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个安静的名为Marottichal村的人们，对国际象棋有着非同寻常的热情。信不信由你，他们都是狂热的象棋爱好者。他们对这项棋类的热爱就是：即使当他们不玩的时候，他们也一直在谈论下棋的策略。

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，他们一开始其实对象棋并不感兴趣。上世纪六七十年代的时候，他们的爱好主要是当地人赖以生存的廉价酒。

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.

许多村民那时染上了酒瘾，给整个村落带来灾难性的后果。事情一度发展到了不可收拾的地步。几个村民甚至请求当地政府进村收酒，来帮助他们解除这个这项恶习。

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.

不过在10年级学生C·乌尼克里斯南决定学习国际象棋并让每个村民都爱上国际象棋后，村庄发生了新的变化。受到一篇关于美国传奇人物鲍比·菲舍尔的报道的影响，乌尼克里斯南跑到邻村学习国际象棋。当他掌握了这项棋类之后，他就把这种游戏带回村里。

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.

他在家开设免费国际象棋课程，教那些愿意学习的人。令他高兴的是，国际象棋热很快席卷了整个村庄。他们不仅掌握了游戏的精髓，也对游戏产生了浓厚的热情。

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

就像乌尼克里斯南所倡导的：“下棋是我最热爱的事情。一旦我开始玩，我就会忘记一切。”