#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. One of the world’s best chess players Yan Nepomniachtchy flew to Norilsk and was trained at the underground testing ground of the Nornickel company’s Anhydrite mine. The grandmaster went through safety procedures and delved into the little things during the tour.
The chess player got acquainted with the Caterpillar R1600 load-and-dump machine and the Boomer S1D drilling rig. The professional chess player – a big fan of computer games – quickly conquered the tunneling machine’s joysticks.
“Never been deep underground. Of course, at some point in our trip, I will have an even deeper dive. It’s an interesting experience. First time in the mine. The first contact with the industry, profession. Great! Very interesting.
I imagined all this based on some films and thought that there should be less space here, everything would be much darker and dust would be added with some kind of danger. But in fact, everything is calm and quiet. Rather light. The impression is that you are in some kind of computer game, and not in real life. But, perhaps, this is the difference between the educational process and real work. Joysticks, of course, are familiar to me, but rock drilling is still far away. Mistakes in study, I hope, are forgiven. But in real process it works differently”, the grandmaster shared his impressions.
Today, Yan Nepomniachtchy descended to a depth of 700 meters into the operating Octyabrsky mine of the Polar Division, where he was the first in the world to play a game of rapid. According to experts, the game claims to be a world record.
Earlier, the chess master played with the Nornickel president Vladimir Potanin. Recall that in 2021, Yan Nepomniachtchy became the Nornickel’s ambassador.
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Text: Tatyana Ermolayeva, Photo: Norilsk Nickel Polar Branch press service