The Judit Polgar Chess Foundation has set the mission of attracting five million people from five continents to play chess as part of the Global Chess Festival.
Our goal is to reach this number within ten years under the logo of “1000 faces of chess”. The first big step was made this year with a big variety of chess activities on ten locations worldwide: In South America, the Chilean Chess Foundation organized a grand event with simultaneous exhibitions, chess lessons and the Rene Leterial Memorial tournament. The USA participated with several locations, including the traditional SPICE Cup at Webster University, Saint Louis and various chess events in Florida for professional and amateur chess players. In Australia and New Zealand more than 600 children took part in tournaments and chess related activities on this special day. In Romania and Serbia hundreds of visitors joined the chess celebrations, with individual and team competitions as well as cultural events. In Hungary, the city of Gyor has featured the Korall Cup, with chess tournaments for both children and adults.
The Global Chess Festival Budapest location offered full-day family entertainment in three main categories: chess, educational and cultural activities. See the official video of the event that embraced a wide range of events. The Chess Palace Cup hosted the children tournament in different age groups, in the Generation Clash families played with and against each other, the online USA versus Hungary Chess Battle was sponsored and broadcasted by Chess.com and there were simultaneous displays by Judit and Sofia Polgar, Kata Karacsonyi (9) and Brigitta Sinka ( 87), proving that chess is ageless. The chess highlight at the historic Royal Palace Garden was the Highlander Cup with the participation of former World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Rustam Kasimdzhanov, with the latter winning the tournament and the 20.000 USD prize.
At the Chess Palace International Educational Chess Conference teachers discussed the methods and saw practical demonstrations of educational chess. Conference presentations emphasized the specific needs of the digital age. Judit Polgar took part in a Q&A session and her sister Sofia gave a chess lesson for beginners. Thousands visited the festival and the children especially enjoyed the various award winning Chess Palace educational tools and activities. The famous Hungarian artists Andras Gyorfi painted and Andras Hajos performed on stage, as well as the children of all ages and the Chess Palace Reference Schools of Hungary. Along with interactive games, Arts & Crafts and fascinating shows, the kids’ favorite was the making of marzipan chess pieces at this prestigious social event. See a large picture report about the 2015 GCF Budapest location: Global Chess Festival part 2. Save the date: the second Global Chess Festival will take place on the 8th of October 2016.
