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The people of Marottichal, a sleepy little village in thestate of Kerala in southern India, have a ratherunusual passion for chess. Believe it or not, they'reall chess enthusiasts. Their love for the game is suchthat even when they're not playing, they're talkingstrategy all the time.

印度南部喀拉拉邦的一個安靜的名為Marottichal村的人們，對國際象棋有著非同尋常的熱情。信不信由你，他們都是狂熱的象棋愛好者。他們對這項棋類的熱愛就是：即使當他們不玩的時候，他們也一直在談論下棋的策略。

But villagers weren't always interested in thecheckered board game. Back in the '60s and '70s, their passions lay elsewhere – mainly in thelocal liquor that they made for a living.

但是，他們一開始其實對象棋并不感興趣。上世紀六七十年代的時候，他們的愛好主要是當地人賴以生存的廉價酒。

Many of the residents were addicted to the cheap brew, with disastrous consequences for thewhole community. Things got so bad at one point that a few villagers actually requestedgovernment authorities to raid the village and get rid of some of their liquor stock.

許多村民那時染上了酒癮，給整個村落帶來災難性的后果。事情一度發展到了不可收拾的地步。幾個村民甚至請求當地政府進村收酒，來幫助他們解除這個這項惡習。

But things began to change when one villager – a 10th grade student named C. Unnikrishnan –decided that he wanted to learn chess. Inspired by a news report about American legendBobby Fischer, Unnikrishnan traveled to a nearby village to attend classes and learn the gamehimself. And once he got the hang of it, he made it his mission to get everyone in the villagehooked.

不過在10年級學生C·烏尼克里斯南決定學習國際象棋并讓每個村民都愛上國際象棋后，村莊發生了新的變化。受到一篇關于美國傳奇人物鮑比·菲舍爾的報道的影響，烏尼克里斯南跑到鄰村學習國際象棋。當他掌握了這項棋類之后，他就把這種游戲帶回村里。

So he started giving free chess lessons at his house to anyone who was willing to learn, andto his delight, the chess bug spread through Marottichal like wildfire. Not only did they graspthe nuances of the game, they also developed a deep passion for it.

他在家開設免費國際象棋課程，教那些愿意學習的人。令他高興的是，國際象棋熱很快席卷了整個村莊。他們不僅掌握了游戲的精髓，也對游戲產生了濃厚的熱情。

As Unnikrishnan puts it: "Chess is my passion. Once I start playing, I forget everything."

就像烏尼克里斯南所倡導的：“下棋是我最熱愛的事情。一旦我開始玩，我就會忘記一切。”