Asia Chess Academy (Jordan) held the World Refugee Day Online Chess Tournament 2021 under the supervision of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), and the Asian Chess Federation (ACF), and in cooperation with UNHCR, UNRWA and JOHUD.

For the third year in a row, Asia Chess Academy has continued its training program for refugees. In 2019 the Academy launched the chess for refugees’ program with 20 participants in cooperation with the UNHCR. Then in 2020, in collaboration with UNRWA schools in Amman, it had around 50 trainees who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication and hard work to establish themselves in official tournaments. By maximising the efforts, the program was extended to 200 trainees this year in cooperation with UNHCR, UNRWA & JOHUD.

On 20/6/2021, the day which coincides with World Refugee Day (A day that is designated as an international day by the United Nations to honour refugees around the world, and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution), Asia Chess Academy organised an inclusive competition open for all the participants of the training program for refugees entitled: World Refugee Day Online Chess Tournament 2021.

The tournament brought together 135 players out of 200 registered; the reduced number of participants was caused by many factors, including access to smart devices and/or internet connection. For instance, two or more brothers or sisters of the same family attended the training sessions using the only smartphone they had. Unfortunately, they were forced to abandon their playing chances in the tournament and choose only one person to participate, as each player must play from his own device. In addition, many participants have had almost no live attendance during online training sessions, and their participation in the tournament was hindered because of poor Internet access. Recorded lessons partially helped them acquire the knowledge when they get access to the internet, yet nothing could be done to enable them to participate in the tournament.

The organisers faced many difficulties during the preparation and implementation of the training program due to the lack of skills needed to use distance-learning techniques. However, in response to those challenges, the academy team put in considerable effort to provide the required assistance, from creating an email address for people to explaining the intricacies of the Lichess platform.

The opening of the tournament was honoured by the presence of the FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola, and a number of officials from UNHCR, UNRWA, and JOHUD.

Asia Chess Academy Director Sami Khader began the ceremony by welcoming all distinguished guests and thanking all trainees for their commitment and hard work during the preceding period. He emphasised that Asia Chess Academy, as a part of the Jordanian society, which hosts more than 3 million refugees forming the second largest percentage of refugees to citizens in the world, believes that all refugees have the right to not only survive but also thrive! He also assured that ACA believes that sport in general and chess can enrich the lives of people forced to flee their homes, as it can boost mental health, help refugees gain confidence, forge new friendships, and feel welcome.

In line with the World Refugee Day theme 2021, “Together we heal, learn and shine”, Sami announced that the Academy intends to provide more advanced training courses for those wishing to enhance their competitiveness and performance, including not only the winners of the tournament but all trainees. He expressed profound gratitude to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Asian Chess Federation (ACF), UNHCR, UNRWA, and JOHUD, and thanked them all for the cooperation and support they have been providing for the program to succeed.  He also expressed his hope of having more participants in the coming courses and fewer refugees worldwide.

On behalf of FIDE, the FIDE Managing Director Dana Reizniece-Ozola warmly greeted and welcomed all guests and trainees and addressed a message full of hope and positivity on the occasion of the world refugee day: “We see that with the great help of Asia Chess Academy, we have tried to give the tools in the form of chess to you, so that you would not only have a wonderful way of spending your spare time and competing, but also using chess for your education because I am very much convinced that chess gives very important life skills, such as the understanding between the cause and the consequences, such as building up the self-esteem such as strengthening the team spirit such as strengthening respect not only to your friends, but the opponents and I could name there were positive impacts quite for a while, I am very much convinced that because you are playing chess, you will get the knowledge so in your real life you will be the real master of your life.”

“The real chess players never become a piece in somebody else’s hands, so all my best wishes to you,” she added.

She commended the Academy on the substantial progress it had made on the program year after year and thanked UNHCR, UNRWA and all who worked on this program, ensuring that FIDE will try to expand it to other countries.

Likewise, all the representativeы of UNHCR, UNRWA and JOHUD, expressed their deepest thanks and admiration to Asia Chess Academy for this initiative and its positive impacts on all trainees’ skills.

Lastly, some former participants shared their experiences and opinions of the program and expressed their gratitude for such initiatives because of the positive impact and improvement chess had in their lives.