The All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Chess for Children” (UCF “Chess for Children”) was founded in Ukraine in November 2012 by Women International Master (WIM) Olena Boytsun.
UCF “Chess for Children”
The primary mission of the Foundation includes the following goals:
Discovering the potential of every child through engaging children into a game of chess
Creating opportunities for harmonious and all-round development of a child
Popularisation of the game of chess and a healthy lifestyle in the society
The comprehensive charitable program was developed by the founder of the Foundation according to the statutory directions of activity. During more than a decade the projects of the charitable program experienced changes as necessary to serve the mission in the best possible way. For example, one of the main projects of the Chess for Children Foundation – “Evgeniy Sozonov Award” – has been transformed over the years in the administrative part, while the main idea – to support talented children who show good results both in education and in the game of chess – remains unchanged. Every year in December, the founder of the Foundation evaluates the results of projects for the past year and, if necessary, adjusts the program and projects for the next year.
The Chess for Children foundation is implementing the following projects:
- Sozonov Award – the project “Award named after Evgeniy Sozonov” is a private national annual award. It was established by the Foundation in 2013 with the aim of supporting talented children aged between 10 to 16 years old, who show good results in both chess and school studies.
- Literary chess (“Babish Gilzi plays chess”) – the project is devoted to development and distribution of free books and materials for children with the rules of the game of chess, which are written in an entertaining style.
- Chess Ukraine is a project aimed at promoting the all-round development of chess in Ukraine, in particular, promoting the establishment and functioning of chess clubs, schools and groups in Ukraine, providing consulting and charitable assistance, chess equipment, educational literature, organising events and training sessions, etc.
- Chess Posters – the foundation develops and distributes colorful chess-themed posters to popularise the game of chess.
- Chess Holiday – this project implies the organisation of holidays and events with the aim of popularising the game of chess in society with the involvement of wider press and public.
One of the most significant and memorable chess events organised by the Foundation was the first female advanced chess match in the world, which also became the first advanced chess match in the history of Ukraine.
Founding President
The Founding President of the Chess for Children Foundation Olena Boytsun has devoted many years to the game of chess as a player, a manager and a promoter. In childhood Olena’s trainers were her grandfather, the candidate to the chess master Evgeniy Sozonov (Sport School No. 10, Dnipro) and international grandmaster Oleksandr Moroz (Sport School No. 9, Dnipro). Olena holds the titles of Women International Master WIM (2001) and International Organizer IO (2011).
Since 2004 Olena Boytsun has founded and led a number of successful chess projects and held senior positions at governing bodies of the Ukrainian Chess Federation (UCF), Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) and International Chess Federation (FIDE), including representing Ukraine during the FIDE congresses. In 2012 Olena founded the Chess for Children Foundation and has been focusing on the development of charity programs of the foundation since then. More details about Olena’s chess projects can be found on the website MarketingChess.com.
Olena Boytsun is an author of a series of books for children “Babish Gilzi and his friends” and of the fiction novel “In Oxford”.
Olena is an economist by education and has over 18 years of investment and management experience, having worked and studied in Europe, Asia and the US. She leads the Diversity of Capital and Impact Investing initiative. Founder of the communication group “Technology and Society”, the main goal of which is to create a communication platform for discussing a wide range of issues related to the impact of technological progress on society.
Olena graduated summa cum laude with a Master in International Economics from Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipro) National University in Ukraine (2004). She was a Chevening Scholar at Oxford University (2006-2007) and a recipient of ERP DAAD scholarship for economics at Passau University in Germany (2002-2003).
“When I look back at my childhood, I realise how bright it was thanks to chess. It was a fair and wonderful world, filled with emotions and feelings: sad when something fails, joyful when you feel the taste of victory or the beauty of a chess problem. The projects of our charity program of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Chess for Children” are aimed at enabling even more children to discover their potential through the game of chess and to make their lives brighter.
I am grateful to all partners, colleagues, friends, coaches, parents and young chess players, with whom we have the pleasure of cooperating for more than 10 years, and I am sure that many more interesting projects await us in the future.”
With best wishes,
Olena Boytsun
WIM (Women International Master),
IO (International Organizer), Founding President of
the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation
«Chess for Children»
The Foundation pays particular attention to the cooperation with Ukrainian and international press in order to popularise the game of chess in the society.
Photos published at the website are by Maks Levin, Mykola Gavlijuk, Oleksandr Ratushniak, Oleksandr Svetlovskiy, Yulia Pobedisnka, and from personal archives of chess schools and young chess players.
In April 2014 the UCF “Chess for Children” was declared “Social Initiative of the Year in Ukraine” at the national award ceremony “Sport Stars”. It was organised by the Sport Committee of Ukraine to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace