The young chess player is prouder than the wheels. Russian sensation of Chinese television

Six-year-old Gordey Kolesov became a favorite of the Chinese public after reaching the finals of a national TV talent show. The kid unwittingly shamed the adult jury. A Russian preschooler uttered an ancient Chinese idiom, which the presenters were unable to decipher without his help. Gordey has already learned 555 idioms, and he is also fluent in five languages ​​- Chinese, French, Spanish, English and, of course, Russian. Fontanka talked to the father of the little genius who made a lot of noise in China.

Six-year-old Gordey Kolesov has become a favorite among Chinese audiences after reaching the finals of a national TV talent show. The kid unwittingly shamed the adult jury. A Russian preschooler uttered an ancient Chinese idiom, which the presenters were unable to decipher without his help. Gordey has already learned 555 idioms, and he is also fluent in five languages ​​- Chinese, French, Spanish, English and, of course, Russian. At his age, he also has a second rank in chess, does calligraphy, plays the guitar...

Fontanka spoke with the father of the little genius who made a lot of noise in China - businessman Evgeny Kolesov, who heads a large company and has been working in China for more than 15 years.

“Don’t teach children by force”

– How old was Gordey when you started educating him? What was your parenting plan, what methods did you rely on?
– Initially there was no clear plan. But we knew that we had to take care of the child from the first days of his life. Loving him and paying a lot of attention are the basic principles of parenting. I read a lot of books, but never found an acceptable method for myself. From birth, Gordey heard two languages. We, the parents, communicated with him in Russian, read to him a lot, but the nanny spoke only Chinese. Already at two years old, the son wrote hieroglyphs and recited poems in Russian and Chinese. I was amazed at how quickly he remembers everything new. When Russian grandparents came to visit us, the kid helped them communicate in Chinese stores. Not every adult is capable of this quick learning languages. Then I thought that Gordey could learn a few more languages. And he got teachers, first in Spanish, then in French and English.

– How long did it take to memorize the idiom that was voiced in the TV show? Does your son find complex language structures easy?
– Languages ​​generally come easy to him. It is enough for a proud person to hear a phrase twice, and he remembers it, and then he only repeats it a couple of times to reinforce the material.

– Are these innate abilities?
– No, I believe that any child can develop excellent memory. If you learn poems, proverbs, and sayings from childhood, then by the age of 5–6 years your memory will be so trained that it will turn into a reflexive skill.

– Did you have to force them to learn this or that lesson?
– No, the main principle is to teach the language unobtrusively. From my own experience I will say that material that is given with a smile and positive attitude, with arousal of interest in the child, is absorbed better than that which is given in a rigid manner. We must not forget to warm up the child’s excitement and admire his small achievements. For example, learning Spanish began when we invited the Spaniard Humberto. He walked with 3-year-old Gordey for 2.5 hours a day and just talked to him, but only in Spanish. After just six months of normal communication, the son was uttering entire phrases in the language of Cervantes. This was the foundation. And only then did the teachers appear.

– They didn’t send their son to Chinese kindergarten?
– At the age of three, Gordey began going to an American kindergarten in Guangzhou. It seemed that foreign teachers and group work would help me learn languages ​​faster. But you know, that didn't happen. I realized that by homeschooling it is possible to achieve greater progress and success in a child’s understanding of the world. In the kindergarten, for the most part, they threw dust into the eyes, this is generally the sin of foreign kindergartens in China. You can send children there only in one case: when there is no other choice.

– How do you generally assess the level of education in China?
– It is constantly growing, but, however, not everywhere. In rural areas it is still 1980, where time has stood still. IN major cities– modern equipment, excellent laboratories. Should we borrow something from China? It's hard for me to judge. After all, I studied at a Chinese university 20 years ago. I often meet with Russian clients when working. They told (and their children study in schools and universities in different corners Russia) that the level of education in our country is deteriorating. The teachers are weak, there is no discipline. But again, these are not my words. On the other hand, there are amazingly smart kids in Russia. They win Olympics, perform well in competitions - those who want and can study very well. Add to this strong special schools with in-depth study of certain disciplines, and you will understand that education in Russia is good level, there is no need to blame the school. If a child is not interested in learning, then the problem lies with the parents, who did not take care of their children until they were 6–7 years old, believing that school would compensate for their inattention in the future.

The main thing is that children do not get tired

– Tell us how your son’s day is structured during homeschooling?
– Gordey gets up at 7.30 in the morning. After morning procedures, exercises and breakfast, classes begin at 8 am. Classes last for an hour and a half, and every 25 minutes there is a break for jokes, jokes, and a five-minute sports session. In the morning there are lessons in Chinese and English languages and classes with a teacher according to the Russian school program. His younger sisters, Milana and Agatha, are drawing and dancing at this time. In the middle of the day, Gordey and his sisters have tennis, and then he has chess. In the evening there are language classes or drawing again. The main thing is to make sure that the children do not get tired.

