Autism Awareness Day: Infinite Chess project outlook

Helping children with ASD

Press release by Infinite Chess

The United Nations recognizes April 2 as the Autism Awareness Day. At FIDE, we’re determined to help children with ASD to learn chess. Chess improves social skills, reduces anxiety, and facilitates overall development.

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Our Infinite Chess Project started in 2019 as a small pilot project. In three years, it has gained momentum and expanded to 10 countries: Albania, France, Gibraltar, Latvia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey.

“Chess is an excellent tool to make societies better. With social chess initiatives, FIDE educates youth, empowers women, integrates the less privileged and finds new ways to satisfy all special needs. Building on practical experiences of teachers who work with children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), FIDE has devised the Infinite Chess project, where chess is used for improving the socio-emotional welfare of such special kids”, said the project leader, WIM Anastasia Sorokina.

The Project runs in cooperation with the FIDE Social Commission. It aims to increase knowledge and awareness of chess for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and study the benefits of introducing them to chess. We develop various teaching methods and give practical advice to teachers and parents.

Infinite Chess timeline:

• In January 2021, a pilot project was launched in 6 countries: Spain, Turkey, France, Gibraltar, South Africa and Norway.
• In Spring 2021, an introductory FIDE seminar took place, attracting 130 participants from more than 50 countries.
• On October 2-3, 2021, FIDE organized the 2nd FIDE Educational Seminar, “Chess for children with an autism spectrum disorder. Learn and teach”.
• In 2022, the Project onboarded Asian and African countries: Malaysia and Mongolia, South Africa and Morocco.
• In December 2022, the Conference “Chess for Social benefits and Women Inclusion & INFINITE CHESS Evolution” took place in Paris, France.
• On March 29, 2023, dedicated to the World Autism Day, the workshop for educators was held in South Africa under the guidance of Erick Takawira, Councillor of the FIDE Social Commission.

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With the support of the International Olympic Committee, the first educational program was launched: “Methodological guide for teachers to conduct chess classes when working with children with autism spectrum disorder”. In the meantime, an Erasmus funding application was submitted in order to carry out extensive research.

The program is available in four languages, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. You can download it here: Program – FIDE Infinite Chess Project.

Our dedicated YouTube playlist collects the conferences and seminars that have been conducted so far, and we welcome everyone to check these materials: Infinite Chess Playlist.

Links

• Official site
• Autism and Chess (1)
• Autism and Chess (2)