I had a dream that struck me to the core this spring. It took six months for reflection to make the dream a reality. I opened my travel notebook and made a note: Elista.

For people of my generation, the combination of words ‘Elista’ and ‘Chess’ is not new, because in 1993-2005 the president of Kalmykia was Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a chess player and an ardent supporter of the development of this sport in his homeland. For twenty-three years, Ilyumzhinov was also the President of the FIDE. He opened a FIDE office in Elista, organized and sponsored chess events of world importance in the capital of Kalmykia.
We saw the first chessboard in Elista’s Druzhba Park. A chess table, skilfully decorated with carvings and folk ornaments, was set in a gazebo. We had to bring the chess pieces with us, which we weren’t aware of. Therefore, we made our first move with an imaginary pawn from e2 to e4 and resumed our walk.