Looking at one’s natural habitat though the outsider’s lens
This week I had a privilege of witnessing the filming of a documentary about chess life in Chartres.
It's a true gift to be suddenly granted the chance to see something that has been your natural environment, your home (because I didn't grow up in a particular city, but rather at chess tournaments and in training rooms) from a distant, outsider's lens.
What a shift in perspective, and such a significant moment in my reflections on about twenty years of sacrifice in the name of competitive chess.
I'm grateful to everyone who made this moment possible. And of course, I'm deeply impressed by the amount of effort being made in Chartres to develop chess as both an educational tool and a cultural bridge.
May chess wisdom be with us, helping us maintain enriching conversations and providing us with thinking models for conscious decision-making not only over the board, but in life at large.
NB. It was also a valuable educational experience to see documentary filmmaking grandmasters at work and even have a chance to ask a few questions about the editing process, which seems to me the most challenging part of any creative endeavour!
