On March 2, the FIDE referee and children’s coach Oleksii Valentynovych Druzhynets died after a serious injury.
Oleksii Druzhynets lived in the city of Tokmak, Zaporizhzhia region, and was one of the leading Ukrainian children’s chess coaches. When the war came, he defended his hometown and was killed by the invaders.
Relatives and friends say about Oleksii Valentynovych that he sincerely and unconditionally loved children and chess, and devoted his life to it. His children’s chess club in the city of Tokmak was one of the best in Ukraine. The Tokmak team won numerous awards in all-Ukrainian competitions.
On March 5, an online tournament dedicated to the memory of Oleksii Druzhynets took place on the chess platform chess.com, in which many pupils of his chess club took part.
Died on March 2, 2022.