Press release

How has Technology Transformed Chess Competition?

The Summer Nostos Festival is honored to welcome back Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov — widely considered to be the greatest chess player of all time. He is joined by Hungarian chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, the youngest of the renowned Polgár sisters, known as the greatest female chess player of all time.

In this sneak preview of next year’s Nostos University, Kasparov and Polgar will examine how technology has transformed competition in chess and beyond. This topic is inspired by the 2021 SNF Conference’s theme of Humanity and Artificial Intelligence.

Learn how these two legendary players embraced chess as children in a world so different from the one chess players know today. Find out about the barriers they broke through on their way to success and their contributions to major advances in competitive sports.

This stimulating discussion will be hosted by former professional football player, mathematician, and chess super-fan, John Urschel. You will also meet ChessBase co-founder and chess journalist Frederic Friedel, who explains surprising historical details from the early days when chess met computers. Finally, Greek grandmaster Hristos Banikas will bring questions from some of his top young students.

Join us for this truly historic Nostos University event, that will inspire and educate young and old.

Proimotional video

RetroFuture Edition

It’s going to be a weird summer, so let’s get together to make it good-weird. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) is going back to the future with a digital analogue of its signature summer events, the Summer Nostos Festival RetroFuture Edition, June 21 to 28, 2020.

While this SNFestival RetroFuture Edition is far from normal and far from its home at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens, it’s still about enjoying artists we know we love while being introduced to new favorites. About grappling with ideas that push us outside our intellectual comfort zones while soaking up the good vibes of shared time together. About how journeying out into the unknown makes returning home that much sweeter—the spirit of “nostos” that gives the festival its name.

A return to our favorite summers

The Summer Nostos Festival (SNFestival) is an international, multidimensional festival that gives us a week bursting with avant-garde art, scintillating conversation, daring ideas, irresistible music, moving dance, delightful performances, participatory entertainment, and lively sports activities for visitors of all ages.

The SNFestival combines a fresh lineup of beloved Greek and international artists with annual signature events: the SNF Conference featuring luminaries from diverse spheres, the evening SNF RUN, and the SNF DIALOGUES in collaboration with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

Every June, the weeklong SNFestival invites us all to get together at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC). The SNFCC, an open public space that thousands of people have made their own, is the perfect meeting spot to share experiences and create new memories that will have us looking forward to next year’s Summer Nostos Festival as soon as this year’s has ended.

The SNFestival is organized and made possible through the exclusive support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Here is the full schedule. The Kasparov/Polgar discussion is on June 27, 2020

Photo gallery of all the events

Videos of the 2019 events

Summer Nostos Festival