Chess genius

Eleven-year-old Syrian chess prodigy Hussein Besou is on the German team competing in the Mitropa tournament currently taking place at the Aurora Hotel on Losinj Island in Croatia. Born in 2011 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where his father was employed, Hussein is on course to becoming Germany’s youngest grandmaster and will be the youngest player ever playing in this event.

By the time Hussein was four years old he had become fascinated with chess by watching his father, Mustafa, and grandfather play and the boy asked his father to teach him the moves and the rules. Once he understood the game, Mustafa said he demonstrated his grasp by “correcting us and telling us what we should have done to win.” When he was five, Hussein defeated his father, a proficient player, who told the German television news channel Welt, “By then I couldn’t teach him anything.”

In 2016 his family decided to leave Saudi Arabia for Germany and apply for asylum as refugees while conflict was raging in Syria. As soon as the family settled in the western German town of Lippstadt, Mustafa bought Hussain a chess board and pieces and enrolled him in a local youth chess club. Its coaches — who were mightily impressed by his talent and drive — found he could easily beat all the other children and recommended he join a club at the state level.

Soon after becoming a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia club, Hussein Besou began winning tournaments. In 2020, he came first in Germany’s competition for children under 10 years of age and he finished third in the world under 12 competitions. Meanwhile, he learned to speak German. Although he does not have German citizenship yet, Hussein is now the youngest player in the 146-year-history of the German Chess Federation.

In Croatia, teams from Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland compete for 10 days for the Mitropa Cup, awarded in the annual Central European contest founded in 1976 in Innsbruck in Austria.

Hussein could be on course to challenge the title of history’s youngest grandmaster held since 2021 by Abhimanya Mishra of New Jersey who achieved this distinction at 12 years and 4 months. He might have earned it earlier if covid did not intervene. This title was won in their teens by chess greats Boris Spassky, Bobby Fischer and Judit Polgar.

To become a grandmaster in chess, a player must achieve three awards given for a high level of performance in chess tournaments and earn a prescribed rating bestowed by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), the organisation that governs international chess competition.

Hussein Besou is not the only Syrian refugee to succeed after settling in Germany after the war-driven mass migration of 2014-15. Ryyan al-Shebl, 29, fled his Druze home city of Suwayda eight years ago and settled in the town of Ostelsheim in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Although an outsider who might have faced racism, he stood as an independent and won more 55 per cent of the votes in the mayroral election on April 2 this year, defeating two local German candidates. Responding to his win, he said, “Today, Ostelsheim sent an example for broad-mindedness and cosmopolitanism for the whole of Germany. That’s not something that can be taken for granted in a conservative, rural area.”

An Iraqi who has lived in Germany for many years and works with refugees said that Syrians are the most successful with integration and getting on with their lives. He said that the lifestyle of middle-class Syrians, in particular, is very similar to that of Germans so Syrians have fewer problems adjusting than many Afghans and Africans who come from very different backgrounds.

I know of two other cases of successful Syrian integration in Germany. My Palestinian-Syrian friends, Leila, Lora, Carla, and Jamil, remained in Syria as long as they could. In December 2012, they were driven from their pleasant flat in the Palestinian neighbourhood of the Yarmouk suburb of Damascus. They moved for several months into relatives’ apartment near the Italian hospital in central Damascus. When the owners returned to Damascus from Cairo, my friends moved to a bijou hotel in the Old City. Mortars frequently fired into this area by armed factions based in the Eastern Ghouta made Leila decide to leave.

They hired a smuggler and left Damascus in September 2014, driving through areas in Aleppo province held by Daesh where heads of executed men were displayed on roadside posts. After crossing the border illegally on foot into Turkey they went to the coast where, after several weeks, they bought passages to a Greek island on a crowded inflatable boat. The boat sank near the shore, the second was apprehended by police, but the third took them to a nearby Greek island. They managed to get to Athens where they made arrangements to go to Germany, where Leila’s sister lives. Their three-month journey exhausted their resources and they resided for a time in uncomfortable refugee accommodtions. Eventually, they were given a nice flat in a pretty Bavarian village where I visited them. Their hard, dangerous journey made them determined to succeed in Germany and become naturalised German citizens.

After moving to Berlin, Jamil took a Master’s degree at university and secured employment in media. Damascus-trained architect Lora followed an advanced course and is practicing at a firm. Carla graduated from university, and mother Leila is still struggling with the German language. All four are on their way to becoming German citizens with passports which allow them to travel freely and end their trials as forever refugees.

Another Damascene Syrian friend and his wife are currently on holiday in Germany where their son is set to be awarded a doctorate in neurosurgery after many years of study. For many refugees education is the route to a settled life and independence.

Refugeedom can crush some victims of war and economic collapse. Some aspire to reach great height, others to create for themselves productive careers which enable them to contribute to countries which receive them. Germany is set to reap rewards for welcoming refugees while neighbouring countries have continued to reject them, losing their valuable contributions.

Photo: Reuters