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English Chronicles 2025 26printed 102 · PDF 108
113 pagesrevision 50822
printed 102 · PDF 108
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This was it. Ralph had made his way to the World Chess Championship
and was playing the semi-final against a Russian grandmaster, the best in
Europe. And then that was it, a checkmate. After the match, I jokingly
asked him, “How’s your preparation for the World Chess Championship?”
because I knew that he never prepares for his tournaments. “Yeah, man, I
get it. But the new grandmaster from Ethiopia is something,” he said. I
think I would’ve said the same thing next had he not said it. Just 5 years
ago, nobody knew about him. Solomon Ahmed had to spend his life doing
labor in a factory until the day the factory owner was surveying the living
quarters and found a chessboard on a tabletop. Being an avid chess player
himself, the owner invited the workers to play against him. Friendly
matches were all they were. Then he played with Soloman and got
checkmated in 7 moves. He asked Solomon how long he had been playing
chess. Solomon told him that he had actually never played chess before, and
had only watched a few matches on TV.
He didn’t want to play chess even in the factory’s living quarters because he
wanted to spend his free time learning English from books so he could
become a tour guide one day and earn more. “Chess doesn’t pay,” Solomon
said. The factory owner told him that there are all sorts of tournaments
happening in Ethiopia, in which you can win a handsome amount,
sometimes in millions. So the next week, Solomon went to a chess event.
He participated and performed brilliantly, beating everyone except a
grandmaster.
That match ended in a stalemate. After this, Solomon read a chess book for
the first time and dozens afterward during these five years. Now he is the
undisputed 2nd best in the world at chess. Now, the Championship day
finally arrived, and when the clock hit 2:00, the duel started.
AC Chronicles
102