Ksenia said that when he saw how dad and grandfather were playing. At first, the parents worked with their son at home on their own, and at 2.8 they took him to the coach. “Recently, my son has taken a great interest in online chess,” said Ksenia. "Misha is delighted with the opportunity to play with some chess player from Malaysia, for example."

Skolkovo + chess \u003d big children's tournament. | Photo of the Chessqueen Cup.

The Cup was held from 17 to 18 November at the Moscow School of Management in Skolkovo near Moscow. Alexandra Kosteniuk ... Interest in the competition was aroused not only by the presence of the prize-winner of the World Women's Championship at the closing of the tournament, but also by the victory in the tournament "under six" Misha Osipova, known for his participation in media projects.

This weekend, the Moscow School of Management welcomed young chess players to its walls.

Recall that in November 2016, three-year-old Misha, on the air of the popular TV show "Best of All", played chess with the 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov, and a year later

Misha regularly participates in competitions, for example, in September he scored 50% of the points at the European Under-Eight Championship in Riga, and in March this year he entered the top ten strongest Moscow chess-players “Under-nine”. At the "Kosteniuk Cup" in his age category, he was the second in the rating.

If four years ago, when Misha's parents were looking for a coach for their two-year-old child, all chess sections were accepted for training only from the age of six, at least from the age of five, now it was the tournament "under six" that turned out to be the most populous, and Misha was opposed children who started playing chess, perhaps thanks to his example.

The most massive tournament is under six years old. | The photo Chessqueencup.

Of course, children always remain children, and on weekends, within the walls of Skolkovo, not only the merry knock of the clock was heard, but also the loud sobs of the losers. Most of the fights, which took place with a control of 20 minutes per game + 10 seconds for each move, ended up rather quickly with the victory of one of the young participants; the struggle could only drag on on the first tables. In the penultimate round, Misha's game lasted more than an hour, he stubbornly defended in the worst endgame, but ultimately lost.

For the round before the end of the competition, Misha shared 3-4 places, half a point behind the leaders. Mathematically, this seems almost impossible, but in the last round, both leaders lost, and Misha won, sharing first place with Igor Nikishin, which he bypassed only on the third additional indicator.

The tournament did not provide for the recording of moves, but the correspondent managed to record the game of the two winners, played in the fourth round.

Do not forget that both opponents are not even six years old, and they played rapid chess. The chairs in the tournament hall were so high that they had to climb onto the seat with their legs.

The strongest are lucky. Yuri and Misha Osipovs are studying the standings.

Yuri Osipov, Misha's father, talks about his first steps and what is happening to him now:

When Misha was two and a half years old, my father and I played chess in the country. Misha watched us for an hour, then he started asking questions. He still did not know how to speak, but he quickly memorized the moves of all the pieces except the knight and began to play himself. At first I thought that a child in two and a half years old will get tired of it quickly, but a week, a month passed, and he still played.

I decided that if I now teach him myself, I will do it wrong, and I will have to retrain. The coach was not easy to find, but I saw the site Ekaterina Popova, who taught chess to children from the age of four and agreed to take Misha, although he was two years old. Later we began to be friends with her and her husband, grandmaster, European Rapid Chess Champion 2016 Ivan Popov, but at first she was very surprised by our call.

Misha studied with Katya for about a year, but after a while she began to get ready for maternity leave. Again I had to think about the coach. When I said that my son is three years old and he plays chess, they asked me: "How does he play? Chews pieces?" Then Katya offered to participate in the show "Best of all" on Channel One. In many ways, we were lucky with a favorable coincidence of circumstances: on the eve of the match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin television paid a lot of attention to chess.

November 2017. Misha Osipov vs. GM Yuri Averbakh .

What has changed since then? Firstly, we were taken to the School of the Olympic Reserve named after T. Petrosyan. Secondly, we began to receive offers of cooperation. We are deeply indebted to the Constellation of Good Foundation to them. Oleg Zhuravskywhich supports three chess players: Lisa Solozhenkina, Ilya Makoveeva and Misha, sponsoring away tournaments. Misha also wears Little Jentrys clothing at tournaments - we have been cooperating with this online boutique of children's clothing for a long time.

How much time does Misha devote to chess? Three times a week he attends group classes at the S. T. Petrosyan with a coach Evgenia Kuchumova, once a week - individually workshops via Skype with Ekaterina Popova. Misha plays in tournaments at least once a month. He even learned to write to write down his moves, so his first letters were English. In the "Petrosyan School" there was a tournament with forms - Misha looked at the board and wrote down the coordinates. The scribbles were scary, but he understood the principle.

Alexandra Kosteniuk, Ekaterina Popova and Misha Osipov with a trophy. | Photo from the archives of the Osipov family.

And Misha constantly plays on the site - more than 1400 games in two years. No blitz: 30 minutes per game in a relaxed atmosphere. One day he does not have time to play a single one, on the other, on the contrary, there are several games, but he visits the site constantly.

Misha has recently become very interested in genetics. He looked in the mirror and began to ask us: "What kind of eyes do I have? - Blue. - And you have brown. And what kind of mother? Also blue. And if you had green? I had to tell you how dominant and recessive genes work, print out table, with the probability of having children with a particular eye color in percent. He studied this table, walked with it, looked ... I think he has a natural-scientific mindset. We will not be surprised if Misha becomes not a chess player, but a biologist or a mathematician, for example, he learned the multiplication table in one day.

