On 14-15 October, the 9th Global Chess Festival dedicated a whole weekend to exploring how chess can help us make good decisions in life. From outstanding speakers to world-renowned chess influencers, Chess Olympiad participants, grandmasters, and also the audience played a crucial role in shaping both on-site and online events this year. During the two days of the event, in-person and online nearly 350,000 people at the festival were curious about the programs, e.g. how chess and artificial intelligence can reform education.
Visitors to the National Gallery witnessed an unusual hybrid chess simul, where Judit Polgár played against 29 selected players, as well as Indian champion, chess Olympic bronze medallist and influencer Tania Sachdev and Italian champion, chess Olympian and streamer Alessia Santeramo and their communities. Decision making played a big part here too, as influencers asked their own followers what the next move should be. One of the most exciting events was the Grand Decision community chess party, where Judit and the aforementioned influencers were joined in the game by grandmasters such as Vasily Ivanchuk, Miguel Illescas and David Howell. The youngest could to listen to excerpts from Judit Polgár’s latest book, Chess Palace – The Adventures of Sturdy Rook, and they could experience the skill-building games of the Chess Palace Adventure Course.
The next day of the festival, the international Educational Chess Summit took place online, where, among others, artificial intelligence expert Shameed Sait and Dr Barry Hymer, Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Cumbria, spoke about the role of chess and artificial intelligence in education, as well as other innovative development methods. In total, speakers from six continents attended the summit.
More than 200,000 people followed the unusual e-sport event, the Chess Triathlon, where four mixed teams competed in three formats. The unconventional contest of chess mixed teams (Gellért Karácsonyi & Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Alessia Santeramo & David Howell, Zsóka Gaál & Ferenc Berkes, Miguel Illescas & Olga Alexandrova) was won by team Mighty Fox, Zsóka Gaál & Ferenc Berkes.
