Hockey stars get rare chess lesson

INDIA'S Olympic medal-winning hockey players swapped their sticks for chess sets as all of them were given an introductory class on the basics of the board game in a first-of-itskind initiative by chief coach Craig Fulton.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

The main objective of the mandatory session, according to Fulton, 'was to be aware of strategy'. “Strategy in our game is crucial,” he told this daily after the drill finished. “We have a particular strategy on the ball, a particular strategy off the ball. There's a similar correlation in chess with respect to start, middlegame and endgame.”