Russia's war against Ukraine changed many things for Volodymyr Khlepitko, a native of Donetsk Oblast's Makiivka, but not his lifelong passion for chess.
One of the world’s most popular mind games, chess also helped Khlepitko recover from his war wounds and start a new life far from home. On June 20, he opened a chess club in Kyiv and offers to teach all who walk through its doors.
The opening, however, would not be possible without a lucky coincidence. Khlepitko, 29, is a survivor of a shelling that struck a minibus in Volnovakha on Jan. 13 that killed 13 people.
“It was a miracle, because we were ready to die,” Khlepitko said.
The crowded minibus was on its usual route to the occupied stronghold of Donetsk when it stopped at a checkpoint for passport checks. He was with his girlfriend and two friends in the back aisle seats. When the bus was riddled with metal shards from a Grad multiple launcher, Khlepitko said they had little hope to get out alive.
His arm was badly wounded and shrapnel struck his head. Treatment for some of the wounds is still ongoing, Khlepitko said. So he made it to Kyiv with his future wife in search of better medical care. He got no help from the government.
“A lawmaker Mykhailo Havrylyuk was the only one to help us,” Khlepitko said. “It was so unusual – a man from western Ukraine helping out those from Donbas.”
In Kyiv, however, they didn’t get a warm welcome. Finding a place to live and work turned out to be difficult because of bias against Donbas people, Khlepitko said.
Chess came to his rescue. Khlepitko found several chess clubs in the city, but none suited him.
He wanted to make the club into a coffeehouse where people can meet and play chess. Children are welcome as well, while adults are charged Hr 60 per hour and get treated to coffee and sweets.
He didn’t want to recreate Shevchenko Park’s chess pavilion or give classes. He wanted to create a relaxing place.
One of Kyiv’s eateries offered a basement to Khlepitko’s club for free. Kyiv-based businessman Denys Rudenko also helped. Rudenko, who recently organized a trip of a chess legend Garry Kasparov to Kyiv, sold a coin with a portrait of Kasparov engraved on it to raise money. Rudenko bought chess sets and a number of boards with the proceeds.
“Volodymyr’s dream came true,” Rudenko told a TV news station. The local city district administration later helped furnish the club with tables and chairs.
Khlepitko said now he’s ready to teach all comers how to play the game he learned from a neigbhor at the age of 5.
Khlepitko taught chess at a local college preparatory school in Makiivka for the last seven years. “Chess is more than a game; you won’t be the same person after you’ve played it once,” he said.
He would like to host chess tournaments at the club.
Despite his enthusiasm, he misses his parents and students who remain in the Donbas.
“It was not an easy decision for us to leave,” Khlepitko says. “My friends and my wife’s grandmother are left there, but I respect everyone’s decision. Someone should be there.”
5 Symona
Petlyury St.
+38-095-885-22-06
Hr 60 per
hour
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].
