The recognition by the United Nations, approved in December 2019, has been the final endorsement to the "International Chess Day", which is now a more than established tradition. 

This year, FIDE's campaign consisted of asking chess fans from all around the world to teach one person how to play chess, with the aim to bring new players to the game. The idea received a warm welcome, especially among our friends in Africa and the Americas, and we are confident that there are many more chess players today than a few days ago. 

A beautiful initiative was the one launched by the Chess Club Hammam-Lif, in Tunisia. Starting on Sunday, they decided to celebrate International Chess Day by offering chess lessons to passers-by at the Hammam-Lif train station, in collaboration with the Tunisian National Railways Company.

Another fine initiative was the one by Belarus Chess Federation. In line with FIDE's campaign, they invited young football players from the Dynamo Brest Academy, and hockey players from BFSO “Dynamo”, to receive a chess course.

These young sportsmen learned the importance of concentration, strategic thinking, and mental discipline. The coach also stressed the value of taking responsibility for the decisions they make. We hope they can transfer this knowledge to their daily life and the playing field! 

New Zeland Chess Federation celebrated International chess day by staging a 6-game blitz match between former NZ Chess Champions FM's Ewen Green & Martin Dreyer.  

Following the completion of the ChessAgainstCovid charity drive, everyone involved went back to the humdrum of their lives for a while and one week prior to International Chess Day, GM Kevin Goh roused up the team with the idea of an International Chess Day event for Singaporeans or those who are based in Singapore. To spice things up, he cajoled his friends to sponsor the event and in a good time. The list of prizes included vouchers on popular chess education Chessmood platform, premium Chess24 membership, Modern Chess Master Class Workshop, and various chess books.  

And to top it all, he revealed that FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich would grace the event with an appearance on livestream and also, FIDE Director GM Emil Sutovsky would conduct an interactive Q&A session with viewers.

The entries came fast and furious. In the space of 2 days, more than 100 applications were submitted. Out of the 109 participants, there were 4 IMs, 1 WGM, 7 FMs as many of the country’s top juniors showing up to test their online blitz skills against fellow Singaporeans.

So on International Chess Day (20th July 2020) at 8 pm, the Arena 3 minute (no increment) blitz event began. After two hours of intense arena blitzing (and berserk-ing), it was WGM Gong Qianyun who emerged the champion with 75 points. She had completed 6 hours of chess coaching before the event and said she was 'dying' during the games...but that didn't stop her from besting the other 108 opponents.

Second place went to youngster Ethan Poh who had led for most of the event. Third on the virtual podium was clinched by IM Dr. Hsu Li Yang, who scored the highest percentage win rate of 87% (however, he did not try for berserk bonus points). The Associate professor is now the Vice Dean (Global Health) at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

The event was covered on livestream by GM Kevin Goh and IM Irene Sukandar: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/685207349

GM Emil Sutovsky, Director General of FIDE explained the importance of keeping the global chess community engaged during this period. He also conducted an interactive Q&A session and spoke on many important topics such as self-improvement in chess, chess in schools as well as The FIDE Online Olympiad. 

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich appeared on livestream and greeted all the participants: 

“On the part of FIDE, I’m glad to greet all players in Singapore and surrounding countries in the whole region. 

What we do now...all kinds of online chess activities is another indication that we are one family, we are working together and we are connected around chess and inside chess. We all love this game and are ready to contribute, a lot, each of us in our own positions to contribute to the development of chess and to the promotion of the game. 

Also, I believe that it is extremely important (to remember) that chess is not as developed as in some parts of Europe, Russia, the United States, China, and India. Also, other countries are starting to engage in important activities to raise the popularity of chess. 

One of the most important instruments here is educational chess and I very much hope that chess be promoted into schools in all countries in South East Asia, including Singapore and that will improve the educational abilities of kids. 

Chess can teach them how to think logically and strategically, how to win and lose with pride and respect to your partner. Also, it is vital to teaching the important things that chess can do for kids and juniors. Once again, thank you for all your efforts and please continue playing chess and enjoy."

A lot of people celebrated International Chess Day in its own way, and if you check the hashtag #InternationalChessDay (or #WorldChessDay) you will find plenty of interesting posts. The day was massively followed by museums, libraries, private schools, and radio stations from all over the world. It became one of the hottest "trending topics" of the day in several countries, so some big companies tried to catch the wave and used the hashtag to gain visibility for their brand.

Here is a compilation of the nicest posts: