Olympiad: For Ukraine, it is more than just a game of chess

Oleksandr Sulypa and the Ukrainian players have somehow put their troubles behind them to make it to the Olympiad from different parts of Europe.

Oleksandr Sulypa, the captain of Ukraine’s open team for the 44th Chess Olympiad, presented a jovial exterior right through his 10-minute conversation with reporters. The topic of discussion, though, is grim and ghastly. He casually slips in, for instance, how one of his players has been left homeless and how another player fled to the Czech Republic after two of his apartments were bombed. He isn’t being insensitive but has perhaps gotten accustomed to the new reality that confronts Ukraine after Russia invaded it in February this year.

Players in action during the 44th Chess Olympiad being hosted by India  (PTI)

Sulypa himself was one of the men territorially defending the city of Lviv in western Ukraine for the first two months after the conflict broke out. Search for his name on Google and one of the first images it throws up is of the 50-year-old standing with a gun and shielding a heavily barricaded road. The image is from February when he tweeted: “I am defending my land from enemies….truth will win!”

Sulypa and the Ukrainian players have somehow put their troubles behind them to make it to the Olympiad from different parts of Europe. The open team is seeded eighth in the competition while the Ukrainian women are seeded second in their category.

“It is very difficult this time. The problem is that practically all the players haven’t been living at home. The main problem for us is to have stability. My main task was to put out a team and have all the players in a stable psychological condition,” he said.

While some of the top teams have had extensive camps in preparation for the event, all Sulypa can do is offer a wry smile when asked about his team’s build-up. “We had no camp. We had a few online meetings as a team and played a few matches but no physical camp. It was not possible to have it. We were together for only 24 hours in Poland before coming here.”

Detailing the misery of each of his players in the open section, he elaborated: “Anton Korobov lost two apartments in Kharkiv and is living in the Czech Republic. His houses don’t exist anymore. The family is thankfully safe. They managed to escape. Andrei Volokitin is living in Poland. Yuriy Kuzubov left his home after a big bombing. I helped him and he is now in Bilbao in Spain. Kirill Shevchenko is homeless now, but he is travelling for tournaments.”

They have had negligible support from Ukraine’s chess federation during this time. Not that Sulypa was expecting much, given that the association’s vice-president is himself in the war zone.

“We don’t have the ideal conditions to come here. We have spent money mostly from our own pockets. I am managing tickets, accommodation, everything. But it is not important whether we spent money or not. It is important that we are here. It is patriotism that brings us here. This is my 11th Olympiad. My first Olympiad was in Moscow in 1994,” he said.

Ukraine won silver in the open section in the 2016 Olympiad, but the chess veteran is realistic about their chances this time.

“We are here just to play. We are not in a position to think about anything else. I don’t understand why countries don’t participate in the Olympiad. When we can be here, there is no reason why other countries can’t come. The situation in Ukraine can get dangerous anytime. I saw rockets around a km away from me. I have seen a lot of bad things,” he said matter-of-factly.