Organizer

Wadim Rosenstein
WR Chess Masters Host

Sponsor of the tournament is the Düsseldorf-based company WR Events GmbH. "Our goal is to promote and spread the sport of chess," says CEO Wadim Rosenstein. "We want to give young and professional chess players the opportunity to develop their skills."

In his ambition to help upcoming talents, Rosenstein draws from his chess experience. In his youth, Rosenstein played ambitiously. But working on chess alongside school, traveling to tournaments – "that was difficult to manage, almost impossible for a youngster on his own," the 32-year-old recalls.

"Without my first mentor and coach Rainer Becker, many things would not have been possible. I owe a lot to him,” says Rosenstein. “I wish there were many more people like him." Now Rosenstein wants to give back, assuming there must be more talents with the same difficulties he experienced as a youngster.

After chess talent Wadim Rosenstein had switched clubs to “Schachfreunde Köln-Mülheim” he was part of the Cologne-Mülheim team that won the Jugendbundesliga almost 20 years ago, the highest German youth league. Rosenstein remembers "an unforgettable time. The dedication of Leo Evers and Josef Pawlowski, heads of our youth department, I appreciate very much to this day."

The years in Cologne-Mülheim were not just a school of chess. Rosenstein lists: "Team spirit, fair play, respect, dealing with successes and defeats, first youth camps and major tournaments."

"If you play chess, you meet remarkable people," Rosenstein knows. The entrepreneur wants to help grow the chess community by spreading his enthusiasm for the sport.