At the Kosteniuk Cup, children could play not only chess, but also outdoor games.

We were able to ask Ekaterina Popova about the secrets of preparing chess prodigies, who, according to Yuri Osipov, remembers Misha from the age when "he literally walked under the table."

It just doesn't fit in my head: how to teach chess to a child at the age of two?

The younger the child, the more difficult it is to maintain interest in activities and play. At the beginning of training, a long period of time passes when there are no results yet, and it is impossible to win a tournament, medal or cup, when you need to enjoy the lessons and the game, and this can be difficult.

Misha was not only interested, but the results came quickly, it was an ideal situation: he quickly understood, the first successes quickly appeared and, accordingly, a sharp rise.

Someone better start later in order to develop faster. After Misha, little, little, less children are brought to me, and I honestly offer some to wait six months.

Does face painting help to put a checkmate? | The photo Chessqueencup.

Do you have any methodological secrets?

In the first place is chess itself. Having mastered the moves of the pieces, my child and I immediately begin to use them for their intended purpose - not to collect conditional strawberries on the board, but to eat the opponent's pieces. And the most important thing in chess is checkmate. This is the goal of the game. All the pieces are needed to checkmate, they help each other, hunt, make friends ...

The approach to learning depends on the child himself. The main thing is to get him interested in chess, but this happens to everyone in a different way. With someone you need to play puppet theater and explain literally on the fingers, and it was enough for Misha to encourage him for correctly decided positions.

The more serious your opponents become, the more you have to work to defeat them, and this is always difficult. At his age, Misha is one of the best, but every year it will be more and more difficult for him.

I teach a lot of online classes and I advise all students to play on the site and. This is not only useful, but also saves a lot of time in setting up a position on the board.

Junior Chess Players Ranked 4-8 in Each Age Group Receive Annual ChessKid.com Premium Subscriptions | The photo Chessqueencup.

In total, three tournaments were held as part of the Alexandra Kosteniuk Cup: for children under 6, under 8 and under 10 years old. It was the 11th Cup, but the first in Skolkovo. The first two tournaments were held in Moscow, but then the Cup had to wander around the country: Elista, Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad, Podolsk ... "I associate myself with Moscow," says Kosteniuk, "and this place is generally wonderful. It is very, very spacious here, and space is important for children. Not many participants came to us, but 200 or 300 people - that would be a different level of organizational load. But we have big plans for next year to make this tournament even brighter. "

Parents and children in the interiors of Skolkovo. | The photo Chessqueencup.

Speaking of other participants, it is worth noting one hundred percent success Alexey Belov, the winner of the tournament under 8 years old with a score of 8/8.

A seven-year-old chess player from Kovrov, Vladimir region, came to the tournament with his parents Raphael and Olga Belov and younger brother Andrey. My father says that Alexei learned chess at the age of five, and during this period his progress is amazing.
On weekends, the Belovs go with the whole family to tournaments in Vladimir or, more recently, to Moscow. The Alexandra Kosteniuk Cup was one of many victories. In October, Alexey took third place at the regional "Golub Cup", where chess players under 18 years old played, and in his immediate plans - to take first place in the tournament for children as part of the Moscow Open.

Here is an interesting game played by a young chess player six months ago.

Parents are concerned about the lack of study opportunities that young chess players have in major cities. Now Alexey is assisted by the trainer of the Palace of Pioneers Andrey Dubov and the head of the chess club "Erudite" Vasily Antropov, but I want to get into a famous chess school.

The game helps out and solving problems on the site. Seeing that Alexey's rating in solving tactical problems exceeded 3000, I could not resist showing him the novelty of the site - after several attempts, Alexey almost reached 30 problems, which is far from being possible for every chess player.

Alexandra Kosteniuk presents the cup to Alexey Belov and Anna Okruzhnova, the winners of the tournament under 8 years old. | The photo

Three-year-old Misha Osipov played chess with Anatoly Karpov in the show “Best of all!”, Where the wonder-child impressed the champion with his level of play and the will to win.

As befits a three-year-old, Misha still does not speak quite clearly. But he plays chess well - recently he even defended the second youth category. After talking a little with the chess prodigy, the host of the show, Maxim Galkin, invited the renowned world champion Anatoly Karpov to the studio. When the chess players came together over the board, Misha never tired of surprising the grandmaster with his knowledge. Moreover, he recognized Karpov:

- I watched how you played with Viktor Korchnoi!

It turns out that at home Misha watches recordings of the best games in the history of chess and not only knows how to play at an incredible level for a child, but is also perfectly grounded in theory. For example, he easily named the method of protection he used when Karpov asked him about it.

Not too much experience let the boy down. Having twice refused the proposed draw, Misha did not meet the allotted time - the flag of the clock fell, and the young chess player was defeated. At this point, emotions let him down: the boy could hardly restrain himself so as not to cry. Fortunately, my mother was there - Misha calmed down and even found the strength to brilliantly solve the three proposed studies.

“All your victories are still ahead,” Karpov said goodbye to him and kissed him on the forehead.