At the first stage, the task was the most mundane: to teach children to play chess. Today, optional chess in the republic is taught in all our schools. Children began to join all-Russian and international competitions and show excellent results at them.
One hundred percent of Kalmyk children play chess today! Now we have international grandmasters. At the age of eleven, Sanan Syugirov became the world champion among children under fourteen. Many have decent international ratings, join tournaments abroad and at the same time study with only excellent marks.”
On June 11, the official Moscow championship among children's chess teams with classical time control (45 minutes for each player + 30 seconds for each move) ended. 43 teams took part in the championship.
In the younger age group (up to 11 years old), the fight for the first place was very dramatic. The championship’s gold won the team of the Kurchatov school, which included 6-year-old Roman Shogdzhiev (whose coach was Mr Sarangov). Roman scored 6 points out of 7, making a significant contribution to the team victory.
First President of Kalmykia, Sixth FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov wished the young chess player good luck and new victories: “In April 1993, one of the first decrees that I signed was about supporting chess in our republic. Later, at FIDE, we created the Chess in Schools programme.
