Dacian Pribeanu, national blind chess champion, found support with us to fulfil his great dream of becoming world champion. And we have found an unusual method of collecting the funds that Dacian needs, in order to be able to participate in the Competition: we should challenge him in the “mind sport”! So, starting yesterday, until December 17th, three Romanian cities (Bucharest, Brașov, Sibiu) will host a caravan with simultaneous exhibitions, in which the blind champion will use his pawns, bishops, kings and queens, in a battle with our colleagues. Thus, the amount paid by the company for each colleague entering this competition of simultaneous matches will be donated to the Organization for the Educational Promotion of the Blind (Romanian OPEN Association), thus supporting the people with vision problems who aspire to performance through education, culture and sport and, implicitly, supporting Dacian Pribeanu.
The caravan is part of a larger project, “Open Mind is never blind”, through which the OPEN Association and CGS Romania intend to promote a sports activity in which people with and without vision problems can battle “on equal terms”.
The caravan of simultaneous chess matches started on December 14th, in Bucharest, it continues in Brașov, on December 16th, and it ends in Sibiu, on December 17th.
The story behind the story
Dacian Pribeanu holds 12 national chess champion titles and ranked 4th in the World Chess Championships in 2003 and 2006. However, he is truly determined to become number 1 in the world, in order to give courage and hope to all those in his situation. To prove that a brilliant mind sees beyond the darkness. Still, in order to overcome the material limitations that prevented him to participate in the world competition, he had to seek financial in the private sector. This is how he med Vladimir Sterescu, General Manager at CGS Romania, with whom he created and initiated the “Open Mind is Never Blind” project.
‘One of my greatest personal objectives is to reach the world chess podium, in competitions for sportspeople with vision problems (…) I sought help from large corporations, which can give back to the community, by supporting social, cultural and sports causes. This is how I met Vladimir Sterescu, General Manager at CGS Romania, and the idea of challenging CGS to the chess simultaneous exhibition was his. Maybe he considered corporate responsibility, maybe he considered the power of personal example; what I am sure of is that he had vision. The idea is fantastic. I believe that I was given the chance to tell my story to the CGS employees engaged in the matches, a story which may inspire them’, declared Dacian Pribeanu.
About OPEN
The Organization for Educational Promotion of the Blind (Romanian OPEN Association) is a nongovernmental association, in the social-cultural, educational, sportive and humanitarian field, of general interest, founded in 2008. OPEN is the first association in Romania to focus on supporting people with vision problems who aspire to improve themselves through education and culture. The OPEN founders, young, educated blind people, consider that, in the current social-economic context, there are various and important opportunities, which are insufficiently capitalized, opportunities to eliminate discriminatory barriers based on disability criteria, for better integration of people with vision disabilities in the society and for their chance to fully achieve their intellectual potential.
