Hi everyone!

Ilya is here again. Today, I’d like to tell you about my son Savva and the amazing connection between generations.

I was born into a family of chess fanatics. After finishing his engineering career at one of the factories built by Henry Ford , my grandfather completely switched to chess. He became the head of a chess club and a professional chess judge. Grandmother won prizes in local competitions among women.

My father, an architect and constructor, is also a rabid chess lover and plays really well. When I was a child, our house was decorated with portraits of world chess champions. I naturally couldn't help turning into a chess player with such a background. My father and grandfather decided that I would become the new world chess champion. Literally a year after my birth, they went all-in with my chess education. I learned to move the chessmen properly before I could even walk. But nothing worked.

Children often do not follow the path of their parents. By the time I was seven, I’d despised chess terribly and never returned to it. However, I fell in love with puzzles and programmed on IBM PC compatible computer. In 1996, as a student, I won the university student competition in programming; and then the national one.

My son and co-inventor in WOWCUBE, Savva, was born in 2004. In 2016 I tried to teach him programming on an Arduino electronics kit. We came up with the idea of our WOWCube© device together during these lessons. We 3D-printed and assembled our first prototype, patented the technology, and founded our company right from our home in Novato, California.

Fate is wonderful. Savva denied all my programming classes and told me he was not interested. Recalling the story of myself learning chess, I didn't insist. What is most surprising, however, is that Savva fell in love with chess. And now he's just a wild chess fan. You can find him on Chess.com under the nickname Gitig. He plays day and night, even with his grandfather who lives in another country.

Today, when we are in the process of launching our WOWCube© system and have already been recognized by respected people, Savva suddenly decided he'd become a programmer. Amazing!