From 13-14 October 2022, FIDE, jointly with Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff's office, will host the second Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners. Dedicated to the International Day of Education in Prison, the event is organized as a part of the Chess for Freedom programme.
Free and open to players representing any correctional facility without specification by age and gender of prisoners, the tournament aims at introducing chess as a tool for education and social inclusion in prisons of different countries.
24 teams from 17 countries - Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Germany, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, Turks and Caicos Islands and the USA - have already registered for the competition.
In some countries, national and regional chess tournaments for prisoners are being held to define the strongest players that will represent their countries on the international level. Others have chess training for inmates to improve their online and offline chess skills.
Alongside the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, India organized a national online inter-jail chess tournament among 21 jails of the country, where a four-member team of Choudwar Circle Jail beat Gujarat's Baroda jail in the final. Later, the champion team participated in the friendly international online jail chess tournament organized by FIDE on chess.com platform on August 2, where Choudwar Circle Jail defeated Chicago Prison, USA, by a score of 3-1.
"We have further extended training and practice of the champion team of Choudwar Jail to make them ready for participating in the Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners," said chess trainer Satya Ranjan Patnaik.
21 jails across India, including Choudwar Circle Jail, are providing chess training to inmates as a part of Parivartan – Prison to Pride initiative launched by Indian Oil Corporation Limited. The four-member team was formed from prisoners who excelled in playing offline and online chess.
"We are proud of our team for defeating the much experienced Chicago Jail team and expecting the best performance in the upcoming Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners," said Choudwar Circle Jail Superintendent Pradipta Kumar Behera.
The Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for prisoners is open for teams of four players representing any correctional facility. Each country can have up to three teams for the event: the main team representing a female correctional facility with all four female team players and a team representing a juvenile correctional facility (under the age of 20).
The registration deadline is September 21, 2022. Participation is free of charge.
