Belaya Ladya Fourth International Final Opens in Dagomys

Vladimir Putin sends his greetings to participants, organizers and guests.

On June 1st, 2018, the 49th final tournament of the traditional all-Russian scholastic chess team event Belaya Ladya (also known as White Rook) was officially opened in Dagomys (Sochi).  

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin sent his greetings to participants, organizers and guests of the tournament. The message reads, in part:

“All these years, your prestigious tournament has been working to fulfill its mission, which is to promote chess, a wonderful and intellectual game. You identify talented children and offer them an opportunity to prove their talent and learn from famous chess masters.

I would like to say that much attention has always been given to chess in Russia, in particular by promoting chess at school. The Belaya Ladya tournament has played a vital role in the careers of many award-winning chess players. It helped them succeed in their profession. It is good that your tournament is growing stronger every year and attracting an increasing number of young participants from around the world.

I wish you success and vivid impressions from this festival and the Black Sea coast of Russia.”

The Belaya Ladya national chess tournament was first held in 1969 and became an international event in 2015. Over 100 teams from 78 Russian regions and 22 other countries are participating in the tournament now underway in Sochi.

Some 50,000 school students under 14 took part in the elimination competitions that were held in their regions between September 2017 and May 2018.

The text is published on the official site of the Russian President.

The speakers at the opening ceremony were the RCF Executive Director Mark Glukhovsky, Deputy Director General of Elena and Gennady Timchenko Foundation Igor Baradachev, one of the tournament's founders IA Anatoly Bykhovsky, Mayor of Aspropyrgos Nikolaos Meletiou, and First Deputy Director General of Dagomys Ulyana Kirnosova.  

Mark Glukhovsky read out the greetings from the 12h world champion Anatoly Karpov and reminded of the vast program which awaits the participants of Belaya Ladya this year.  

Igor Baradachev thanked Dagomys for hosting the event for the fifth time on the highest level possible and wished good luck to everybody.  

Anatoly Bykhovsky congratulated everybody on two jubilees: 50th anniversary of the Belaya Ladya chess club and the 50th anniversary of the tournament. He also spoke about Belaya Ladya's history and expressed the wish to see a World Chess Olympiad among school teams.  

Nikolaos Meletiou noted that Aspropyrgos is translated "White Tower", so the team's participation in Belaya Ladya is not occasional.  

Ulyana Kirnosova thanked everybody for coming to Dagomys and expressed the joy of seeing so many young faces here. She also invited everyone to come here more frequently.  

A concert in two parts was organized as well. Graduate of the Glier School of Music Matvey Glukhovsky (piano) played Chopin, while a student of the Moscow Conservatory Olga Gabulova (violin) performed several pieces of music together with a pedagogue of the Gnessin State Musical College Elena Plyaskevich (piano).   

After the official part, participants and guests saw a spectacular firework. 

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 Uni-fied Energy System (FGC UES), and PhosAgro.

This year, 100 teams from 78 regions of Russia and 21 countries of the world will take part in the final event. Apart from schoolchildren from Armenia, Belarus, England, Estonia, Greece, India, Israel, Kazakh-stan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldavia, Mongolia, Romania, Slovakia, there are also players from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Kenia, Serbia, Sweden, and Turkmenistan. 

A team from orphanages and boarding schools is participating in the final competition for the fourth year in a row. Children from the Boarding School №26 from Ryazan Oblast, who won the Ascension tournament (Sochi, 2018), will join other participants in the Belaya Ladya finals. 

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

Traditionally, a vast cultural and entertaining program will accompany the event. Master classes, lectures, games analysis, mind games, contests, and sport events will be organized. A two-time Russian champion, a three-time Olympic champion Alexander Morozevich, former European champion, coach of the Russian national women’s chess team Evgeniy Najer, and a two-time world champion in chess composition Oleg Pervakov will work with children. Coaches and pedagogues will be invited to take part in a roundtable discussions which will be held by the RCF Executive Director Mark Glukhovsky and other speakers. 

On June 4-5, the all-Russian conference of  teachers and pedagogues of additional education, who were taking an active part in the Chess Universal Education in Russia contest, will take place in Dagomys during Belaya Ladya. 

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 Gen-nady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, will be held. 9 teams from Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, and Pskov regions, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Zabaykalsky Krai, Chuvashia, Ingushetia, Udmurtia, and will take part in it.  
 
Tournament page 

Photos by Vladimir Barsky