The Sutjeska local community and the Horizont Chess Association continued their successful cooperation by organizing a simultaneous exhibition with the symbolic title “Let Us Connect Through the Virus of Friendship”. Children from the city took part, together with guests from Shanghai and local chess players.
Chess as a Message of Support
The simultaneous exhibition took place on Sunday, 23 February 2020, at the Sutjeska local community centre. The event had both a humanitarian and sporting character: across the chessboard, participants sent support to the people of China, especially Wuhan, which at that time was the city most affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
The article notes that the World Chess Federation FIDE uses the motto “Gens Una Sumus” – “We are one family” – and that chess players belong to one worldwide family regardless of borders, language or origin. Through this event, the Horizont children’s chess association from Sremska Mitrovica sent a message of peace, friendship and solidarity.
Guests from Shanghai and the Chinese Article
Guests from Shanghai, Zhou Guijue and Xu Chao, took part in the event. A Chinese article about it was published under the title “Play Chess & Make Peace，用国际象棋为武汉祈福！”, conveying a message of support for Wuhan through chess.
A special value of this material is that the same event was recorded both in a Serbian newspaper and in a Chinese online publication. A local chess activity from Sremska Mitrovica thus also left an international record.
Participants in the Simultaneous Exhibition
In the photograph: guests from Shanghai Zhou Guijue and Xu Chao; behind them, from left to right, Miloš Milošević, Petar Benković and Mihajlo Matović.
Benko Chess and Horizont
The Horizont Chess Association was founded by Petar Benković, an International Master and chess coach. The article states that during the preceding years Benković had taught chess to around one hundred children in kindergartens, primary schools and through the association itself.
Regular members of the chess school had already begun competing and achieving strong results. The newspaper article also mentions that Benković had previously worked in Wuhan, China, where he coached children aged five to twelve as part of a summer chess school.
Friendship Across the Chessboard
Horizont from Sremska Mitrovica and the Smartchess club from Wuhan became partner clubs. More than a hundred children learned about Serbia through Petar, with the hope of visiting the country one day. Thanks to modern technology, the children were able to play online matches and remain connected through chess.
The guests from China were impressed by the hospitality, by the empathy shown in Sremska Mitrovica toward the health crisis in their country, and by the warm atmosphere of the event. They were happy to play a simultaneous exhibition with the young local chess players.
The organizers emphasized that the aim was to offer support in a sporting and humanitarian spirit, strengthen Chinese–Serbian friendship, and encourage children to learn chess through play, friendship and understanding of other cultures.
Sources: newspaper article “Povežimo se virusom prijateljstva”, M novine, 26 February 2020; Chinese WeChat post “Play Chess & Make Peace，用国际象棋为武汉祈福！”; archive of the Horizont Chess Association.