On June 1, 2017, the 48th final tournament of the traditional all-Russian scholastic chess team event Belaya Ladya (also known as White Rook) will start in Dagomys, Sochi.
Since 2015, Belaya Ladya welcomes teams from foreign countries. This year, almost 100 teams from 80 regions of Russia and 17 countries of the world will take part in the final event.
Apart from schoolchildren from Armenia, Belarus, China, Estonia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldavia, and Mongolia, there are also players from Bulgaria, England, Greece, India, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
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 Unified Energy System (FGC UES), and PhosAgro.
The best Russian team composed of 5 participants will be presented with a trip to France in October 2017, thanks to the support of Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation and Renault Russia Company. The team will play a match against the French schoolchildren of the same age and visit a Renault factory.
Founded in 1969, the tournament Belaya Ladya expands every year. More than 8000 schoolchildren under 14 years of age participated in qualification tournaments in all regions of Russia during 2016/2017 academic year.
17 foreign teams, who won schoolchildren’s competitions in their countries, will take part in the final event this year. Let us note that children from 6 countries arrived in Dagomys in 2015, and only 9 foreign teams participated in the event in 2016.
A team from orphanages and boarding schools is participating in the final competition for the third year in a row. Children from the Luga Sanatory Boarding School, who won the Ascension tournament (Sochi, 2017), will join other participants in the Belaya Ladya finals. This was made possible by RCF programme aimed at providing chess education to the children growing without parents.
On June 1, the opening ceremony of the tournament will take place in Dagomys. The participants will be entertained by a special programme and a concert of pupils of Musical College Named After the Gnessins.
The competition will be held according to the Swiss system in 9 rounds. The winners will be announced on June 8.
Traditionally, a broad cultural and entertaining program will accompany the event. Master classes, lectures, games analysis, mind games will be organized. Coaches and pedagogues will be invited to take part in a round-table discussion of teaching chess at schools.
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 Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation, will be held. 6 teams from Pskov Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast, Zabaykalsky Krai, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and Ingushetia will take part in it.
For reference
Belaya Ladya is an annual All-Russia chess tournament for teams of educational institutions. It was founded in 1969 and is organized by the Russian Chess Federation and the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science. The tournament is held with the support of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. Eligible for participation are pupils younger than 14. The tournament is held in several rounds; the best teams from the participating regions play the final games. Prior to 1991, Belaya Ladya, along with Leather Ball and Golden Puck, was tremendously popular, and millions of Soviet schoolchildren played qualifying rounds. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the tournament took a pause lasting longer than a decade. Belaya Ladya was revived in 2004. The mission of the tournament is to popularize chess among pupils, find talented young players and develop the creative and intellectual capacity of young people. In 2016, 6,500 pupils played the qualifying rounds, and 332 young participants from 80 Russian regions advanced to the final stage.
Russian Chess Federation (RCF) is a public non-profit organization that brings together individuals and chess federations of republics, regions, federal cities, autonomous regions and districts of the Russian Federation. The mission of the Russian Chess Federation is to promote and popularize chess in the Russian Federation. The RCF was founded on 15 February 1992. The RCF organizes the annual All-Russian children’s chess tournament Belaya Ladya, the Championship of Russia and other chess tournaments. In 2012, the RCF launched the “Chess in Museums” program. In 2014, the RCF launched the Chess to Orphanages program. The first competition between teams from orphanages and boarding schools took place in Zhemchuzhina Grand Hotel in Sochi on May 2-9, 2016.
Official website: www.ruchess.ru/en/
Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation is one of the biggest family funds of Russia. Elena and Gennady Timchenko have been involved in charitable activities for over 25 years, both in Russia and abroad. In late 2010, they established a charitable foundation to pursue long-term philanthropic goals especially focused on the development of small territories. The core activities of the Foundation are to support active longevity, develop amateur youth sports, help families and children, promote Russian regions through culture, and international humanitarian collaboration. These strategic objectives are aimed at systematically addressing contemporary issues in Russia and strengthening international relations.
We are successfully transforming society’s attitude towards the older generation and seeking to improve living standards for Russia’s senior citizens. We ensure the wellbeing of children deprived of parental care. We promote sport, making it available to all, irrespective of age, physical ability and place of residence. We promote cultural development in Russian regions, preserve Russia’s cultural and historical legacy, and build a “culture bridge” connecting Russia to other
countries as a foundation for good neighbourly relations.
The Foundation helps people who change their lives and the world around them for the better. We are working for the present and future of our country.
Official website: www.timchenkofoundation.org/en/
Renault Russia company, established in 1998, is one of the leaders of Russian automotive industry and one of the major investors into the Russian automo-tive field. The company’s actives include two manufacturing areas: the Mos-cow factory and the assembly line in Tolyatti (together with the partners of Avtovaz-Renault-Nissan Alliance). A well-developed dealer net, comprised of 169 points in Russia, allowes to provide our clients with a permanently high level of service. Since 1998, more than 1.5 million Renault cars have been sold. Renault Russia relies heavily on local manufacturing and produces a wide range of popular models adapted to Russian conditions and possessing good export potential.
Renault has a rich history with sports, and its partnership with RCF aims at expanding the popularity of chess as wide as possible.
Official website: https://www.renault.ru/
FGC UES (Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System) – is the larg-est electricity transmission company grid of the world. The company was es-tablished in 2002 as an organization to manage a unified national (All-Russia) electrical network with a view to its preservation and development.
The Company’s assets include 140 thousands km of transmission lines with capacity up to 1,150 kV (PTL) and 939 substations with more than 334 GVA. Based on the length of transmission lines and installed transformer capacity, Federal Grid is the largest publicly traded electricity transmission company in the world.
Federal Grid’s business is to provide electricity transmission and technological connection services. It maintains and develops the grid system and supervises grid facilities and infrastructure in 77 Russian regions, covering a territory of 15.1 million square kilometres. Its customers are regional distribution companies, electricity suppliers and large industrial enterprises.
The company is a part of PAO Rosseti, a Russian power company, comprises interregional and regional distribution grid companies (IDGCs/RDGCs), research and development institutes, design and construction institutes, and construction and sales entities. In 2014, the company included more than 22 thousands of workers.
FGC UES’s Chairman of Board is Andrey Murov.
Since 2016, the company is the general sponsor of the Russian chess national teams.
Official website: http://www.fsk-ees.ru/eng/
PhosAgro is a Russian vertically integrated company and one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate-based fertilisers. Its core line of business is the production of phosphate-based fertilisers, high-grade phosphate rock (P2O5>35.7%), and also feed phosphates, nitrogen fertilisers and ammonia.
PhosAgro’s primary assets include Apatit, PhosAgro-Cherepovets (established as a result of the merger of Ammophos and Cherepovetsky Azot), Balakovo branch of OJSC Apatit, Metachem, PhosAgro-Trans, PhosAgro-Region and NIUIF.
The Company is Europe’s largest producer of phosphate-based fertilisers, the world’s largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock and the world’s second largest producer (excluding China) of MAP and DAP (according to Fertecon), Russia’s only producer of feed monocalcium phosphate (MCP), and also the sole producer of nepheline concentrate in Russia.
The general partner of the Russian Chess Federation.
Official website: https://www.phosagro.com