The city chess club hosted the traditional children chess festival "Wunderkind-2012" for the prizes of the  president of Shatar chess club  Bair Tsyrenov on May 26-28. Gifted young participants of this annual event are the hope of Buryatia chess sport. This year this popular event held in the country for the 15-th time.
This tournament started in 1998 and during all these 15 years Yevgeny Bajnai, a children's coach and an honored worker of physical culture, has been its organizer, inspirer and director of the tournament.
The idea to hold such a tournament there was no accident, - says Yevgeny. - Adults often ask me: "Can I teach preschool children to play chess?” Are the kids capable of this useful and interesting game?” Chess is a very disciplining game, they develop memory, ingenuity, resourcefulness, determination, ability to accurately calculate the time, they help to develop character traits such as objectivity, perseverance.  All this proves that children should be interested in chess at an early age.

The festival was sponsored by the METROPOL Group of Companies that has been cooperating with Buryatia chess players for many years. The festival was organized by the Buryatia chess union, Shatar chess club and Sports school for children and youth No.8. The METROPOL Group of Companies has been making material investments into the development of chess in Buryatia, in particular children's chess sport, giving them every support they need. "Our company does that deliberately, - says Bair Tsyrenov, the president of Shatar chess club- since the development of chess sports means intellectual development of children and young people that are the future of our republic."

Bair Dashievich Tsyrenov and the President of Buryatia chess players union Boris Danilov attended the opening ceremony of the festival, talked to the young chess players, approached him with the welcoming words.
 "Wunderkind-2012" featured tournaments: "First grader +" and the actual tournament itself "Wunderkind" for preschoolers.  Competitions were held following the Swiss system in the course of seven rounds. In the end, after three days of chess battles the winners in the boys group were  Dima Bain with a gold medal,  Mergen Vandanov with a silver one and Victor Badmaev a bronze medal. Among the girls the first place was taken by Natasha Dashibalbarova, the second was occupied by Saryuna Sanzhimitypova, and the third by Sasha Inzhievskaya.

In the tournament "Wunderkind" for preschoolers that featured 47 children Misha Monhorov got the first place among the boys. The runners-up were silver medalist Alyosha Urhanov and bronze medalist Ayur Ayusheev. Katya Munkuyeva became an absolute winner among the girls. Marina Semenova got the second place, and the third was occupied by our guest from Shelekhovo, Irkutsk Region,- Nastia Gornakova. In addition, special prizes were awarded by the organizing committee to the best players from rural area - the representatives of the Kurumkansk district Bayar  Budaevand Handa Badmaeva.
At the end of tournament a solemn closing ceremony was held. Young players have received diplomas and prizes, a photography session was carried out for the winners.  The prizes for the winners were cell phones. The prizes were awarded by the first International Grandmaster of Buryatia Anton Shomoev, and all participants, regardless of ranking, were rewarded with sweet gifts.

All participants of Chess Festival "Wunderkind-2012"

During the tournament

Bair Tsyrenov, President of Shatar chess club, Director of the Directorate for regional activities of IFC METROPOL