The Week of Chess art in Dnipropetrovsk

The Week of Chess art in Dnipropetrovsk

For the first time in Ukraine from the 19th till the 25th of April 2012 in Dnipropetrovsk the unique event was organized – the Week of Chess art, which consisted of the number of sport and intellectual activities with the participation of more than 5000 players from the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Russia, Belorus, Israel.The events were organized to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Dnipropetrovsk region and to develop the intellectual movement in the region.

The simultaneous game on 80 boards with GM Alik Gershon, who is the holder of the Guinness World Records certificate and also a native of Dnipropetrovsk. The session lasted more than 6 hours, and players of Dnipropetrovsk were able to beat the grandmaster 7 times and 17 games were drawn.

The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Oleksandr Vilkul said: “The economy of developed countries is called “the economy of knowledge”. In global competition those countries will win that appreciate and develop the intellect. For Dnipropetrovsk, which is one of the leading regions in Ukraine, the priority is to develop the intellectual potential of the region. The International week of Chess art will be one of the most significant events in the history of the region”.

On the invitation of the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Alexander Vilkul and the Ukrainian Chess Federation, the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited the opening of the Week of Chess art, which took place on April 19, 2012 in the Potemkin palace in Dnepropetrovsk.

Within the Week of Chess Art from the 19th of April until the 16th of May 2012 in Dnipropetrovsk Historical museum the exhibition “Move by move” was opened. The exhibion is devoted to the history of chess of Dnipropetrovsk region and higlights not only the activities of local administration but also the visits of such famous chess players as Jose Raul Capablanca, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal to Dnipropetrovsk.

For the temporary exhibition in the Museum the Ukrainian Chess Federation provided the Hamilton-Russell Cup, which is the main prize of the World Chess Olympiad. It was made from the personal funds of the President of the British Chess Federation Federic Hamilton-Russell for the first World Chess Olympiad, held in 1927 in London. The Ukrainian chess team won the temporary Cup in the Chess Olympiad 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk.

At the Diorama “Battle for Dnepr” place during the Week of Chess art the exhibition “I would compare the life with chess board” was opened, where pupils of Dnipropetrovsk art schools presented their work on the subject of chess.

As a result of the exhibition the catalog of artists’ works was published, coordinated by Irina Filatova. The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited the exhibition. The young artist Polina Usenko presented her work “Chess Maharajah» to the FIDE President. “Chess Maharajah” was created using an interesting technique of combining graphics, pastels and gouache on black paper.

Many other events were organized within the Week of Chess art, among others there were international chess composition tournament at the National Center for Youth Aerospace Education, Internet competition for solving chess tasks among pupils of Dnipropetrovsk region, blitz tournament among veterans in Shevchenko Park etc.

The traditional school team tournamed “Memorial of A.V. Sinitsyn” also took place within the Week of Chess art. For many years the event is financially supported by the businessperson Andrey Filatov, a native of Dnipropetrovsk and the main sponsor of the World Chess Championship match between Vishwanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand to be held in Moscow in May 2012. The children tournament brought together teams from Russia (St. Petersburg, Orel), Belarus (Minsk, Gomel), and Ukraine (Donetsk, Lugansk, Poltava region, and 10 clubs from Dnipropetrovsk). The winners of the tournament became the team of Sports School – 9 (Dnipropetrovsk), the second place took the team from the School named by B. Spassky (St. Petersburg), the third place got the team from Lugansk. All winner team as an additional prize will get an opportunity to attend the Anand-Gelfand match in Moscow.

The Dnipropetrovsk region is located in southeastern Ukraine. The region area is 31,900 km², the region population amounts to 3,476,200 people. The Dnipropetrovsk region has a high industry potential and produces about 16,9% of the total industry production of Ukraine.

Selected TV-reports:
Ukrainian national channel ICTV http://fakty.ictv.ua/ua/index/read-news/id/1446637
Ukrainian national channel UT-1 http://1tv.com.ua/uk/news/2012/04/19/19858
Dnipropetrovsk regional Channel 11 http://www.11channel.dp.ua/news/dp/2012/04/19/20552.html

Photos and information: Press Department of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration, Marketing Directorate of the Ukrainian Chess Federation