FIDE Commission for Women's Chess

🌍♟️ One month ago, the chess world came together to celebrate International Chess Day!

From Madagascar to New Zealand, Costa Rica to France, communities across six continents found their own ways to celebrate chess, bring people together, and create more welcoming opportunities for everyone to take part.

From beaches and sidewalks to museums, restaurants and tournament halls, the celebrations showed that chess truly is for everyone, everywhere💙

A huge thank you to all the federations, clubs, organizers, and communities who joined our initiative and shared their stories and beautiful photos with us!

👉 Read the full recap and discover how International Chess Day was celebrated around the world:
https://wom.fide.com/international-chess-day-2026-celebrating-chess-across-six-continents/

🌍♟️ International Chess Day reached Madagascar! 🇲🇬

In Antananarivo, the Ligue Analamanga des Échecs (LADE) brought chess into a local community space, partnering with PHÔ RESTO Ankorondrano to create a relaxed and welcoming environment where anyone could play a game, discover chess, or simply share the experience with others.

👏More than 20 participants, including 10 women, joined the celebration through friendly games and free introductions to chess. Creating opportunities like these - where women, newcomers, and people of all ages and backgrounds can feel welcome at the board- is an important part of building a more inclusive and equitable chess community.

From Madagascar to communities around the world, International Chess Day showed how much can happen when we bring chess beyond traditional competition venues and make space for everyone to participate, discover the game and most importantly - belong💙

🌏♟️ Our International Chess Day journey takes us all the way to New Zealand! 🇳🇿

At the Chessroad Squad Tournament in Auckland, players celebrated the day by creating a special message board filled with drawings, favourite players, and words capturing what chess means to them - kindness, friendship, respect, sportsmanship, challenge, fun, and the joy of the game.

It was a beautiful reminder that, wherever we are in the world, chess brings people together. From welcoming new players to celebrating the stars of the game, the Chessroad community showed just how much there is to share beyond the chessboard.

The organisers, among them WCM Eva Lourenço who leads the programme, also highlighted the growing confidence and determination of girls in chess, whose passion for learning and willingness to challenge themselves continue to shine through 💙

From New Zealand to the rest of the world, the message is the same: chess is everywhere and there is a place for everyone in our global chess community 🙌

♟️ Cape Winelands Chess is growing - and the second edition of its women’s-only chess tournament in the Western Cape, South Africa, brought together more than 100 women and girls! 👏✨

Gathering such a large group of female players for a dedicated chess event is a fantastic achievement and a wonderful reflection of the growing interest in opportunities created specifically for women and girls. The tournament is not only giving players a chance to compete, but also helping build a welcoming and supportive chess community.

📈Beyond the tournament itself, the initiative is making an even bigger impact: 18 new players have discovered chess through Her Move Africa this year, helping fulfil its goal of creating welcoming opportunities for girls and women to take their first steps into the game.

The tournament also featured a special Moms and Teachers section, giving those who usually support young players from the sidelines a chance to experience the game themselves and adding an extra sense of fun and community.

A huge congratulations to the Cape Winelands Chess team for everything they are building and big thank you to Her Move Africa who supported the event. We can’t wait to see how the third edition develops!💙



WIM Khadidja Latreche خديجة لطرش

📢 Your voice can help shape the future of women's chess!

We have launched the✨Women in Chess Representation, Participation and Development Survey✨ - a global initiative designed to better understand the experiences, participation, opportunities, and challenges of women in chess.

Women contribute to the chess community in many different ways and we want to hear directly from women across all levels of involvement - to be able to better support the growth and development of women's chess worldwide.

📝 If you are a woman or girl involved in chess in any capacity, please take a few minutes to complete the survey and make your voice count.

Together, we can create meaningful change for current and future generations of women in chess. ♟️

🔗More details on our website:
https://wom.fide.com/women-in-chess-representation-participation-and-development-survey/

🇫🇷♟️ For the past six years, our valued partners at Les Fous de la Vieille Tour - Saint-Tropez Chess Club have celebrated International Chess Day by bringing chess to everyone in the heart of Saint-Tropez ❤️

Guided by their inspiring motto, "Chess for Everyone," the annual festival combines an official FIDE-rated tournament with activities that introduce the game to the wider public, creating a welcoming celebration for players and visitors alike.

