On January 14, 2021, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a decree "On measures for the further development and popularization of chess and enhancing the system of training chess players.”
Under the Decree, the project "Chess in school" will be implemented through the expansion of the chess education system in elementary school, as well as holding competitions among students and schools, promoting chess among kids and teenagers, and many other important measures.
The state program for the development of chess until 2025 has been adopted. The program set several ambitious goals such as:
- Increasing the number of permanently studying chess to 3 percent by the year 2025;
- Bringing the number of districts (cities) in which special attention is paid to the development of chess as a priority sport up to 40;
- Establishing 25 new chess schools and clubs based on public-private partnership within the next five years;
- Increasing the number of active chess schools for children by 20% with the target of 10,500 children involved in chess;
- Uzbekistan’s entering the top-10 rated countries by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) by the year 2025.
In addition, several annual chess competitions and events are established starting from the year 2021:
- International Chess Tournament for the Prize of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
- Agzamov (the first Grandmaster from Uzbekistan) Memorial Tournament (Tashkent)
- International Tournament of the XVII World Chess Champion R.M. Kasymzhanov (Tashkent)
- Sakhibkiran Cup Chess Tournament (Samarkand)
- Al-Beruni Chess Tournament (Khiva)
- The Week of Tourism and Chess (Bukhara, Termez, and Khiva)
