Anatoly Bykhovsky: Junior chess is booming worldwide

Anatoly Bykhovsky, Honored Trainer of USSR, International Arbiter, and member of the Appeals Committee at the Women’s World Championship, met with 18 chess teachers of Khanty-Mansiysk schools and the Ugra Chess Academy. They discussed development of junior chess, demand for teaching chess as a part of the school curriculum, and participation in the Open All-Russian competition Belaya Ladya. The final tournament of the Belaya Ladya celebrates its 50th anniversary next year.

Anatoly Avraamovich noted that he did not want to give a lecture, but wanted to exchange thoughts on the current state of junior chess. To underscore the dynamic changes in junior chess, Mr. Bykhovsky recalled that when he was starting his chess career, there were no international junior events at all, and even a couple of decades later the chess calendar only featured a biennial U20 championship – a sharp contrast with numerous junior and scholastic events of the modern day. “Junior chess is booming, not only in Russia, but worldwide”, summed up Mr. Bykhovsky. “Chess comes to schools, funding keeps growing – everything is great. However, it is important to organize the work and develop the right strategy”.

The greater part of the meeting was dedicated to the history and development of the Belaya Ladya. Anatoly Bykhovsky was one of the founding fathers of the competition, and shared his conceptual view: “I realized that chess must be promoted with a competition that will draw everyone’s attention. I expected the Belaya Ladya to get an impulse from schoolchildren who take part in it, not from above.”

The tournament exists for nearly 50 years, and its final became international in 2015. The number of participants from abroad is growing each year, but Mr. Bykhovsky has an even more ambitious dream – to carry out the World Scholastic Chess Olympiad some day.

During the concluding part of the meeting, Mr. Bykhovsky exchanged ideas with the audience. They touched upon various scholastic chess topics, from teaching chess at schools to organizing the Belaya Ladya qualifying tournaments. In the end Anatoly Avraamovich received a commemorative gift from the Ugra Chess Academy.