10 June 2016
The Europe – Asia Match Among Second Graders
Photographic report of Vladimir Barsky from Dagomys.
While Belaya Ladya is sailing under full sail towards the finish line and the Chinese schoolchildren continue widening the gap over their pursuers, one competition in Dagomys has already come to an end. It was the final tournament of the competition for best organization of the chess teaching process at the schools of the Trans-Baikal and the Pskov regions. This competition makes part of the program "Supporting chess at schools of the Russian Federation", which is carried out by the Russian Chess Federation with the support from the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation.
Two best second grade teams from the Zabaykalsky Krai and the Pskov Oblast challenged each other in as many as four matchups. While each team was represented by 4 pupils from best rural and urban schools, their acquaintance with chess has taken place only in the beginning of this school year. The Pskov Oblast has been represented by the Stremutkinskaya secondary school of the Pskov region and Lyceum № 11 of Velikie Luki. The Zabaykalsky Krai has been represented by the Tsagan-Chelutayskaya secondary school and Mogoytuyskaya secondary school #2.
In fact, the study of chess at the Pskov Oblast has been introduced into the secondary school curriculum since 2008, whereas the Zabaykalsky Krai has joined the program only recently. A more extensive experience in terms of work organization is considered to be a substantial leg-up in this issue. Persistent struggle resulted in the Pskov schoolchildren taking the upper hand, winning three out of four games and ending one in a draw. Each round scores are as follows: 6-2, 4-4, 5-3, 5-3. The schoolchildren from the Zabaykalsky Krai thanked their opponents for the lessons learnt and wrapped up the closing ceremony by singing a song and performing a dance.
Not only have children benefited from playing chess and getting to know their peers, but from taking a good amount of rest as well. An additional program has been organized for the children: a tour of Sochi that included a visit of the Piviera Park and of the dolphinarium, as well as outdoor games at playgrounds of the Dagomys Resort.
The competition for best organization of the chess teaching process at schools of the Pskov Oblast is carried out by the Russian Chess Federation with the support from the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation for the second consecutive year already, while the Zabaykalsky Krai saw this program launched in December 2015. In August 2016, all winning schools will be awarded with laptops, chess inventory and chess books.
Meanwhile, being bored for lack of occupation is out of the question for the Belaya Ladya participants at all. They spend their free time outside the chessboards oscillating between playing football and table tennis, attending master classes held by Sergey Rublevsky and Mark Dvoretsky, and happily challenging each other in the trivia games organized for them by Andrei Shumakov.