– It’s hard to believe that a child can learn with interest...
– The main thing is to work with him, understand what interests him, and develop him in this direction. I'm proud to like languages. He likes to learn idioms, poems in different languages. We organize fun performances at home with his participation, but the purpose of this whole game is to develop his memory. There is no need to do anything forcefully, because this will only irritate the child and embitter him. For example, ask him to teach you something. And he will be happy to do this, to immerse you in some topic. He, a little one, will be pleased to teach an adult like you. Now I’ve reached the point where I can’t beat my son at chess, but he also calms me down and encourages me to practice more.

- How does his relationship develop with other children? Isn't he bored with them?
“Gordey is a child, he plays the fool with the children, runs around until he’s sweating and is tomato red, and plays hide and seek, and rides a scooter, rollerblades, a bicycle—everything is interesting to him.” He finds it easily common language both with children and adults. He is very sociable and cheerful.

- What does Gordey love most? What is his favorite activity?
– When my son was very little, we watched films about the war. He especially liked pictures about scouts. He told me: “Dad, I want to learn a lot of languages ​​so that I can come to the enemies, but they don’t know that I’m Russian. And then I can defeat them all.” In my opinion, there simply could not have been a brighter signal for learning languages. Now Gordey’s favorite pastime is chess. He is ready to devote everything to them free time. Reads books, analyzes openings.

– Has Gordey been to Russia?
- Yes, and more than once. Last winter they flew in and played snowballs. Gordey loves Russia very much. At home we speak only Russian, and with the nanny, of course, in Chinese. And not only the children, but also my mother and I.

- Why did he spend so long on the TV show thinking about which country he would live in, but then he still named China?
– Gordey admitted to me after the program that if he had answered “Russia”, the Chinese public would have been offended and would not have given us the prize. He is a little cunning chess player, he has calculated everything.

– You had a plan to learn 555 idioms, and you achieved it. What other goals do you set for your son in the near future? Where do you see Gordey in the future?
– Now my program is designed for 5 years. Interim results can be summed up in two years. But results are results, and my goal as a father is for children to grow up happy and loved. And who they will become - diplomats, military men, artists, athletes - is up to them to decide. It is important for me to show children a more or less complete picture of the world, to prepare them for adulthood. And I, as a father, will always be there to lend a shoulder in difficult moments.

Evelina Barseghyan
Photo courtesy of Optim Consult

Proud Evgenyevich Kolesov is only six years old, and his biography so far fits into one sentence: he was born and raised in China, and his father, Evgeny Kolesov, is a major businessman, general manager Optim Consult company located in Guangzhou, who has been living in China with his family for fifteen years. Evgeniy is well known in the blogosphere and social networks based on his materials “China with Evgeniy Kolesov”, where he talks in detail about the features of life and business modern China, about the traditions and history of this country.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that children who grew up in an environment of one or another foreign language know it perfectly. However, Gordey's abilities are not limited to his perfect command of the Russian and Chinese languages. He knows the dialect of the city of Guangzhou and the works of the Sun Dynasty poet Sushi, and is very fluent in such verbal forms of the Chinese language as idioms (chenyu), which make the language expressive and deep. Gordey has already learned 555 of these idioms, and is also diligently mastering the difficult art of Chinese calligraphy. In February 2015, the results of the First Chinese Calligraphy Competition were summed up, in which applicants had to write a given text with a hard pen. Gordey prepared diligently; he became the youngest applicant and received the audience award, which he was awarded general secretary Shanghai organization cooperation Dmitry Mezentsev and the leaders of the publishing house "Zhenmin Huabao". In the future, the boy plans to improve in this art in order to compete with recognized masters of calligraphy on equal terms. In addition, he can speak, write and read English, French and Spanish.

Gordey's other hobbies include chess and music. He is already participating in chess competitions, and on New Year's Eve he received a second rank in chess. In addition, the boy sings and plays the guitar, draws well and took second place in the international Russian-Chinese competition children's drawing. Evgeny Kolesov often posts videos on his network accounts in which Gordey (often together with him) recites poems by Russian and Chinese poets, sings and plays. These video materials served as the reason for inviting the talented child to the central Chinese television, in the show of the CCTV-1 channel. Gordey behaved well in front of a huge audience and communicated with the presenters at ease. He said that in Chinese his name is Ye Weiguo, demonstrated his knowledge foreign languages, managed to explain a rare idiom in the Chinese language, and sang to his own accompaniment. Gordey received the audience award and was written about in the central Chinese newspaper People's Daily.

