Third International Final Scholastic Event Belaya Ladya Starts in Dagomys on Children’s Day

Almost 100 teams are taking part in the event.

On June 1, the 48th final tournament of the traditional all-Russian scholastic chess team event Belaya Ladya (also known as White Rook) will start  in Dagomys (Sochi). Since 2015, Belaya Ladya welcomes teams from foreign countries. This year, almost 100 teams from 80 regions of Russia and 17 countires of the world will take part in the final event. Apart from schoolchildren from Armenia, Belarus, China, Estonia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldavia, and Mongolia, there are also players from Bulgaria, England, Greece, India, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. 

The organizers of Belaya Ladya are the Russian Chess Federation and Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation. The competition is also supported by Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, Renault Russia Company, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES), and PhosAgro.

The best Russian team composed of 5 participants will be presented with a trip to France in October 2017, thanks to the support of Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and Renault Russia Company. The team will play a match against the French schoolchildren of the same age and visit a Renault factory. 



Founded in 1969, the tournament Belaya Ladya expands every year. More than 8000 schoolchildren under 14 years of age participated in qualification tournaments in all regions of Russia during 2016/2017 academic year.

17 foreign teams, who won schoolchildren's competitions in their countires, will take part in the final event this year. Let us note that children from 6 countires arrived in Dagomys in 2015, and only 9 foreign teams participated in the event in 2016. 

A team from orphanages and boarding schools is participating in the final competition for the third year in a row. Children from the Luga Sanatory Boarding School, who won the Ascension tournament (Sochi, 2017), will join other participants in the Belaya Ladya finals. This was made possible by RCF programme aimed at providing chess education to the children growing without parents. 

On June 1, the opening ceremony of the tournament will take place in Dagomys. The partcipants will be entertained by a special programme and a concert of pupils of Musical College Named After the Gnessins. 

The competition will be held according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds. The winners will be announced on June 8. 

Traditionally, a broad cultural and entertaining program will accompany the event. Master classes, lectures, games analysis, mind games will be organized. Coaches and pedagogues will be invited to take part in a roundtable discussion of teaching chess at schools. 

In parallel with Belaya Ladya, the final competition of Chess in Schools project, which is conducted by the Russian Chess Federation together with Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, will be held. 6 teams from Pskov Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and Ingushetia will take part in it.  

Tournament page