FIDE will host the first Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners, organized as a part of the Chess for Freedom program and a continuation of the international championship first held in 2019. The event is scheduled for October 13-14, 2021. The project, aimed at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries, is carried out under the 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov’s patronage.
Free and open to players representing any correctional facility without specification by age and gender of prisoners, the tournament will be played online and live streamed on Chess TV and FIDE’s Youtube channel. Registration is open through Tuesday, September 21 here.
Teams comprised of four players with unlimited number of substitutes each will first compete in a round-robin team chess tournament on Wednesday, October 13. And the top teams will be battling it out in the finals on Thursday, October 14.
Some countries have already registered their teams for the competition. They are Argentina, Armenia, England, India, Iran, Italy, Palestine, Spain and the USA. Still others are having their national chess tournaments for prisoners to define the strongest players that will represent their countries on international level.
These days 10 correctional facilities in Georgia are having chess tournaments for the inmates. 132 prisoners from Rustavi, Kutaisi, Gldani, Ksani, Geguti and Avchala are playing over-the-board preliminary tournaments inside their prisons. Among them are inmates of women’s and juvenoid correctional facilities. Later on they will face off online against opponents in other prisons and will define the top-4 players who will participate in the intercontinental tournament in October.
Regulations for Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners (pdf)
