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Bjarte Leer-Helgesen, Magnus Carlsen’s childhood coach, revealed that he would maintain chess periods in Kristiansand jail with inmates of their cells.
Bjarte Leer-Helgesen takes half in a chess simulation occasion.(Kjell R Karlsson)
According to Indian Express, Bjarte additionally labored as a jail chaplain and performed chess with inmates. He stated, “Chess is the perfect sport for a person in jail because it takes such a long time. And time is the one thing people in prison have.”
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“I was always really interested in chess as a way of connecting with people, be it friends or people I don’t share the same belief or political views with. On the chessboard, we meet face to face as equals… I worked as a chaplain for 10 years, it’s a big part of my identity. It was not a normal church, but I worked with people struggling with their lives. Like in prison,” he added.
Explaining why he determined to play chess in Norwegian prisons, he stated, “One strategy to break down the barriers was to do something that I myself found fun. To play chess with someone I don’t know and talk about life. That makes it not so dangerous for many inmates.”
“In Norwegian prisons, many of the inmates had trouble with drugs and alcohol. Many of them thought that they are not intelligent since they dropped out of school. But suddenly with chess some of them — not all — would be sitting there telling themselves that there was something they understood even in this intellectual game. And it helped them boost their self esteem. For some of them, chess became the first step away from crime and drugs.”
He additionally revealed that he would maintain chess periods in Kristiansand jail with inmates of their cells. He additionally began seeing inmates play amongst one another. He labored for six years at Kristiansand, the place performed chess each week with prisoners.
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