A week ago, Yuliia Osmak performed her first training within C’Chartres Chess. “I found a friendly, benevolent atmosphere there,” appreciates the young 24-year-old Ukrainian, who will play for the club next season. One hell of a recruit.
Professional player
International women’s master, she has won national, European and international titles and championships. “A hundred a year,” modestly underlines the one who is ranked third in the top 10 of the best Ukrainian players, and thirty-third in the world rankings.
“I play in the national women’s team of Ukraine. But I don’t know if we will be able to play at the Chess Olympiad in July because of the consequences of the war.”
Yuliia osmak (Refugee in Chartres)
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She is also worried that she no longer has any news from certain members of the group, apart from the coach and a teammate who have been evacuated from Kharkiv.
The baby of hope: Arthur, first Ukrainian newborn in Eure-et-Loir
A call from his parents…
At the end of February, the professional player was in Norway for an individual tournament when her parents announced to her, by telephone, the invasion of their country. These inhabitants of kyiv, then under the threat of a Russian attack, dictate to their eldest not to return to the country. Shock ! Impossible therefore, for several days, to fall asleep, to swallow anything.
Joined by Elena, 15
At first, she finds refuge with a Ukrainian coach living in Germany, where Elena, her 15-year-old sister, joins her. A huge relief for Yuliia, a graduate in biology and applied physics. Friends from the chess community then encouraged him to get in touch with the president of C’Chartres Échecs, François Gilles, who welcomed him with open arms. “His wife Chantal helped us and she sent my sister to Sainte-Marie college,” says the eldest, full of gratitude, who arrived on March 22.
Ukrainian Olena, who lives in Bonneval, left to pick up five members of her family
Initiated by his grandfather, 90 years old, in kyiv
Installed in social housing, in the city center, the two girls, who are learning French, try to reclaim their existence. The teenager, already a black belt, joined the local karate club, while Yuliia trains intensively through specialized programs online. The opportunity to think of this 90-year-old maternal grandfather who introduced her to chess.
Life now in France
This sculptor, who lives in kyiv, faithfully follows her champion granddaughter’s YouTube channel where she lavishes teaching and playing advice. One of them, which has become the mark of her own style, was transmitted to her by this grandfather, whom she misses like the rest of her family. “My mother has taken up French, she will come to see us as soon as the situation gets better,” the Ukrainian hastily said. Although she dreams of seeing her native country in peace and kyiv as she knew it, the professional player, charmed by Chartres, has decided to stay in France and pursue her rising career there.
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