As you may know, the children's tournament ‘White Rook’ started in the Olympic Sochi at the Dagomys village last Monday. To be exact, it is the final stage in which the young players representing not just a country or city but their home schools are struggling for the very prestigious prizes.Thus, basing on the agreements signed in the Norwegian Tromsø the participants in the ‘White Rook 2015’ would not be the Russian children only but the pupils from Armenia, Belarus, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Mongolia.
What does the ‘White Rook’ actually include? This is the whole cycle of tournaments in which the finalist teams on the way to the main tournament would have to pass through three selection stages: the school, the municipal and regional. The successful performance of the best teams opens them way to the international finales in Sochi, being the traditional venue for the main school tournament of the year.
It is well known that any contest of the young players is carried out in an incredibly tense and dramatic struggle, the outcome of which is almost impossible to predict. However, even at the start of the competition it is possible to point out its the extremely important result reflecting not only its mass-scale but also the highest status of this tournament. This year Vladimir Putin has not visited its opening, however, the President sent his personal congratulations to the participants of "White Rook".
The President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has also personally warmly congratulated the young players. Then, with the participation of the conjurer Artem Shchukin, the lots were drawn for the colour of the figures; two glowing saucers with white and black horses miraculously appeared out of nowhere and then the glow immediately died out.
Thus, the ‘White Rook’ has started its next, the third one and the third in the millennium chess journey. In the end, we will know which of the Russian, and possibly foreign school kids play chess best.
Marina and Sergey Makarychev
