The story of the chess champion Igor Kovalenko, in the trenches in the war in Ukraine

PASSION

• Igor Kovalenko is one of the strongest chess players in Ukraine, he is 34 years old, and has been in the army for almost a year, without however giving up his passion, as he wrote in X last April: “”Almost 11 months in the army. More than 150 days in the Donetsk region and 160 days of daily service. But here too I find time to play chess”

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Facebook @Igor Kovalenko

NUMBER 61

• If you look at the FIDE ranking, the international chess federation, Kovalenko is still number 61 in the world today with a score of 2674 Elo points. In Italy he would be the undisputed number one, by distance. At the same time, as if there were two different people, Kovalenko is also one of the volunteers who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces

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X @Igor Kovalenko

ENGINEER

• He is part of the engineer corps. That is, it deals with organizing the passage of troops into dangerous territories, with building a system of communications between various departments, to choose the most suitable places for the base camps. Sometimes it opens new routes, fixes connections, repairs bridges, studies solutions to cross places and dangers

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X @Igor Kovalenko

MAN OF FAITH

• He moves, when he can, constantly. But alongside all this, there is a third Kovalenko: the chaplain. The man of faith to whom comrades in arms turn to understand the meaning of what happens in war, of the losses, of death, which they cause and which they witness

SOCIAL

• He is the figure who listens to their desperation and spreads courage through his steadfastness spirituality. This ‘triple’ Kovalenko has never stopped talking about himself, in this guise, on his social profiles. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Even Telegram where verses, passages of faith and parables appear

BETWEEN WAR AND CHESS

• Scrolling through her photos and posts it seems like I’m seeing her again chronicle of events that have characterized the conflict in Ukraine over the last year and a half. The nights in abandoned farmhouses or other makeshift shelters, fellow adventurers, rescued civilians. And alongside, however, the screenshots of his chess profile on the chess.com platform: his progress in scoring, the online tournaments he manages to play when he can, the comments on champions like Magnus Carlsen

MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL

• Kovalenko didn’t think about joining the army: he was just looking for a way to be useful to Kiev and bring help to the population affected by Russian missiles. His only will, as he confessed to the Ukrainian portal Censor, has always been to stay and “live” in the Ukrainian capital, despite constant threats. Then things went faster than he expected: “Medical examination, a backpack, training and .. I became a soldier”

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Facebook @Igor Kovalenko

PAST

• But what was there before the war for Kovalenko? Chess and family. A large family, not rich, originally from Novomoskovsa small town of 70 thousand inhabitants not far from Dnipro

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Facebook @Igor Kovalenko

WORLD CUP IN ISRAEL

In November 2022, due to sick leave, where Kovalenko had to undergo a knee operation, a respite from the trenches was possible for him: he actually participated in the world Championships in teams in Israel

IDENTIFICATION

• In mid-September of this year, however, Kovalenko went to Kiev and received from the president’s hands Zelensky, the government’s recognition for his courage and tenacity on the front lines, during an event to celebrate the Jewish New Year. A photo of the two, obviously on social media, bears witness to everything. Immediately afterwards, however, Kovalenko left to return to Donetsk and the most unstable areas of his country

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