Culture Check-In: 2022 Global Chess Festival Kicks Off in Budapest
zita kisgergely
via the Global Chess Festival official site
Hungary has a long and illustrious history with chess. When world champion Bobby Fischer retreated from the world (and hid from American authorities) he did so in Budapest, home to a vibrant chess culture and players eager to learn. