A chess festival in memory of A.N. Botyan
On February 29, 2020, the festival in memory of Alexey Nikolaevich Botyan, outstanding Soviet intelligence officer, “Major Whirlwind” (10.02.1917 – 13.02.2020), was held at the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology.
Within the sports and cultural festival, two events took place: The Fourth A. N. Botyan Chess Tournament and Scholastic Chess Intellectual Tournament for Solving.
Yury Khlopovsky, Chair of the Board of the Regional Civic Group “Veterans in the Ranks”, opened the festival. The participants paid a minute of tribute of silence to the memory of Aleksey Botyan. Botyan, Hero of Russia, Veteran of the Great Patriotic War, died just a very short while ago, on February 13 this year.
Nikolay I. Kralin, Grandmaster for Chess Composition, Director of the RNPLS&T Center for Chess Culture and Information, welcomed the guests and participants. He emphasized that it was for the fifth time that Botyan tournaments were held on the premises of the Russian National Public Library of Science and Technology. Unfortunately this year, the tournament was held in the memory of Botyan.
The fest was also attended by Botyan’s family members and colleagues as well as by the representatives of sports and veteran organizations.