Helping the Elderly through Chess

Dear Friends,

            Hello! My name is Brian Belakovsky. I’m a chess-playing 8th grader from Tucson, Arizona. Just recently, my grandfather – Mikhail Belakovskiy – passed away, and it deeply affected me and my younger siblings, as we were very close to grandpa. As it happened while I am preparing for my Bar Mitzvah, I decided to dedicate my Mitzvah project in my grandpa’s memory. I began to wonder what project I could do… I decided to do one relevant to his background: he was an economics professor from the USSR, and he was very good at chess. I went down the chess path. While I am just a B-Class player, he was a candidate master (a well-respected title in the chess world). He taught me a lot and we shared a special bond through chess. I therefore got the idea to create a chess book.

            But what good is a random book which is one in thousands? I realized that the book had to be incorporated with another idea. I thought again, what project could I do to commemorate him? I then chose to look into my grandpa's recent past. He stayed at several nursing homes. In each, other residents were sick, gloomy and unhappy. He got bored from time to time and was cooped up in his room, with nothing to do. As I visited often, I saw that this is a major problem, and it is wrong for elderly that are sick or in nursing homes to be so lonely. Thus, I chose the other part of my project to focus on trying to help alleviate some of the pain for others facing these problems.

            My idea is to collect chess sets and create a chess book (that contains the rules of chess as well as quite a few chess positions) for the seniors and the sick. They will be given to five Tucson hospitals – Tucson Medical Center, University Medical Center, Carondelet St. Joseph's Hospital, Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital, and Northwest Medical Center – and many nursing homes, including Devon Gables and Handmaker. This way the elderly can play chess against one another, and if there is no one else around to play chess with, they will have the option to solve fascinating chess positions. I already started to work on the book (over half-way done), making sure that the text is easy to read, the diagrams are large, and the positions are of appropriate levels.

            I have calculated that it will cost about $1,000 to purchase 50 chess sets and print 50 books.


            That’s why I am asking you for help. If GoFundMe can reach the one-thousand-dollar goal, then many elderly people in Tucson hospitals and nursing homes will have the opportunity to enjoy chess.

            I am hoping to finish and print the book by the end of this year and order chess sets by early January. It would mean so much to me, my family, and most importantly the elderly community in Tucson.

Thank you in advance,
Brian Belakovsky