President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), former head of the Republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told NSN that he knew about Vasilyeva's passion for chess. According to Ilyumzhinov, it is possible to start teaching children chess from the preschool age.
"The earlier a child starts playing chess, the better for its full intellectual development. For example, three-year-old Misha Osipov has already played with the World Champion Anatoly Karpov, although he lost to him. He began to study chess when he was one year and eight months old. The same young talents, who play chess being 3-5 years old, are in China and Belarus," said Ilyumzhinov in an interview to NSN.
Olga Vasilyeva provided Izvestia newspaper with the data, according to which the school performance of children playing chess is higher by 35-40 per cent. The statistics of the Ministry of Education and Science was confirmed by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who provided a same example from his region.
"Chess is the only sport that instantly develops brain’s both logical and creative hemispheres. Chess has been introduced in almost every school as an elective subject in Kalmykia since 1994. And the children really began to learn better. Concentration, memory, assiduity and discipline improved. Many people associate chess in school with another lesson of physical education but chess is not just a sport. As the World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik once said, chess is a combination of culture, science and sports, "Ilyumzhinov explained.