Chess

On September 23, 2005 Belarus Post will issue 2 stamps “Chess”.

Designer: Shamil Khairulin. Printing: offset. Colour: full colour (3 colours). Paper: chalk surfaced. Perforation: comb 14: 14¼. Size: 30x28 mm. Sheet composition: 25 stamps in a sheet (No.626 — 13 stamps + No.627 — 12 stamps) in staggered rows. Print quantity: No.626 — 97.500, No.627 — 90.000.

There are elements of protection on the stamps.

Historical reference. Chess is an ancient game with special pieces, or chessmen, on a board of 64 squares for 2 players. The object in chess is to trap, or checkmate, the opponent's king (position in which the king cannot defend from the attack of the opponent's chessmen). The game’s name came from the Persian “check mate” that means “the sovereign is dead”. The first record of the game is dated the year 570 A. D.  in a Persian poem in which the invention of chess is imputed to India. Chess became known in Europe in X-XIth century after the Arabs had conquered Spain and Sicily. The modern chess rules are considered to be formed in the Renaissance, but they became uniform only 125 years ago. In 1924 in Paris the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded to be the governing body responsible for organizing chess tournaments and championships of all levels. The Belarus Chess Federation was founded as independent in 1992. It was in 1994 when, for the first time, Belarus chess players took part in the World Chess Olympiad and achieved good results with both men's and women's teams being among the first 10 top teams of the world. In 2003 the Belarus men's team was ranked the eighth at the European Championship in Bulgaria. Now in Belarus there are 8 men and 4 women holding the highest sport rank “International Grandmaster”.

No. 626
No. 626 A (imperforate in a booklet)

A game of chess

 

No. 627
No. 627 A (imperforate in a booklet)

A game of chess

 

Two artistically decorated booklets have been designed too. There is a sheetlet of 7 stamps and 1 coupon inside of each booklet. Size of the sheetlets: 138x74 mm. On the cover inside there is a print postmark “First day”.

Designer: Aleh Haiko. The booklets are double sided. Folded size: 150x84 mm. Print quantity: 7.000 each. Print quantity of stamps in booklets: Nos.626, 626 A — 21.000 each; No. 627, 627 A — 28.000 each.

A perforate booklet.

An imperforate booklet.

Special cancellation: a special cancellation on FDC will be carried out at the Main Post Office of Minsk on the stamps issuing day.

Colour of the postmark — black.

Special postmark and FDC designed by Sh. Khairulin.