Three Russian Regions to Join Chess in Schools Project

RCF and Timchenko Foundation sum up the contest. 

Kemerovo Oblast, Udmurtia and Chuvashia became the winners of the competition to join the Chess in Schools project in the 2017-2018 school year. The project is conducted by the Russian Chess Federation and the Charitable Foundation of Elena and Gennady Timchenko. 

After the announcement of the contest, the RCF and Timchenko Foundation had received 11 applications from the regional chess federations. Bryansk, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Ulyanovsk regions, Perm Krai, Mordovia, Udmurtia, and Chuvashia had expressed their interest to launch the project.  

The tender commission estimated the applications according to the unified criteria. The federations indicated the number of schools, where chess had been already included in the curriculum, and the number of institutions, where chess would become a school subject in the next year; the region's needs and possibilities to educate teachers were described as well. The regions also specified the schools' level of interest to carry out a contest to determine the best chess education among educational institutions. A very important critetion was the support of the chess education from regional and municipal authorities. 

The Chess in Schools project started in Pskov Oblast in 2014. In 2015-2016 the project was joined by Zabaykalsky Krai. In 2016-2017 the competition of Chess in Schools project was held to include five more regions: Altai Krai, Ingushetia, Krasnodar Krai, Moscow Oblast, and Novosibirsk Oblast.  

"The Chess in Schools project is growing every year. Three more regions of Russia have joined it this year. Judging from the number of applications, the project has resonated with the regional chess federations and educational institutions. Step by step chess is coming to scools to become more available for children from different regions of our conutry. I am very glad to see the tendency of including chess into the educational process", says Igor Baradachev, Deputy General Director of the Elena and Gennady Timchenko Charitable Foundation. 

The Chess in Schools project includes various kinds of activities aimed at supporting chess education at primary schools: from providing chess equipment and learning kits to conducting contests to determine of the best chess education at schools. All participating regions are granted with a unique Chess School tutorial (author is Vladimir Barsky), issued by the Timchenko Foundation and recommended by the Russian Chess Federarion. 

We congratulate the winners and thank all the participants for their interest in the project!