China Joins Belaya Ladya

A memorandum of cooperation between Russia and China in scholastic chess development is signed in Shanghai

During the opening ceremony of the Russian-Chinese Match of Friendship chess tournament, officials of Russia and China signed a memorandum of cooperation amid the international scholastic tournament Belaya Ladya, the only large scale international scholastic team event in the world. The agreement was signed between Russian Chess Federation, Chinese Chess Association, and Charitable Foundation of Gennady and Elena Timchenko, which supports annual Belaya Ladya events and the Russian-Chinese Match of Friendship. The memorandum was signed by Maria Morozova, CEO of Timchenko Foundation, Yang Junan, president of Chinese Chess Association, and Mark Glukhovsky, executive director of Russian Chess Federation.

According to the document, Russian Chess Federation provides the winner of the Chinese scholastic team championship an opportunity to participate in the Belaya Ladya final tournament, which traditionally takes place in early June in Sochi.

Belaya Ladya was founded in 1969. Its qualification stage gather thousands of Russian schoolchildren. In 2015 the all-Russian Belaya Ladya scholastic tournament became international: strongest school teams from Armenia, Belarus, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Moldova took part in the final stage. Andrey Filatov, president of Russian Chess Federation, thanked the leadership of Chinese Chess Association. “This is a historic event for Belaya Ladya. Chinese Chess Association pays a lot of attention to scholastic chess development. Hundreds of thousands of young players take part in the qualifying tournaments of the Chinese championship. Inviting such a powerful chess nation as China to our competition is a serious challenge for the organizers and participants of the final tournament. I am very glad that Belaya Ladya continues to expands as an international project. We are planning to increase the number of participating countries in future. This competition not only assist in scholastic chess development, but also teaches children from different countries friendly cooperation and mutual understanding.”

Official web site of the Russian Chess Federation - http://ruchess.ru/ 

The English version - http://ruchess.ru/en/ 

Information for the media:

The Russian Chess Federation (RCF) is a public non-profit organization that brings to-gether individuals and chess federations of republics, regions, federal cities, autonomous regions and districts of the Russian Federation. The mission of the Russian Chess Federa-tion is to promote and popularize chess in the Russian Federation. The RCF was founded on February 15, 1992. It organizes the annual Russian Children's Championship, the White Rook tournament among educational institutions, the Russian championship and other chess competitions. In 2012, the Chess in Museums program was launched in Russia at the initiative of the RCF.

Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. The family of Elena and Gen-nady Timchenko has been doing charity both in Russia and abroad for more than 20 years. In late 2010, the Timchenkos founded a charitable foundation, which was called Ladoga until September 2013, in order to achieve long-term progress in phylanthropy. Today it is named Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation (the Timchenko Foundation), and its program portfolio includes all the areas of family charity. The Tim-chenko Foundation focuses on promoting active longevity, developing sports and culture and aiding families and children. These strategic initiatives aim to provide a systemic solu-tion for Russian social problems. The Foundation's official website: www.timchenkofoundation.org.