The champion has kept his word!
And on July 13 offered a first ever simultaneous game to the best players of two African national teams and Russian diplomats!
On June 7 and 28 the Russian diplomats carried out friendly matches against players from Togo and Mozambique. As a results of these matches the best players received a right to play in an online simultaneous against the Russian senator, the Moscow Region Chess Federation president, multiple world champion, GM Sergey Karjakin.
12 players from Togo, Mozambique and the Chess club of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated in the event. The world champion won all the games. The event took place as part of a very active MRCF project “Chess diplomacy in Africa”. A very active part in the organization of the event was played by the Russian embassies in the abovementioned countries, the Council of young diplomats of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Information Agency “African Initiative” and GATINGO International Association (Africa Russia).
Sergey Karjakin paid a special attention to the unique character of the event: “As a matter of fact we are witnessing chess diplomacy in action uniting countries that are situated on two different continents. This project will not only allow to elaborate sports relations but will also offer our African friends a real chess holiday. The game was carried out in a friendly atmosphere and was full of a hot honest chess fight. I would like to point out that Togolese players performed very solid defensive skills”.
The Togolese Chess Federation treasurer Bruno Botsoe who took personal part in the simultaneous game said: “It is worth mentioning that we could have only dreamed of such an event. After a friendly match against the Russian diplomats we saw that our collaboration is becoming larger and stronger. Karjakin’s team managed to do what others simply couldn’t – it doesn’t speak of assistance to African countries – it really helps and gives us hope for a successful realization of our projects with Russia, based on equal rights and mutual respect”.
Commenting on his first game against a famous grandmaster, the participant of 11 national championships Jacques Komlan Amewounou couldn’t help hiding his emotions: “I can’t remember these emotions before. One can only dream of playing against the world champion! This will be the brightest moment in my chess career! Thank you, grandmaster!”
The event chief arbiter Konstantin Bazarov said: “The Togolese players fought till the very end. Bruno Botsoe and Jacques Komlan Amewounou showed the toughest resistance. It was nice to see open chess and active action on the board”.
The best Russian chess commentator GM Sergey Shipov commented the simultaneous game on different platforms: