5 May 2015
Chess into Orphanages Project was Launched in the Orenburg Region
Five chess sections were organized.
A promotional campaign "Chess into Orphanages", initiated by the Russian Chess Federation jointly with the Orenburg Regional Chess Federation, took place in the Orenburg Region. The event was aimed at organizing chess sections in orphanages and boarding schools; all in all five chess sections were organized in Orenburg, which have been equipped with all necessary chess inventory such as chess sets, chess boards and chess clocks, demonstration boards with pieces as well as the teaching materials.
In addition to that, the inmates of these institutions took part in master classes given to them by the Vice President of the Regional Chess Federation Valery Shchelokov and the Chairman of the Orsk Chess Federation Wilhelm Varkentin.
The first chess section was started in Orsk in a boarding school for the hearing-impaired children. Keynote speech was delivered by Valery Schelokov prior to start of the master class, and the children in their turn expressed eagerness to do their best in order to learn how to play chess better.
An experienced trainer / teacher Alexander Lukashenko conducted the first training session and the simul.
The second section was organized in an orphanage of Orsk. Chess has been taught here for a number of years despite an acute shortage of chess inventory. By this moment the children have been supplied with new chess clocks, while the coach was provided with an easy-to-use demonstration board and the necessary training literature. Chess training is offered by the Children's and Youth No.1 Sports School trainer Andrej Pomahov. In the course of the first lesson he demonstrated chess miniatures to the children, whereas the chairman of the Orsk Chess Federation Wilhelm Varkentin organized simultaneous games. All of a sudden the trainees put up a serious resistance to an experienced player, and one of them even managed to hold out to the point of a rook endgame. But in the final run the qualification of the exhibitor manifested itself and he managed to win all the games. Young chess players promised to train as much as possible in order to win at least one game in the upcoming simultaneous exhibition.
While speaking about the significance of the campaign being conducted Valery Shchelokov highlighted the following, ”It is not so important if any of the kids are eventually going to become holders of particular chess titles as it is important to set them in the way of independent frame of thinking and taking responsibility for the correctness of the adopted decisions.”
Other chess sections were started in three orphanages of Orenburg, where teachers and chess veterans of the city will have a chance to successfully share their life and chess experience with children and school them in the basics of this wise game.
Information and pictures presented by Valery Shchelokov
