Chess in Catalonia: a centuries-old federation and a thousand-year-old tradition

BarcelonaThe year was 1008. Ermengol, Count of Urgell, was putting his life in order by making his will. And one of the belongings he decided to give to a convent was a pair of chess pieces. For a long time, this was considered the oldest text mentioning chess in Europe, although years later, some Latin texts on chess would be found in the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, which could be some 50 years older. Be that as it may, the will shows that chess had already arrived in the territories of present-day Catalonia from Arab lands. A thousand-year-old tradition. And a centuries-old federation.

This August, the Catalan Chess Federation celebrated its centenary. It organized an event with games, prizes, and a cake shaped like a chess piece. After years in which it seemed that the practice of chess was on the decline, many young people have become hooked again, some thanks to the success of television series such as the American one Queen's Gambit. In fact, in the last five years, the number of women playing chess has grown significantly, partly thanks to this series. In the Catalan federation, more than 70 percent of the total number of women members are under 18. A revolution, given that 100 years ago, everyone was a man in a tie. Those were different times.

Catalonia may seem like a peripheral territory to modern chess, but its history is truly glorious. Chess first arrived thanks to the Arabs a thousand years ago, when it was played at courts and monasteries. It would return at the end of the 19th century from the cafés of Paris and Vienna, a time when some foreign businessmen and curious Catalans organized games at the Set Portes restaurant and the Liceu. The first state chess club was the Barcelona Chess Club, founded in 1921. Its members would be the driving forces behind the Catalan federation, created in 1925 by thirteen clubs. Its first president was Dr. Esteve Puig i Puig, and in 1927 the first Catalan tournament was held, won by the Penya Gracienca.

The Catalan federation was admitted to the international federation in 1927, at the request of President Joan Bertran i Casals, since the Spanish federation did not exist at that time. For this reason, many consider this case, similar to rugby, should allow the request for Catalan chess to compete officially at the international level, because the Catalan federation had been recognized. A decade ago, the Catalan federation even asked the international federation if it could be admitted, but was told that Catalonia was not an independent state. And the door remained closed, as it had been in 1928, when the Spanish federation was founded. That year, in fact, a good number of the Catalan federation's directors helped create the state federation in Barcelona, without much protest, since Spain was under the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera at the time.

1929 marked a turning point for chess in Catalonia, with the tournament organized for the Universal Exposition. Some of the best players of the time were present in Barcelona, where Cuban José Raúl Capablanca, still considered one of the greatest of all time, would triumph. A man who had Catalan ancestors, incidentally, and according to an unproven legend, he spoke Catalan with his mother at home. That tournament would be key for several reasons, not just for training. It was thanks to the Universal Exposition that the Catalan Overture was born. Today, it's not unusual to see Magnus Carlsen practicing this opening, which was born in 1929 when Polish grandmaster Savielly Tartakower created it at the tournament. A move that already existed, but was unusual when Tartakower named it in honor of his hosts. That year, Catalan chess was already well-organized and was trying to attract the world's great masters to Barcelona, as would be the case especially during the 1930s.

Casablanca would defeat Tartakower in games, incidentally, played with the beautiful pieces of the Catalan chess set, which was presented to mark Gaudí's design, something that seems unlikely. Now, the pieces were beautiful and would be made in the city for a few years, during which the Russian Aleksandr Alekhine also passed through Barcelona. He was a wandering genius, with problems with alcoholism and a life journey that would lead him to flee from the Bolsheviks and become a pawn of the Nazis in the 1940s. Alekhine would come more than five times a year to Catalans who dreamed of being able to say that they had stolen a pawn from that cursed genius.

After the Civil War, chess was reborn. In 1946, the First Barcelona International Tournament was organized, with the triumph of the Argentine Miguel Najdorf. That tournament would continue, with the presence of the young Mallorcan Arturito Pomar, a child who was exploited by Franco's regime for his talent. Barcelona would make a name for itself on the world circuit, and chess would continue to be fashionable. Catalonia has had great names, such as Miquel Illescas, who obtained the title of International Master in 1986 and Grandmaster in 1988. With eight individual Spanish championships, he would surpass Arturo Pomar's record of seven and establish himself as the most prominent name, along with other grandmasters such as Hipólito Asís Gargatagli Rodríguez Vargas, Alfonso Romero Holmes, Jordi Magem y Badals, and Lluís Comas i Fabregó.

From Barcelona's Plaza Catalunya to many Catalan Ramblas, for many years it was normal to see people playing in the street. A trend that seemed to be on the wane, something that has changed in recent years. Currently, the Catalan Chess Federation is headquartered in the former Fabra i Coats factory, with more than 7,000 licensed players and 230 entities, as well as regular international tournaments such as the Sant Martí International Open and the Sants International Open. Chess, which was originally played in elegant bow-tie rooms, is now based in a former factory. More open, more popular, and more vibrant.