Before the meeting with Karjakin, the schoolchildren had a tour of the Chess Museum of the Russian Chess Federation.
At the same time, the meeting with the grandmaster was a surprise for them.
As Karjakin said, initially it was not his idea.
“Initially, it all started with the fact that the mother of one chess player wrote a letter to the Russian Chess Federation to ask me to play with the children of Donbass.
It was sent to me, and together with the federation we are holding such a wonderful event.
I am very pleased to see children who are passionate about chess, ”RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.
Karyakin also noted that this meeting is very important for him, since he lived in the Donetsk region for three years.
On March 21, the FIDE ethics commission suspended the Russian grandmaster from participating in competitions under the auspices of the organization due to support for a military special operation in Ukraine.