Chess Club Black & White (CCBW): ballet

Renowned French-British musician Jason Kouchak, pioneer of the "Queen's Journey" in conversation with International Arbiter Naveen Karthikeyan


Performing for the 10th anniversary of Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival 2024. (c) Photo: Ray Morris-Hill

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière,
(The upside down elephant) (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Take a high-speed train from Paris. Two hours through the scenic French countryside will take you to Lyon — the city founded by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. Stand anywhere in the city. Rising against the skyline will be the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The locals call this 19th century Cathedral the "upside-down elephant” because of its rounded base and four towers. As a Lyon goné (kid in French), Jason Kouchak was to fall in love with another "elephant" — the Rook on the chessboard. That, though, is only one of his two loves. The other is classical music which took him to London.
"Actually," smiles Kouchak, "The knight's my favourite piece. But then, speaking of aesthetics, the Queen works best for a ballet on the chessboard!"

Jason Kouchak in Holland, London Park 2024. Kouchak shared the cost of the giant chessboard with Kensington and Chelsea council. He says: "I wanted to bring children from various backgrounds together. I wanted people to play each other across the board rather than using their iPhones to play chess."(c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Jason Kouchak and the Royal Ballet. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Kouchak put it all together by pioneering the artistic concept of "Queen's Journey" in 2016 to encourage women to play chess. The French-British composer, pianist and choreographer can speak forever on the subject: Chess and Ballet are gender neutral activities that connect people through time and space. It improves their generic life skills by developing their spatial awareness, logical thinking and generic life with communication skills. A combination to inspire and inform both sexes of the importance of coordinating together and moving forward into the future. These art forms are a profound medium of communication that have no barriers of language, gender, ethnicity,religion, physical ability or social status. Chess and ballet connect in themes of ‘empowerment’ for women as Queens of power and grace move as pieces across a giant chess board.

The Queen’s Journey has toured in the United Kingdom, France, Hungary and the United States.

Website: Queen's Journey

It all began in childhood. Jason Kouchak says, "My earliest memories of chess were watching my Mum and Dad playing chess whilst listening to classical music. I was intrigued by the shapes and movement of the pieces. I saw the game as a dance, a ballet and a battle."

Today, Kouchak has a list of projects lined up. He's collaborating with the Royal Ballet School in Holland Park, rehearsing for a performance for the 10th anniversary of Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival in September 2024 and recording with "my good friend Matt Goss for a new musical in London scheduled for Spring 2025."

Matt Goss (left) and Jason Kouchak (right). (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Where does the fuel for all this creativity come from?

For one, the musician finds inspiration in Nature. He further explains, "One must enjoy the joy of the journey and the spirit within inspiration! One must dare to dream and have the drive and desire to follow those dreams. In essence this sense of fearlessness and fulfilment comes from self-growth and self knowledge.

(Left) With IM Tania Sachdev for whom Kouchak says, "She brings grace and empowerment to chess," and (right) Priyanka Chopra at Kouchak's gaint chess set in Holland Park, London. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

"It’s important to create new projects and always stay curious. You have to find your inner child. Learning, Living, Laughing and Loving Life is the mantra."

That's pretty Indian. And, yes, Kouchak has met the five-time world champion from India, Viswanathan Anand several times in London and discussed a shared passion — astronomy!

Written in the stars
Here are Kouchak's compositions for the 60th anniversary of the first manned space flight. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin had become the first human to orbit the Earth in a 106-minute flight in a Vostok 1 space capsule. "Music, the stars and chess are magically connected," says Kouchak.

There's more. The Pleiades is a cluster of 1,200 stars in the Milky Way with seven particularly bright stars. In Greek mythology, they became nymphs accompanying the goddess Artemis. On a special request, Kouchak's friend, none other than the great Grandmaster Dr John Nunn, Jason composed a checkmate in three as a chess, astronomy and music project to mark the Royal Astronomical Society’s 2020 bicentenary and the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight. The puzzle reflects the arrangement of the stars in the Pleiades Constellation.

(Left) White to play and checkmate in three (answers at the end) and (right) the Pleiades Constellation. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Each of the seven stars corresponds to a melodic note in Kouchak’s following musical composition:

The Stars are in My Eyes
- By Jason Kouchak

The stars are in my eyes
A thousand lights above me
Journey to a world still unknown
Where I’m never alone

The stars are in my eyes
Heaven’s high above me
Imagine all the wonders of space
The mystery of another place

Once in a moment beyond your destiny
reaching for answers in dreams you still believe

How does Kouchak pack it all in the same 24 hours that the rest of us have?

Kouchak smiles with his deep, philosophical eyes. A busy day starts with music. He says, "I practice piano as soon as I wake up and create new ideas from my dreams the previous night. Then, either I go for a run or play tennis before returning to my first love the piano.

Jason Kouchak at L’Auditorium de Lyon. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Jason Kouchak at Abbey Rd Studios London. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

I play chess online as a breathing space in between music projects. It helps me to distance myself and create perspective for the day. Recording, rehearsing and the realisation of new projects takes up the remainder of the day. Finally, at the end of the day I try to review my actions and reactions and maybe look forward to a new dream.

Where there's music and chess, can literature go missing?

Kouchak's favourite writer is Vladimir Nabokov. Kouchak adds, "Especially his wonderful masterpiece: "Speak, Memory." He loved chess and butterflies which are also two of my passions. I also enjoy reading Vikram Seth, the Indian novelist and poet who I met once in London. He has not only wonderful literary skills but also an impressive knowledge of classical music. His "An Equal Music" is a romantic novel with a beautiful insight into the world of music."

The Boris Spassky Connection

For Kouchak there was never a disconnection between chess and music even when he lost to former world chess champion Boris Spassky. He could not help composing a song!

Jason Kouchak with former world chess champion Boris Spassky. (c) Photo: Jason Kouchak

Completely and happily overwhelmed by this creative genius' thoughts, as I bid adieu, leaving Kouchak to explore further the realms of creative fulfilment, the Frenchman signs off with his favourite poem by none other than Rabindranath Tagore:

Poem On Time