Babish Gilzi plays chess

In order to encourage children to play chess the Foundation distributes free books and materials for children with the rules of the chess game, which are written in an entertaining style.

The Founding President WIM Olena Boytsun is the author of the book “Babish Gilzi plays chess”:

“In order for more and more children to be able to discover the game of chess, I wrote the fairytale book “Babish Gilzi plays chess”, where in the form of funny stories little Gilzi teaches his friends the basic rules of the game. The main goal of the book is to awaken the interest of children, so that they could continue their studies in chess centres in their city.”  

Малюк Гільзі грає в шахи

«Babish Gilzi plays chess»

Малюк Гільзі грає в шахи

This book is an exciting fairy-tale that would be tremendously popular with everyone, who enjoys reading about unusual things. You will meet funny magic kids: cheerful Babish Gilzi, shy charming Mryazka, energetic Dugumda, curious Mambik, fidgety Zyuzya and others. Friends socialise, go to school, eat ice-cream from salted cucumbers, and in all situations Babish Gilzi knows that he has the best mother in the world, who will be ready to support him whatever happens. This book shows how to become smart, to find good friends, to make journeys and – of course – to play chess. Together with Babish Gilzi and his friends you will learn who is who in the chess world, how all the chess pieces move (even the Queen!), how pawns can go into the transformation and many other useful things that will help you to become the Real Chessplayer.

Over the years Babish Gilzi and his magic friends have been capturing hearts and minds of many children and adults. Thanks to them Ukrainian children not only learned to play chess, but also received lessons in positive attitude, healthy lifestyle and sincere friendship in a fun way. In the series of books by Olena Boytsun about Babish Gilzi and his friends one more fiction book “Babish Gilzi and his friends” was published, which is a collection of stories unrelated to the chess theme. You can find out more about the Babish Gilzi series of children’s books at Gilzi.online

The book was first presented in 2013 at the Lviv Book Fair, where a fun quiz was held for the youngest forum visitors, in which a resident of Lviv, 10-year-old Orest Yarynych, won. Children could get free useful products in their studies – bookmarks for reading, lesson schedule, information on educational chess centres in Ukraine, etc.

Малюк Гільзі грає в шахи

Orest Yarynych,
participant of the event “Babish Gilzi plays chess”

«I really enjoyed the event with Babish Gilzi in Lviv, it was fun and interesting! And I got a lot of gifts, because I could answer the questions about chess».

In Ukraine, the Chess for Children Foundation regularly organises events for children “Babish Gilzi plays chess”, during which children have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and receive gifts.

The Foundation conducts two types of events:

1) for children who are not yet studying in chess centres, in order to promote for them the game of chess;

An interactive event for children with a presentation of book heroes and a chess game has been developed for junior and middle school age.

2) for young chess players who are already playing chess.

The Foundation accepts invitations from interested chess centres or other institutions to hold events. If you would like to invite Babish Gilzi to your chess club, high school or other institution, please contact us. The Foundation organises events and provides promotional materials for free.

The Foundation also provides books and promotional materials free of charge for participants of the Chess Ukraine project.

I would like to thank the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Chess for Children” that, for the second time, presented books to the Kozatske village library. The first time, they donated two very interesting books for adults, which readers really enjoyed. With an interesting and easy-to-read story, the book found its reader quickly in our library.
Today we received three good children’s books about Babish Gilzi. I was especially interested in the unusual writing of one of the books.Upon opening the first page, I discovered three stories about the life of the main character Babish Gilzi, and at the end of each story, a conclusion was highlighted. For example: ‘MOMS ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD,’ ‘EAT MORE VEGETABLES,’ and so on. I have never seen this in any book. That’s why I really liked it.
We thank all the organisers of this Charitable Foundation. We are very grateful that our library received your gifts!

Hanna (librarian from Kozatske village, Ukraine)

In 2020-2023, events are held online, materials are sent by post.