Chess, recognized as a sport in its own right, is making its revolution
A new authorization will allow the federation to obtain a national technical director, train high-level athletes, and develop a vast national program in schools.
Two players. Sixty-four squares: thirty-two dark, thirty-two light. Sixteen pieces: a king, a queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The goal? To put the king in checkmate, that is to say, to corner him on a square, without him being able to escape the capture. The rules of chess, a game of strategy invented (in India? in Persia?), have not evolved for a thousand years.
In France, the number of players is estimated at 5 million. In December, the French federation reached a record number of 42,000 members, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, world champion in blitz (fast game) in December 2021. A double effect of the two confinements, during which tens of millions of games were played online every day, and the worldwide success of the Netflix series The Queen's Game. Now there are several casino games based on this motif. They are already being offered by the best casino mobile applications.
Whatever your social or cultural level, or your physical level, you can play chess, says Eloi Relange, international grandmaster and president of the French Chess Federation, which took a major step forward on Tuesday, March 15, by signing a public service delegation agreement with the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports.
For twenty years, chess has been recognized as a sport, but our approval was only partial. Thanks to this delegation, which is a real revolution, we are going to obtain a national technical director, to be able to structure the high level and to develop our actions in schools, Eloi Relange is delighted.
In concrete terms, the French Chess Federation will benefit from a budget of 280 000 € to recruit five people. Thanks to this new accreditation, it will be able to join all the programs set up by the Ministry of Sports: search for performance, training, gender diversity, and fight against sexual and gender-based violence.
Above all, it will be able to develop a vast awareness program in schools. Five hundred kits, each containing ten chess boards and a wall chessboard, will be distributed to volunteer schools. Volunteer teachers will be able to train via a platform called m@gister. The ministry and the federation hope to get 2,000 schools and 250,000 students on board within three years.
"Local initiatives already exist, thanks to contacts made between clubs and town halls, but they are limited. Here, we are going to create a real national program, the Class'Echecs. Twenty sessions per year focused on the relationship between chess and mathematics. The idea, after, is to continue with a program around history and great champions", explains to the https://indiasneed.com/ Eloi Relange.