A video of a talented Russian boy performing on Chinese television caused a surge of sympathy for him and many positive reviews. It was noted that the child’s unusual talents were revealed thanks to attention to his early development, as well as the fact that children like Gordey help improve mutual understanding between different peoples. True, when asked by the presenter what country the boy would like to live in when he grows up, Gordey named China, and not all commentators took this answer for granted. Apparently, one should take into account the age of the child and the fact that he has been living in China since birth. In any case, Gordey Kolesov’s extraordinary abilities will, over time, give him the opportunity to make an informed choice of where to live and use his talents.

The main newspaper of China, People's Daily, and the central news agency of the People's Republic of China, Xinhua, named Gordey the main star of the competition. In addition to the abilities demonstrated during the performance, the Russian prodigy is fond of chess. In this sport, he already has the first category, which he completed in mid-April, taking first place in the qualifying chess tournament in Shenzhen (a metropolis of 14 million).

ON THE TOPIC

In May, a six-year-old boy flew with the Russian national team to the World Championships, which took place in Thailand and entered the world top ten in his age group. The other day, the little genius graduated from the first grade of the embassy school in Beijing and moved on to the second. After winning the Talent Show, Gordey Kolesov was invited to free training to a closed privileged school with a population of 15 million in Guangzhou, where the children of senior officials and generals study.

Gordey Kolesov was born in Moscow, and at the age of two months he was brought to China, to the city of Guangzhou. In this metropolis, his dad, Evgeniy Kolesov, has a business - private company Optim Consult, specializing in the wholesale supply of goods and equipment. Gordey's father has lived and worked in the Middle Kingdom for more than 16 years, and runs a popular YouTube channel, "China with Evgeniy Kolesov". Despite being almost constantly busy, he finds time to work with his son and help him further improve his skills. The Russian phenomenon has already attracted enormous attention. Two Chinese TV channels have made several documentaries about Gordey and his younger sisters. Of course! Until now, no foreigner has managed to win such a show in China. One of China's most popular TV presenters, Liu Yiwei, was so amazed by the child's abilities that he fell off the couch. The Chinese, no matter how hard they tried, could not reveal the secret of how in such at a young age the boy successfully masters so many disciplines at the same time.

Russian prodigy Gordey Kolesov, who surprised the whole of China last year with his victory at the show talents the country's main television channel CCTV-1, took part in the All-China chess qualifying tournament for the title of candidate master of sports in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. Taking six points out of nine, the young Russian fulfilled the required standard for being awarded the Master of Masters in chess at the age of seven years, five months and 15 days, which was one of the best results in the world.

In the tournament, Gordey became the youngest chess player to receive this title, taking seventh place in the overall tournament standings.

In mid-February, Gordey Kolesov will take part in the Chinese Chess Championship in the under-eight category. Gordey became the only foreigner admitted to the Chinese championship due to his long residence in this country and regular successful participation in chess competitions. He passed all the necessary qualifying tournaments.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was one of the first to appreciate Gordey’s chess talent, calling the boy “the little Buddha of the chess world.”

Last year Gordey Kolesov was trained by Andrey Obodchuk, a seven-time world champion among disabled people, who moved to China specifically for training with his young ward. This tournament was for collaboration chess players last. Since February 2015, Gordey has a new coach, whose name is the boy’s father, a businessman and video blogger Evgeniy Kolesov, does not disclose.

Gordey Kolesov is a Russian prodigy, winner of a talent show in China, born in Moscow, speaks five languages, enjoys calligraphy, plays the guitar, one of the youngest speedcubers (assembling a Rubik's Cube for speed) on the planet and the youngest Russian, about whom wrote Wikipedia.

In 2016, the boy took part in the recording New Year's program on Chinese Central Television dedicated to the Chinese New Year, the broadcast will take place on the eve of the holiday. Studying in second grade high school at the Russian Embassy in Beijing with in-depth study of foreign languages. Currently lives in the south of China, in the city of Guangzhou, with his parents.

The boy's father, Evgeny Kolesov, heads the Russian company Optim Consult, specializing in the supply of goods and equipment from China, and has been working in the country for more than 15 years. He also hosts the popular channel on YouTube “China with Evgeniy Kolesov” and is working on an original project for Channel One, which is currently preparing to go on air. It is known that Evgeny Kolesov accepted an offer from one of Russian parties join it to participate in elections in State Duma Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in September 2016. To this end, Kolesov, a father of four children, plans to return with his family to Russia in the very near future.

