African game is going on

Sergey Karjakin gave a speech on the African Day at the “African horizons” forum and told about chess diplomacy

The African Day is celebrated every year on May 25 and is dedicated to the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963. The forum, organized by “African Initiative” together with “African Business Club” took place On May 24-26 in the Center of International Trade. The program included a round table and reports made by outstanding Russian and African politicians and public persons alongside with a tasting session of national African cuisine, a fair and other activities.

One of the speakers and honorable forum guests was Russian Senator, multiple World Chess Champion and the President of the Moscow Region Chess Federation Sergey Karjakin.

“It is very important to strengthen the collaboration between Russia and African countries. We have got a very good collaboration history during the Soviet times. It is necessary to use this experience and develop it further on. And it is always good to have such meetings in order to cover new fields of activity.

I can say that we had no big chess relations between Russia and Africa and we’ve started to develop them now. Chess schools are being opened in Africa. We provide them online support, I give simultaneous games, we have negotiations going on. Not a long time ago African journalists came to see me in the Federation Council where we had a nice open talk. We plan to support kids in Africa, give simultaneous games, assist the trainers. We really have a lot to share”, — said the World Champion.

The Forum also included a speech given by the State Duma deputy Dmitry Kuznetsov, “African Initiative” information agency chief editor Artem Kureev and representatives of international organizations. Tatiana Dovgalenko, the director of the African partnership department of the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs greeted the participants of the forum online.