There is a remarkable German volunteering organisation that empowers retired professionals and those taking time off work to share their expertise around the world. Since 1983, the Senior Expert Service (SES) has enabled experts in their field to make a meaningful impact by supporting local communities around the world and passing on valuable knowledge across all sectors. It is a rewarding experience for participants to stay active, travel to places they never would have thought of and share their knowledge. Volunteering feeds your mind, body and spirit, where you feel enriched and appreciated, while leaving a positive mark on the world. It opens doors to new experiences and learn about other cultures. One of the things that’s good for everyone involved.
We met Frank Große this summer in one of our ECU101 training courses when he was already preparing for his volunteering trip to Kazakhstan and he promised to report back on his journey once he has completed it. And he did. But how did it start?
When Frank found the announcement on the German School Chess Foundation website by Walter Radler in 2024, he applied. He was already living in different countries (most of the time in South America) for many years and this kind of project and part of the world also interested him.
Read his story: →
Central Asian Village Meets Chess and a German Chess Trainer
Text and photos by Frank Große
In the first three weeks of October, Frank Große, an active chess coach from Meuselwitz, spent time in the rural south of Kazakhstan. His destination: the Intelligence School of Kazygurt, a small town in the steppe along the new Silk Road, near the border with Uzbekistan. The project was made possible through the Senior Expert Service (SES), a German foundation that sends experienced professionals abroad on voluntary assignments, something like “Doctors Without Borders” for technical and educational expertise.
Just days after the World Cadet Chess Championships in Astana, which brought together nearly 800 children aged 8–12, the Meuselwitz coach began his assignment in the Kazakh countryside.
While the barren landscape of southern Kazakhstan offers few amenities, the local school more than made up for it: modern, well-equipped classrooms and a motivated team of teachers and students. Three times a week, Große taught four hours of chess lessons to nearly 100 students in total.
His main task was to support the local teachers, Aikun Shushbaeva and Alykhan Sertayev, with tools, tips, and advice on how to conduct structured, methodical chess instruction. Using modern translation software, he helped produce not only a 50-page Russian-language mini textbook, but also a wide range of training materials and methods for teaching chess fundamentals, including how to organise tournaments.
“The tournament was the highlight of my stay,” Große recalls. “To make it happen, we had to gather chess equipment from across the village so that at least 30 children could participate. Improvisation became part of the process.”
Thanks to the community’s creativity and willingness to help, each challenge found a solution—turning the event into “a true festival of knowledge and inspiration”, as reported on the SES website.
“The children not only acquired new skills,” SES noted, “but also gained great motivation to grow and reach new heights. They saw with their own eyes how exciting and dynamic the world of chess can be.”
For Große, the trip was both a cultural exchange and a window into life in a former Soviet republic. Beyond the classroom, he took part in a teachers’ volleyball tournament and even hitchhiked into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. His final weekend was spent exploring historic Tashkent (Uzbekistan).
The Kazygurt Intelligence School hopes to continue the project, aiming to establish regular school chess tournaments in the near future—and perhaps even host them.