Killer Chess Training is not a political organisation. We do not bring our likes and dislikes of politicians and world events with us to work. We have students from all over the World. Including Russia.
Individually we are emotionally deeply affected by the war in Ukraine and have made our opinions clear where it is appropriate. This is therefore not an invitation for a political discussion, but an explanation for those who may want one.
We had been thinking about inviting Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko to join the academy for a while. Recent tragic events reminded us to ask. When he joined, he wanted to be certain that this was not a replacement of Alexander Motylev, whom he respects highly, as a chess professional and as a man. Some of you may have seen that Motylev was among the first to sign a protest of Russian intellectuals against the war.
Having considered the matter carefully, we are happy to invite Alexander back for more lessons in the near future. We think sending the right signal is important. And the signal here is that we are listening to our Ukrainian friend and Motylev is returning with his blessing.
Kasparov said in his recent TED talk that good comes in all shapes and sizes. Uniformity and the “only right way” is the properties of evil. We accept that some of you may disagree with our decision, although you like Motylev. Please understand that we allowed Mykhaylo to have the last say and that cannot be unethical, even if other opinions exist.
Jacob, Kallia and Sam