From the womb of suffering, hope and success are born. This is the case of the Syrian refugee child "Hussein Besso" Who became the youngest player in the German national chess team.
Besso, who is now 11 years old, will play for the German national chess team in the Central European Cup known as the Mitropa Cup in Croatia later this month, making him the youngest German player in the history of the German Chess Association.
His father, Mustafa Bisso, 43, said, according to Reuters, that his son’s passion for chess began at the age of four, and after mastering the basic movements, Bisso quickly surprised everyone with his talent.. adding: He began to correct us and tell us what had to be done to win.
Bernd Volker, coach of the German national youth team, says Besso is an exceptional player. He is very quick to grasp chess positions. This is really exceptional".
When the Syrian Besso family settled in the western German town of Lippstadt in 2016 as refugees, the first thing Mustafa did was buy chess and find a youth chess club for his son to play in in the small town.
The club’s coaches quickly saw that Besso was far ahead of his peers, even though he had not yet learned enough German to be able to understand the coaching. They recommended that the six-year-old go to a statewide club.
Andreas Koehler, Besso’s chess teacher, said his interest in the game and desire to win was part of his talent. The coach talked about an exercise in which the players were asked to switch places in the middle of the game and adopt the opponent’s strategy.
Koehler said "Hussein strongly refused to turn the board and preferred to stop playing completely".
Besso began participating in tournaments, winning first place in the German U-12 competition in 2020, then third place in the U-12 World Championship last year.
The game’s resemblance to mathematics is what makes it interesting in Besso’s eyes. Today, he speaks fluent German Besso and learned from the many tournaments he participated in. He said staying focused for several hours sometimes on a match was his biggest challenge.
His family has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund travel to tournaments and training, and they hope he will eventually find a sponsor.
Despite not having obtained full German citizenship yet, Besso will play for the German team as the youngest player in its history.
Volker, the German national youth coach who selected Besso, said all that was expected of him was to gain experience in Croatia, given that he would be playing with older opponents.
Besso himself acknowledges the challenge of being so young, but sees it as an opportunity to hone his skills.
And he said "If I win, thank God for that, and if I lose, I will try to win next time".
