The FIDE Chessable Academy's 2024 season kicked off on January 13, drawing 450 students from over 100 federations and 22 FIDE Endorsed Academies into its arena
Aimed at talented young players who are nominated by their national Federations and FIDE Endorsed Academies, the FIDE Chessable Academy brings together top players and coaches teaching a specially designed training program for future chess masters.
The roster of lecturers featured esteemed coaches and chess legends, such as Hou Yifan, Stefanova Antoaneta, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Alexander Khalifman, Boris Gelfand, Artur Jussupow, Mikhail Gurevich, Ramesh R B, Vladimir Potkin, Aleksey Dreev, Vladimir Malakhov, Victor Bologan, Igor Lysyj, Evgeniy Najer, Miguel Illescas, Yevgeniy Vladimirov, Surya Ganguly, Sergei Tiviakov, Anton Filippov, Melikset Khachiyan, Thomas Luther, Yannick Gozzoli, Farrukh Amonatov, Alexey Kuzmin, Igor Khenkin, Hicham Hamdouchi, Georgui Castaneda, Dejan Bojkov, Ilaha Kadimova, Robert Hungaski, Reynaldo Vera, Alonso Zapata, and Vishal Sareen.
The program aims to unravel important skills and techniques. It includes a meticulous study of important chess openings explained by leading experts in these specific areas, exploring typical and innovative ideas, abundant secrets, as well as practical challenges and revealing various topics. The topics include the evaluation of the position and the plan, prophylactic thinking, principles of attack, principles of defense, how to play against the pieces, un-evident moves and full board vision, danger of passed pawns, practical rook endings, correct and incorrect attack, "bad" pieces, advantage realization principles, feeling of danger, the principle of two weaknesses in addition to other important topics.
Organized into 12 groups, the program, slated to run until the end of April, unfolds with weekend sessions conducted in English, Russian, Spanish, and French.
One of the focuses of the project is gender equality, as an equal number of female and male students actively participate, creating a diverse and inclusive chess community. So far, since its establishment in 2021, the academy has welcomed over 1000 students from more than 100 countries in its online sessions.
"Having access to coaching and high-quality training material is essential for chess development. As the world's leading chess courses platform, we are thrilled to be part of this important project, which levels the field for players of all ages and backgrounds. We sincerely hope to contribute to the development of future champions as well as future chess professionals," Geert van der Velde, Head of Chessable.com, said.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich emphasizes the academy's role in personal development, stating that "the Chessable Academy is not just about mastering the game; it's about creating well-rounded individuals. This feeds well into FIDE's overall approach and strategy in popularizing chess – it is not just about the sport, it is about building your character and helping individuals grow as people".
Two in-person camps held in Dubai (2021) and Sitges, Spain (2022) served as global meeting points, fostering camaraderie among chess enthusiasts.
The In-person Training Camp
Breaking new ground, the academy introduces personal development training as a core component. The FIDE Chessable In-Person Training Camp, led by GM Judit Polgar and GM Artur Jussupow in Menorca from March 27 to April 2, promises to be a transformative experience.
The "FIDE Personal Growth Academy" within the camp features experts like Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Geert van der Velde, Maria Yuste, and Natalia Ryzhenko, covering topics from healthy nutrition to personal brand development.
How the participants of the course will be selected:
The FIDE Trainers' Commission and Chessable will carefully evaluate and choose the 12 students based on the following outlined criteria:
- Class attendance percentage will be the foremost consideration. To be considered for the camp, a student should have attended a minimum of 75% of the online lectures.
- A FIDE standard rating above 2000
- Must understand English for chess training purposes
- Must NOT have attended previous FIDE Chessable in-person camps
- Must be 16 years of age or younger
- Selected by FIDE Trainers' Commission as a wild card (1)
- Selected by Chessable as a wild card (1)
- The organizing committee will make every effort to ensure an equal representation of boys and girls in the camp
Participants of any language and rating who fulfilled the attendance criteria (minimum 75% attendance) and were not selected for the camp will receive Chessable courses.
