FIDE/ChessKid Event Brings Together Girls From 55 Countries
The first ever FIDE and ChessKid Unrated Girls Only Tournament is over, and what a wonderful tournament it was! As part of the FIDE Queens' Festival, 232 girls from 55 different countries took part in this free event to gain experience playing competitively against girls their own age, win fabulous prizes, and — of course — have lots of fun.Players were split up into two editions: an Eastern Edition and a Western Edition. Both editions featured an Ages 9 and Under and an Ages 10-16 section, and every section had plenty of action-filled games. Keep reading to find out why this tournament was so special!
Precious prizes
As part of their entry into the tournament, all players received electronic certificates of participation, an invite to a weekly mini-camp with WGMs, and a 3-month ChessKid Gold membership.
Winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd places) in each category (U9 and 10-16) also received electronic diplomas, trophies that will be sent to them, and a whole year of ChessKid Gold membership!
An amazing commentary team
One special part of the tournament was that these unrated young chess players had their games covered by some of the world's top female players! WGM Anastasiya Karlovich, IM Elisabeth Paehtz, and IM Eva Repkova were on commentary duties for the Eastern Edition, while the Western Edition featured insights by WGM Irene Sukandar and WIM Ivette Garcia.
It's a big deal to have some of the world's best players look over your games, talk about your tactics, and provide feedback on your brilliant moves (as well as the moves you could have done differently). We definitely recommend watching the videos linked above to hear their thoughts!
Building connections
The tournament may be over, but that doesn't mean the fun has to stop; all players are invited to join weekly 1.5-hour mini-camps with WGMs!
These will take place on Sundays, starting on September 18 and running until October 30. The 9 and Under section will be hosted by WGMs Irene Sukandar and Anastasiya Karlovich and the Ages 10-16 section will be hosted by WGMs Elisabeth Paehtz and Salome Melia.
WIM Anastasia Sorokina, FIDE Vice-President and the creative force behind this event, is a strong believer in the power of chess to bring people together:
"I met many friends [because of chess], many of them I've known since I was a child. You keep these relationships for your whole life; sometimes I meet people who I played chess with in kids' tournaments and I haven't seen them in years, but it's like I saw them yesterday."
Learning from chess role models
All players were invited to a Zoom workshop with FIDE women representatives and Queens' Festival organizers. The workshop took place on July 9 and featured the following guests:
Dana Reizniece-Ozola – WGM, FIDE Managing Director
Anastasiya Karlovich - WGM, Chess Journalist, Photographer
Eva Repková – WGM, Head of FIDE Women Commission
Keti Tsatsalashvili - WGM, Chess Blogger
Juga - Singer, Songwriter, Chess Conceptual Artist
Sorokina mentioned in her conversation with WGM Anastasiya Karlovich that she could see many of the girls already making new friends during the workshop! We hope that the young players who joined the workshop saw the many different options available to them in the world of chess, and were inspired by what the speakers had to say.
The Winners
(For full results, click on the medals)
Eastern Edition U9:
Eastern Edition 10-16:
Western Edition U9:
Western Edition 10-16:
We'd like to thank all the participants for joining and making this tournament so special, and once again, a big congratulations to the winners!
