The dull and unfashionable image of chess could enjoy a facelift this month thanks to a titanic world championship clash unfolding in India. Proud patzer* Jason Henderson investigates why this month's game could be bigger than Bobby Fischer.

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Is chess the greatest board game ever? Or is it just a boring game? Opinions are, appropriately enough, sharply divided into black and white.

Fans of this ancient pastime insist it is an art, science, sport and war all rolled into one. It is a test of wills. It is life in miniature. It is, as one player once said, "As much a mystery as women."

Critics, meanwhile, argue it's not a game but a disease. It's a pure waste of brains, especially when you can have fun with Angry Birds instead. Also, can anyone take anorak-wearing geeks seriously?

For many of us, though, chess is simply a series of bad moves. This is hardly surprising, given the number of possible moves is greater than the number of atoms in the solar system.

Plus, there has been little to capture our imagination since the Cold War confrontation in 1972 between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky - a duel that dominated world news and led to an explosion of interest in chess in the Western world after Fischer, a tormented genius from America, beat his Russian rival in style.


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Yet now, 41 years later, a world title match has emerged to solve chess's credibility crisis and help claw it back into the mainstream. It sees prodigious youngster Magnus Carlsen of Norway attempting to wrest the global crown from five-time champion Viswanathan Anand of India and the head-to-head is expected to be watched by more than one billion people.

The 22-year-old Carlsen is the highest-rated player in history and, consequently, the bookies' favourite to become the first world champion from the West since Fischer. Outside chess, he has modelled alongside actress Liv Tyler for G-Star [pictured], was offered an acting role in Star Trek Into Darkness (he turned it down) and was named one of the sexiest men of the year by Cosmopolitan.

While Carlsen has youth, rugged good looks and unprecedented raw talent on his side, "Vishy" Anand has superior experience and the advantage of playing in his home city of Chennai. The 43-year-old achieved the hallowed status of grandmaster before Carlsen was even born and his fame in India is on a par with cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

The playing style of the two intellectual gladiators is also different. Anand is the master of preparation and draws on the memory of thousands of games during the vital opening moves. In contrast, Carlsen's strategy involves luring the Indian into a mid-game dogfight where he tries to eke out a tiny advantage before grinding his opponent into the ground.

The match began on 9 November and at time of writing is all square (no pun intended). The first dozen games give each player a generous couple of hours to think about their moves, but if they are still level on November 26 then a series of rapid "blitz" games will take place - the chess equivalent of a penalty shoot-out.

Anand's exploits have already triggered a chess craze in India. It recently overtook France as the nation with the greatest number of players "rated" by the world chess federation (FIDE) and in some areas of the country it is part of the school syllabus.

If Carlsen wins, a fresh generation of pawn-pushing chess enthusiasts will be born. It could also be checkmate in the game's quest to be cool.

Jason Henderson is the editor of Athletics Weekly and has written articles about running, swimming, cycling and triathlon for GQ.

*For those non-grandmasters amongst us this is slang for "poor chess player". Join Nigeria chess players online HERE on FACEBOOK CLICK https://www./263618947036654/?hc_location=stream