3/22/2025 – The Social Chess Research Conference, held on 22 February, marked the launch of "2025: Year of Social Chess". Bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world, the event explored the role of chess in social development, inclusion, and rehabilitation. Presentations covered topics ranging from cognitive training to chess-based addiction recovery. Organised by FIDE’s Social Chess Commission, the conference set the stage for future initiatives aimed at leveraging chess as a tool for positive societal impact.

3/27/2024 – The conference “Chess in Education - Methodology and perspectives” will take place on May 18, 2024 via online. This activity is organised by the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU), the Chess Scientific Research Institute and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, and led by GM Smbat Lputian. These conferences are significant because they provide a platform to explore the relationship between chess, cognitive science and education.

3/17/2024 – The FIDE Education Commission is pleased to announce its new initiative: the launch of the FIDE Chess School Award. The award is established to enhance the quality and position of chess in the primary and secondary education systems around the world. FIDE’s wish to provide recognition and motivation for existing Chess in Education activities and programs in schools through a certification process.

12/24/2023 – From a very young age, Rita Atkins has been active in the chess community, achieving notable success in various chess tournaments, reaching the title of Women's International Master (WIM) and winning the Hungarian Women's Chess Championship in 1992. She has also been involved in teaching chess and mathematics to school children and youth. In a lengthy interview with Uvencio Blanco, she remarked: "Give it another hundred years, and there will be just as many good female players as male ones".

10/26/2023 – Stewart Reuben has officiated and/or organised several top-level chess events held in Great Britain and other countries, including the World Chess Championship, the British Chess Championship and a number of Hastings Congresses. Also an author and a poker player, he even met and played Bobby Fischer: “Each game he won, he gained $1. Had I ever won one, I would have received $10”. | Photo: John Upham

9/1/2023 – In a wide-ranging interview, Casto Abundo talks about his lengthy career as a chess organiser, his work alongside Florencio Campomanes and the time he spent with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines. Abundo shares: “I had to play racquetball with Bobby, swim with him far into the open seas, go on long nightly walks discussing chess, arrange a date with a Filipina national chess team member he liked, drive him to the yacht of President Marcos, and watch as he replayed games from Chess Informant every night”.

5/13/2023 – Andrzej Filipowicz is one of the most interesting chess personalities in the world. He has been a chess player, arbiter, organizer, editor and writer, as well as a civil engineer specializing in steel structures. Endowed with a strong personality, clear intelligence, well-defined convictions and a curious sense of humour, he is turning 85 today, on 13 May 2023. Uvencio Blanco conducted a lengthy interview with the Polish chess polymath.

2/26/2023 – Professor Jerry Nash is the current chairman of FIDE’s Commission on Chess in Education. A long-standing educator who is passionate about helping others, Nash asserts in this interview conducted by Uvencio Blanco: “Chess can really positively alter the classroom environment by improving student behaviour and engagement”.

10/8/2022 – Grandmaster Smbat Lputian, chairman of the Chess and Education Commission of the International Chess Federation (EDU FIDE), informs us that an International Online Conference entitled “Chess in the Process of a Preschooler’s Development” will be held on December 10, 2022. The goal of the conference is to discuss different approaches of teaching chess to preschoolers mainly considering chess as an educational tool for a child’s development.

9/28/2022 – The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the 5th Chess in Education Lecturer course. The course will be held online on 28-30 October, in English. Those who successfully pass the course will receive the title of Lead School Instructor (LSI). The course is limited to a maximum of 20 people (first come, first served).

8/12/2022 – Daniel Eduardo Pulvett, born in Venezuela and now representing Spain, finished second at the Valencia International Open last month to grab his third GM norm. With a rating already above 2500, he is set to receive the grandmaster title. Pulvett, aged 31, has a ninety-percent visual impairment. He had grabbed his second GM norm only four months ago, at a closed tournament in Breña Baja, in the Canary Islands. | Photo: David Llada

3/11/2022 – Efim Geller, one of Ukraine’s greatest chess talents, would have turned 97 years old on March 8 this year. An extraordinary player, he also had a doctorate in Physical Education, and worked as a second to Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov. Experts estimate Geller was among the top ten players in the world for about twenty years.