Legends, current and future stars

Last week the Ostankino television center in Moscow organized a "Chess Day", a unique event open to the public, featuring the 10th World Champion Boris Spassky, the world's oldest living grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, and the youngest GM of all time Sergey Karjakin.

Karjakin played eight children from foster families in a simultateous exhibition sponsored by the "Change One Life" foundation, and Averbakh engaged in a friendly duel against the four-year-old phenom Misha Osipov.

Misha Osipov, just four years old and already a star | Photo: Artur Terekulov

Osipov is going to be a name to watch out for, but in this rapid game he evidently benefited from the failing eyesight of his legendary opponent, as mutual blunders under the bright studio lights underscored the novelty of such an intergenerational encounter.

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WGM Elmira Mirzoeva kibitizing over Yuri Averbakh's shoulder | Photo: Artur Terekulov

Elmira Mirzoeva, who hosted and helped organize the showcase, discussed the propitious meeting of Spassky and Averbakh, in an interview with Chess-News.ru:

"It is interesting that before the start of the event Yuriy Lvovich Averbah and Boris Vasilevich Spassky [photo at right] spoke with each other...In my opinion this is priceless! Because these two grandmasters are like two Titans. When they talked among themselves, discussing any position, I, along with Sergey Karjakin and Misha Osipov and all around us just stood open-mouthed, silently listening to them. And the most valuable thing is that these people, precious to all of us, met. Boris Vasilievich told many interesting stories, and his presence, of course, was especially valuable for us. He even took part in our event, in the sense that he commented on the course of the meeting, noted some points, even showed positions. Therefore, the presence of the tenth World Champion is a great honor for us, and special thanks to the organizers for the fact that he attended." 

Before his simul, Sergey Karyakin expressed the hope that meeting with a grandmaster would inspire other future Russian talents.

"The session was very interesting, the guys showed good results! They should continue to train and improve their skills," Karyakin shared. "I especially want to mention the young chess player Artemy Bakaev, he is 11 years old, and he has a great potential."

Sergey Karjakin | Photo: Artur Terekulov

Karjakin won all eight games. Unfortunately none of them have apparently been saved for posterity.

Afterwards there was a tandem game which saw Averbakh paired with Alexander Zhukov (president of the Russian Olympic Committee) against Karjakin and Osipov, the latter pair emerging victorious.

The event was attended by prominent public figures, State Duma deputies, and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. It was held in a studio of Russia's "First Channel", a network which this year celebrates its 50th year in operation.

Other Russian media also reported on the day's events:

Karjakin simul feature (in Russian) | Source: NTV.ru

Little Misha Osipov has already made his chess and television debut on the "First Channel" when he played against another living legend, Anatoly Karpov last November:

Osipov (at three years old) vs. Karpov | Source: Russia's "First Channel" on YouTube

Correction August 5: Former Women's World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk was invited, but did not attend as earlier stated (based on the official press release).

Links

• Ostankino
• Russian Chess Federation report