The Ukraine, from New York

I haven’t been to the Ukraine yet, but I saw Ukrainian fields in the eastern part of Moldovia. That was near the village of Pobjeda, where Olja’s grandfather’s friend gave me a honeycomb. Pobjeda means victory. There was almost nobody living in Pobjeda except Olja’s grandfather’s friend. We took a photo of a signpost as well: Odessa, 90 km. And I have a friend who adores the Klitschko-brothers.

How would Ukrainian New Yorkers like to see the Ukraine represented? That was the question I asked after I finished my presentation at the Ukrainian Institute on Fifth Avenue.

Iryna Zenyuk was the first person to give me an answer. The Ukraine has great young chess players, says Iryna. The best amongst them is the Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk.
Iryna herself is a big chess player. At the 2004 Junior World Championships in Greece, she was the official representative for the USA for girls under 18. She was sixth out of all the women at the US Chess Championships.