International Chess Day is celebrated every July 20th and since 1966 when it was adopted by UNESCO based on the founding date of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). It was in 2019 when a United Nations resolution urged it to be celebrated.
One of the oldest and most iconic bridges in Chennai, India, the Napier Bridge prepares for the Chess Olympiad with a continuous chess board
It should be remembered that FIDE itself set a different date in 1988, calling it World Chess Day, on November 19, the date of birth of the former world champion from 1921 to 1927, the great Cuban champion Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), called the “Mozart of chess”.
On the occasion of this anniversary, it should be remembered that the game, more than a thousand years old, has its own language, it has its own set of terms, many of which have permeated society with habitual use. For example “be in check” or “give a check”, “castling” and many others.
In the defense I advocate for the inclusion of the word trebejista as a synonym for chess player in the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE) dictionary, it would be necessary to explain the meaning of the pre-existing and included word chess player and how it can or not, can be found in many other languages. Assume that you are not a philologist or a translator.
A chess player, as defined by the RAE, is a «chess player, whether amateur or professional». It is important to emphasize this concept because, as mentioned earlier, it encompasses everything from the simple amateur playing for pleasure or passing the time, to the professional participating in tournaments and being in the federation. The difference is obviously in the level of play, the Elo rating and the title, if any, be it candidate, master or grandmaster.
In Spain, with a population of more than 47 million, the allies do not reach 30,000, and the grandmasters hardly more than 50. In the world, by the way, more than 610 million of the almost 8 billion people who live on Earth play more than 610 million chess players on the five continents, including more than 600,000 in all national federations and almost 140,000 in FIDE.
Now we can turn to the word itself, chess player, and if it exists, in many other languages. Basically there are few that contain it as such, although there are others that contain both meanings in a single word so it could be translated as chess player / chess player and finally in many others it is two words that contain only and with one Translation match literal chess players.
First of all, in Basque in Spain it is translated as xakelari and chess player as xake jokalaria. In Catalan there is the escaquista, the equivalent of the chess player, derived from the word escacs, chess, hence player d’escacs, and in Galician it is xadrecista, from another term, xogador de xadrez.
Outside our borders, in Portugal it is enxadrista, in Brazil it is more commonly used or also xadrezista; in German it does figure, chess player; in France echéquiste, which is joueur d’échec, in Italian schacchista and in Dutch schaker. In Romania there is also the term translated as sahistul.
Among the many languages translated as just chess players are English, chess players; the Arabic, laeib shatranj; Greek, Turkish, Korean or Vietnamese.
In Russia and Ukraine, countries that are at war today, in the first case there is shahmatist or shakmatist, and in the second case it is a similar term, shah_st or shakist. In Bulgaria it is also pronounced like Russian shakmatist, although it is spelled differently.
In Slavic languages the term and pronunciation is very similar, šahista in Croatian, šachista in Slovak, šahist in Slovene and Macedonian; shahist in Albanian, szachista in Polish, shakmatist in Armenian, in Azeri, şahmatçı.
In the Nordic countries, Norway and Denmark it is also very much the same, sjakkspiller and skakspiller respectively. In Sweden and Finland these are two words that correspond to chess player.
In India, where the Chess Olympiad is being held in Chennai (July 28-August 10), there are different languages and dialects, but the majority is Hindi. The word is Shatranj ke Khiladi, which is reminiscent of the story of Munshi Premchand (1880-1936), filmed by the director in 1977 Satyajit Ray (1921-1992).
Finally, in various Latin American countries, the word chess player is also a chess player, it is documented, especially in Cuba, but also in Peru, the Dominican Republic and even occurs in Mexico and Argentina. We must also remember the United States, where Hispanics use it, influenced by the large colony of Cuban origin.
Hopefully the RAE will add it to the dictionary in the future.
Finally, an aspect that deserves another article is the origin of the name of the pieces or chess pieces of the game, since their evolution has changed and depends on the introduction in each country and that is why in some countries the bishop bishop is French fou, crazy; or in German the horse is Springer, der Springer; In Russian, the tower is called Ladya, a type of ship of Viking and Slavic origin. In Spanish it was roque, hence the word castling. But that’s another long story.
A NOTICE:
I would like to dedicate this article to the chess player Luis Leon Varelawho suggested this to me.
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