Singapore: Chess coach Murali Krishna Chitrada fusing AI with tradition to enhance players’ game

A Chess coach in Singapore is integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) with conventional strategies to make his educating extra sturdy. Murali Krishna Chitrada, the founding father of Learn Chess Academy goals to put together his college students for an unsure future, by way of his uncommon educating strategies.

The academy just lately held a contest on May 1. Apart from over a dozen contributors, the occasion was additionally attended by KV Rao, the President of the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, and Anuj Khanna Sohum, Founder and CEO of Affle.

Speaking to Connected to India, Chitrada, an expert Chess coach primarily based in Singapore, who has been operating LCA for the final 14 years, opened up about his philosophy.

“I’ve tailored my methodology to put together college students for an unsure future. With the way forward for jobs and careers in flux, I firmly consider that strengthening basic human studying capabilities — focusing, logical reasoning, and analytical expertise — is a important funding, no matter a pupil’s eventual STEM involvement.

“Furthermore, acknowledging AI’s superior sample recognition talents, I consider the mixing of AI into my method gives vital advantages,” Chitrada mentioned. His college students obtain AI suggestions on assignments, which helps them determine areas for enchancment.

Born in southern India’s Visakhapatnam metropolis, Chitrada learnt Chess — a game invented in India within the sixth century — from N Prasad, a proponent of the Gurukul methodology of examine. Prasad satisfied his disciple’s father and took the younger pupil to his ‘Santhi Kunj’ Ashram in Haridwar, the place the instructor created a “conducive atmosphere for Chess teaching”.

This educating helped Chitrada develop his personal precept of the 3P Approach – Physiology, Psychology and Philosophy. One of the Ps, Physiology, encourages younger learners to sit in a cross-legged posture with their backbone erect. “I’ve noticed that sustaining a straight backbone and sitting cross-legged helps minimise bodily restlessness, which in flip enhances neurological and cerebral efficiency,” Chitrada mentioned.

Explaining the significance of self-discipline in studying, the Chess coach additional said: “My every day routine included meditation from 3 am to 6 am, Yoga from 6 am to 8 am, and a complete of 8 hours of Chess observe from 8 am to 12 pm and a couple of pm to 6 pm, all whereas sitting within the Padmaasan (cross-legged posture),” he added.

This rigorous coaching shortly bore fruit, and inside just a few months, Chitrada, a local of Visakhapatnam metropolis in southern India, attained the third rank within the state of Andhra Pradesh, and began collaborating in nationwide tournaments in India.

Today, he teaches a various group — of ages ranging between 4 and 60 years — who’re concerned in numerous fields, together with software program engineers and entrepreneurs.

Anuj Khanna Sohum, who can also be one of many dad and mom of Chitrada’s college students, corroborated his declare. He informed Connected to India that the strategies had vital enhancements in his youngsters’s talents. “Within just some months of 1:1 teaching classes, my youthful baby started to exhibit higher stability and focus in Chess and her different tutorial pursuits. Meanwhile, my elder baby’s problem-solving and analytical expertise have been notably enhanced,” the Affle CEO mentioned.

With individuals’s consideration span diminishing with the development of time, Chitrada can be hoping to make a big change to that with his strategies. He feels that the present system wants to evolve to hold tempo with time.

“As data continues to develop at a unprecedented tempo, the schooling system should evolve. It’s unrealistic to cowl all this data throughout conventional education. Instead, the main target ought to shift from mere info acquisition to fostering holistic cognitive talents,” Chitrada mentioned.

Asked to determine a number of the issues confronted by college students, the LCA founder pointed to bodily agitation and fidgetiness, lack of consideration and focus, and reliance on rote memorization. To deal with these, LCA focuses on avoiding memorisation and permitting college students to suppose on the go.

Elaborating on his level, he mentioned: “There’s a fable that one should memorise Chess openings. While there are about 1,500 fundamental Chess openings, just like the Queen’s Gambit, Indian Defence, and Italian Game, extreme memorisation isn’t important. Many gamers spend lots of time memorising these openings and their variations to save time throughout preliminary match strikes. However, past the primary eight to 10 strikes, gamers should depend on their understanding of the game. If an opponent introduces an unfamiliar variation, figuring out how to proceed turns into essential. Understanding the underlying ideas and techniques can considerably scale back the necessity for memorisation.”

Chess is presently enormous in Chitrada’s homeland, India. After Chess legend and Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand made the game fashionable, the present crop of Indian Chess gamers, largely below 30, are making a reputation for themselves on this planet.

Recently, 17-year-old grandmaster D Gukesh made India proud by profitable the Candidates Chess Tournament. By advantage of his win, {the teenager} grew to become the youngest challenger to the world title. The Chennai-based participant will now face world champion Ding Liren for the distinguished title.

Chitrada will look to draw inspiration from his start nation and elevate Singapore’s rank in Chess by way of his strategies.