There is mischief in her eyes as she moves her queen in a piercing diagonal, opening up my crumbling defence. Checkmate is just moves away, a formality.
Once a rising chess star in eastern Ukraine, Kamila Hryshchenko was forced to leave her home in Kramatorsk when the bombs started to fall around her.
Still just 21 years old, she now lives in Hull after an international network of chess players helped whisk her and her mother to safety.
After switching to play for England to show her appreciation, Kamila Hryshchenko is now one of the highest ranked players in the country. The top spot? That’s now occupied by a Russian.
As Nikita Vitiugov makes his debut for England in the European Team Chess Championship today, we dive into the enthralling world of professional chess…
‘We knew our world chess family was going to help us’
When Vladimir Putin unleashed his war on Ukraine in February 2022, the city of Kramatorsk came under regular attack from missiles and bombs.
The first days of the invasion were marked by chaos and confusion, and incredible danger.
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“I wanted to leave but we didn’t know what was going on or where Russian soldiers were,” Kamila tells Sky News.
They reached out to Andrei Ciuravin, a Ukrainian already living in the UK, who got the wheels in motion for Kamila’s long journey from Ukraine.
“Chess is a family, especially in these hard times. We knew our world chess family was going to help us.”
Image: Remains of a Russian missile near Kramatorsk railway station
Kamila and her mother left via the busy Kramatorsk railway station, which in the early days of the war was constantly packed with thousands of people trying to flee west to relative safety.
Their hair-raising rail journey from Kramatorsk in the east to Chernivtsi on the western border with Romania saw their train constantly stopping as the driver received warnings from the Ukrainian army about bombs and blocked routes.
“Everything was connected with chess,” Kamila says, explaining how the Romanian Chess Federation and friends from the chess world helped them with a hotel and in getting her visa to the UK.
On 24 April, 2022 they arrived in England and were taken in by a family of chess players in Chichester – one month after leaving Kramatorsk.
Kamila and her mother eventually moved to Hull where they live now. Kamila studies computer science at the University of Hull – and of course continues to play chess.
Image: Kamila Hryshchenko in Kramatorsk
Playing chess in the trenches
“That’s interesting,” Kamila says. She’s looking at our chessboard – we’re on our second game now – and considering her next move.
My king is under pressure and I’ve done my best to surround it with my remaining pieces. Have I managed to ward off the attacks from her rooks?
“Am I gonna lose? I don’t like it,” she quips. Maybe some hope for me, I wonder.
“Ah, I like it,” she adds, suddenly smiling. “Check.” It’s not long before it is, once again, checkmate.
Image: Ukrainian soldiers play chess in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol
With so many famous players hailing from Ukraine and Russia – after the decades of Soviet domination of the game – it’s unsurprising that the war has sent shockwaves through the world of chess.
Like countless other Ukrainians, Kamila had to leave her home because it was not safe anymore.
For men it has been mostly illegal to leave the country, and many have been called up to join the armed forces. Chess players are no exception.
Grandmaster Igor Kovalenko, ranked 60th in the world, didn’t know how to fire a rifle before he joined the army.
The 34-year-old was deployed to the fiercely contested Donetsk region of Ukraine. While his chess is mostly on hold, he was pictured playing an online event from the trenches during a quiet moment.
Image: Igor Kovalenko playing chess from his tablet in a trench at the frontline. Pic: Peter Heine Nielsen
In East Yorkshire, Kamila and her mother spend much of their spare time doing everything they can to raise funds for Ukraine.
Her decision to change her chess federation from Ukraine to England – and thus play under the English flag – was a difficult one, she says.
“It was a very hard decision for me. It was so personal because of Ukraine and the war, and I want to support my country.
“When I changed federation I was thinking it’s better for my chess career and I can pay back lots of English people for their support here, supporting my chess.”
“We still support Ukraine,” she adds. “For me it’s better to help physically by fundraising and volunteering than just to have a flag next to my name.”
As Russian tanks bore down on the Ukrainian capital in the first days of the invasion, an emergency meeting of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) council was held.