This year's event welcomed participants from across France and many other countries- including Turkey, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Poland - once again demonstrating how chess connects people of different ages, cultures, and nationalities - living the spirit of FIDE's "Gens Una Sumus" 🤝

A heartfelt thank you to our longstanding partners for their continued dedication to making chess more visible, inclusive, and accessible. We are proud to work alongside organizers whose passion strengthens both their local community and the global chess family.

🔗Read more about this wonderful celebration below:
https://wom.fide.com/saint-tropez-celebrates-international-chess-day-with-a-festival-for-everyone/

Photos by Diana Kordowina-Tkacz

🌍♟️ Continuing our journey through International Chess Day celebrations around the world, our next stop is Cyprus 🇨🇾

The United by Chess Rapid 2026 brought together 82 players representing 11 chess federations - a wonderful reflection of what International Chess Day is all about: bringing people together through friendship, respect, fair play and a shared passion for chess ❤️

The event welcomed players of all ages, from the main rapid tournament to a dedicated side event for younger children. Women and girls were actively represented throughout the day, while an educational exhibition exploring the history of both the FIDE Candidates Tournament and the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament gave players, parents and visitors the opportunity to celebrate the rich heritage of chess and the growing visibility of women's chess 👏

With homemade treats, shared conversations and a warm, welcoming atmosphere, the celebration became much more than a tournament - it was a day that united people from different countries, generations and backgrounds through the universal language of chess.

A special thank you to Pavlos Skouroupathis and Katerina Christou (Kaissa Chess Club/The Chess Hub), whose dedication and hard work made the event possible🙏

🌍♟️ Continuing our journey through International Chess Day celebrations around the world, our next stop is South Africa 🇿🇦

At the Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, more than 30 children from Joza township and the nearby farming community of Seven Fountains came together for a day that blended chess with storytelling and art! Among activities there were poems and a rap song on chess that were rendered, and screening of the Brooklyn Castle film.

Through interactive activities led by librarian and chess enthusiast Andrew Martin and educator Nolwakhe Yvonne Sewelo, chess became a tool for learning, creativity, and self-expression.

Participants also discovered the inspiring story of Nelson Mandela, who played chess during his imprisonment on Robben Island, highlighting the game's enduring power to build resilience, hope, and connection.

And if we are being perfectly honest with you - we have just found out about it too!

It was a wonderful celebration showing that chess can be so much more than a game - it can bring together education, culture, and community, while creating a welcoming space where every child can learn, grow and have fun! 💙

Thank you to the organisers for hosting the event and to Zongezile Matshoba for letting us know about it. We are looking forward to receiving more stories about the celebrations!

👏Bodhana makes history again!
At just 11 years old, Bodhana Sivanandan has become the youngest girl ever to score an IM norm - surpassing a record previously held by the legendary Judit Polgar!

An extraordinary achievement that certainly going to inspire a lot of players around the world. It certainly is inspiring to us, and we can't wait to see what Bodhana will do next♟️✨

🔗Read more about her remarkable success in our article:
https://wom.fide.com/bodhana-sivanandan-becomes-youngest-girl-ever-to-score-an-im-norm/

🌍♟️As part of our International Chess Day initiative, federations and communities around the world celebrated chess in ways that brought people together. We're delighted to start sharing some of those celebrations with you!

Our first stop is Costa Rica, where more than 300 young players, many of them girls, gathered for the National Odd-Age Championship. Participants travelled from all parts of the country - including indigenous communities - showing how chess truly connects people across backgrounds, cultures and distances ❤️

Beyond the games, the event in Costa Rica was an opportunity to reunite with friends, celebrate a shared passion, and enjoy the welcoming spirit of the chess community - and we love to see it!👏

Stay tuned as we continue to share inspiring International Chess Day celebrations from around the world! 🌎