three above-mentioned civilizations keep colliding in our time, thus generating the so-called clashes of civilizations. Peasants hinder the introduction of advanced industrial farming technologies, while workers damage the robotic assembly lines. There’s a similar situation in sports, and the intrigues around the list of Olympic disciplines testify to this fact. Moreover, even within Intellectual Sports, there is a tough competition between the formats of their implementation, which reflect different civilizations. It’s therefore hardly a surprise that Business Chess encounters strong resistance from the fans of traditional forms of chess. However, considering the general trends in civilizational development, the third wave of revolutionary changes in sport is inevitable, and the future will belong to Business Chess and other Sports Business Games. It is simply an ostensible necessity. The only question yet to be answered is where and when this revolution will occur.
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