It voted to condemn the use of military force and barred Russian and Belarusian players from competing under their national flags.
Two months later, 44 top Russian chess players including a host of grandmasters signed an open letter to Vladimir Putin criticising the war and calling for a ceasefire.
“We share the pain of our Ukrainian colleagues and call for peace,” the letter said.
Since then, a series of senior Russian players have defected to other countries in protest against what the Kremlin is doing in Ukraine.
Image: New English number one Nikita Vitiugov. Pic: AP
They include Nikita Vitiugov, 36, who has swapped St Petersburg for East Anglia.
Ranked 31 in the world, he’s now the top-rated player in England and is expected to make his debut under his new flag today at the European Team Chess Championship in Montenegro.
Changing country was a quick decision for Grigoriy Oparin, a grandmaster who grew up in Moscow and started playing chess when he was just four years old.
“It was just a total shock for me,” he said of the February 2022 invasion. “I could not believe it was happening.
“It was just so shameful that my native country started this war.”
Image: Grandmaster Grigoriy Oparin pictured in 2018
Grigoriy, 26, told Sky News that he immediately began the process of changing from the Russian Chess Federation to the US Federation.
And while he has been able to switch his chess flag to the stars and stripes, he has been left unable to compete in official events for two years unless he agrees to pay a 35,000 euro (£30,400) release fee to the Russian Chess Federation.
“It’s a little bit unfortunate that I cannot play, but I think it’s such a minor issue considering everything that’s happening in the world.”
Image: Sergey Karjakin with Russian soldiers, apparently in occupied Zaporozhia, Ukraine. Pic: Sergey Karjakin/Telegram
Karjakin’s support for war and self-imposed ban from world chess
But not all Russian chess players are opposed to the war.
Sergey Karjakin has sparked anger and criticism for his vocal support for Vladimir Putin’s efforts to annex Ukraine.
The world number nine, who himself was born in Ukraine, posted an open letter to the Russian president on social media just days after the invasion.
He discussed the “demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine and its ruling regime”.
“I express for you, our commander in chief, full support in defending Russia’s interests, our multinational Russian people, eliminating threats and establishing peace!”, he told Mr Putin.
Karjakin was handed a six-month ban by FIDE and still refuses to play in any tournament where he cannot play under a Russian flag.
Since then he has courted further controversy with his visits to occupied areas of Ukraine, including photo ops with Russian soldiers.
Among the questions about her dangerous journey to the UK and her love for Ukraine, I ask Kamila if she still enjoys playing chess, after so many years and so much else going on in her life.
“Every chess player has those moments when you want to give up,” she says.
“I still love it. I can’t really imagine myself without chess.”
Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.
Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.
“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.
He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.
Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.
Image: Pic: AP
His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.
Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.
The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.
It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.
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6:39
Trump’s tariffs explained
The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.
The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.
“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.
“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
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0:43
Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?
The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.
Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.
It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.
The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.
Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.
The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.
A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.
But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.
He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.
“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”
Israel is beginning a major expansion of its military operation in Gaza and will seize large areas of the territory, the country’s defence minister said.
Israel Katz said in a statement that there would be a large scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from fighting areas.
In a post on X, he wrote: “I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”
He said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel”.
The expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza deepens its renewed offensive.
The deal had seen the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, but collapsed before it could move to phase two, which would have involved the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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1:08
26 March: Anti-Hamas chants heard at protest in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the al Mawasi area on the shore, which was previously designated a humanitarian zone.
Israeli forces have already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, having expanded an area around the edge of the territory that had existed before the war, as well as a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.
This latest conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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1:22
Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza
Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that Israel’s month-long siege of Gaza means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare.
“The Israeli authorities’ have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.
“This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”
“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.
It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.
It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.
It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.
Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.
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His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.
The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.
The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.
If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.
And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?
“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.
“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.
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2:52
‘Days of US being ripped off are over’
Dancing to the president’s tune
My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.
Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.
But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.
Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.
One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.
Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.
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6:03
Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’
Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?
The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.
It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.
Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?
Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?
US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.
Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?
For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.