“At the request of the audience, this program was repeated 4 (!) times. As a result, 1 billion people watched it. Since then, people in China began to recognize our son wherever we went.”

Living in the Middle Kingdom Evgeniy Kolesov talks about the show in which he won son Gordey.

“The Chinese were shocked that Gordey not only speaks Chinese and easily jokes in the language of Confucius, but also knows by heart more than 500 rare idioms ( set expressions— approx. ed.). Not many Chinese adults can boast of this. At the talent show, the son demonstrated his knowledge of Chinese culture and history. A TV presenter, having heard him juggle a multitude of historical dates, fell off the sofa in surprise. At the same show, Gordey played the guitar and sang in Chinese.”

Yesenin in Chinese

“In China, two films have already been made about my son. documentaries, continues Evgeniy. — Everyone was interested in how it happened that, in addition to Chinese, my son speaks English, Spanish, and French. And, of course, in Russian: in the family - and we have three younger daughters growing up - we communicate exclusively in our native language. Gordey knows by heart the poems of Pushkin, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, and our other poets. I personally practice poetry with him. There is a video on our YouTube channel where we read together in Chinese “Go, my dear Rus'!”

Both Gordey and his sisters - 5-year-old Milana, 4-year-old Agata and 1.5-year-old Yesenia - were born in Moscow, but spent most of their lives in China, where Evgeny Kolesov has been doing business for many years.

The head of the family first came to China as a teenager: “I lived near the border with China - in Khabarovsk. During the summer holidays, I decided to earn extra money by accompanying shuttles across the Amur River to the nearest Chinese city. He helped with resettlement, with the purchase of goods at the market, and brought cargo. On my first trip I learned ten Chinese words. Further - more. After school, I entered Harbin Agricultural University - it was one of the cheapest in terms of tuition fees. After receiving his diploma, he worked as a guide in various Chinese cities for several years. And over time he opened his own consulting company. Our company has helped many Russian companies establish relations of production with Chinese companies. The fact is that without understanding the local mentality you can run into big trouble. There are often cases when Chinese companies “cheat” even those who have previously bought goods from them for 5-6 years. I know more than one case where clients in Russia received defective goods worth a huge amount. One of the most severe cases, when half a million dollars went down the drain, which could not be returned, because the Russians were simply outwitted when drawing up the agreement. You have to always keep your eyes open with the Chinese.”

Young Master

Evgeny had a family and children when the company managed to get on its feet. WITH future wife Evgeniy also met in China; she is a teacher of English and Chinese. The family settled in the city of Guangzhou, in an ordinary Chinese quarter, where today everyone knows them by sight. “When Gordey was 4 years old, we decided to send him to a local commercial kindergarten, where you have to pay 6 thousand dollars a year. But what we saw there horrified us. Imagine: it’s winter outside, but the temperature in the kindergarten is only 10 degrees. After lunch, children sleep in outerwear on the floor on mattresses. And we transferred our son to homeschooling. Teachers come every day. Gordey, in addition to languages ​​and the curriculum of a Russian secondary school (his mother teaches him this, and he takes exams as an external student at a school at the Russian Embassy), is seriously interested in chess. I've been studying with my son for the last year Andrey Obodchuk, international master and renowned coach, who raised more than one young champion. Under his leadership, in just a year, Gordey fulfilled the CCM standard, becoming one of the youngest chess players on the planet to win this title. Today the son is a chess champion in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. When it comes to international competitions, he, as a citizen of Russia, will compete under the flag of our country.”

Photo: From personal archive/ Evgeniy Kolesov

Gordey also practices Chinese calligraphy and speedcubing (solving a Rubik's cube at speed - editor's note). “The world champion in this sport lives in the same city as us. I couldn’t help but invite him to work with my son.” Despite Gordey’s achievements, Evgeny Kolesov does not agree to call his son a genius or a child prodigy: “Gordey is a child who is loved and cared for. My wife and I spend a lot of time with our children. Every child, if you work with him, will show excellent results.”

All these years in China, the Kolesov family has been maintaining Russian traditions at home: “We read Russian fairy tales to children, watch Russian films, leaf through family albums with photographs of grandparents. Children know that both great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers went through the Great Patriotic War, have high awards.

After winning the talent show, Gordey was offered to study for free at a school for the children of party bosses and wealthy Chinese. But we have already decided that we will return to Russia. By the way, I was surprised when Gordey was asked on television where he would like to live, and his son answered: “In China.” I asked, “Why?” And he: “Dad, I said that because I understood that a different answer would offend them.” At the age of 7, my son also turned out to be a real diplomat.”