Our train is going to the South

Right after July 14 the kids that came from all over Russia went to the Chess shift in the children’s camp “Artek”

The children will arrive in Simferopol on July 15 where they will meet the activists of the “United Russia Young guard” and people working in United Russia public support offices, situated in the Crimea.

And now we will remember how it all started…

Before the end of the school year, United Russia social support offices that opened Sergey Karjakin’s chess clubs, hosted children’s tournaments from July 21 to July 25.

The main prizes were tickets to “Artek” international children’s camp to pass a chess shift there. More than a thousand children from 30 regions of the country took part in a selection tournament among boys and girls between 10 and 14 years old (born in 2010-2014). The struggle was very tough, there were sad losses and tears of joy.

100 children received a right to go to Artek: 65 winners of tournaments hosted in Sergey Karjakin’s chess clubs, 10 children from the Moscow Region with the help of the leader of United Russia regional public office Alla Polyakova and the head of the department of the Moscow Region Governor’s events support Elizaveta Babakova as well as Domodedovo district leader Evgeniya Khrustaleva, 15 children with the support from the orphan’s fund “Northern crown” alongside with 10 children from the “Chess league” situated in Saint-Petersburg.

It was indeed hard to organize the trip. There were no tickets for the necessary trains for many days ahead. The situation seemed dark as many kids from all over the country couldn’t reach the destination alone. However, the Russian Railways helped us and agreed to add two extra cars to our train.

We would like to thank PJSC “Russian Railways” and Elena Bulanova and Ekaterina Metlitskaya in person for the necessary documents. We would also like to express a special gratitude the PJSC “Russian Railways” deputy director Alexander Plutnik and his assistant Daniil Makarov.

It would have been hard to deal with the lack of additional cars without the help of the Moscow Region Ministry of Transport and infrastructure, represented by Evgeniya Karetnikova. We would also like to express our special gratitude the minister Alexey Gerzhik.

Speaking about the trip in general, the group leader Natalia Kostikova played a key role in it. She is a mother of many children and gathered up kids from all over Russia. Two other important leaders included the “Northern Crown” fund president Natalia Yunchenkova as well as United Russia Central Executive Committee and Shamil Mansurov in person. He is responsible for the coordination of the project related to the collaboration with citizens. An additional thanks to “United Russia Young Guard” volunteers.

The Moscow Region Chess Federation officials and employees played an active part in the trip. A special thanks to vice-president Oleg Anikanov and chief financial manager Nadezhda Solomonova as well as press office represented by Ekaterina Smirnova.

Sergey Karjakin, the MRCF president:
“Those who keep a close watch on my activities know that we and my team sent the kids from Donbass to participate in the “Donetsk shift” where they recovered and enjoyed new emotions. This shift once came to the Moscow Region, another time it was hosted by Artek and also in the suburbs of Saint-Petersburg. This time we decided to change the name and turned it in the “Chess shift” as children going to Artek passed a special selection in chess clubs under the auspices of United Russia public offices. I would like to thank United Russia political party, the Moscow Region Chess Federation, Russian Railways that helped us a lot with the tickets as well as other people who provided assistance!”

The leader of “Sergey Karjakin’s chess clubs” project in public support offices, the MRCF executive director Albert Minnullin:
“ I am glad that we solved this unsolvable transport problem that happened in high season and brought children from Moscow to Simferopol. I know for sure that many children and their parents started crying when they learnt that the tickets were finally bought. We send children to Artek from all over the country, including the Moscow Region. And among these children are orphans, adopted children, kids from poor families. When they learnt about this chance, they were absolutely happy. There were problems with documents and logistics, but we managed to resolve all these issues. I am sure this trip will become a lifetime experience for these young chess players!”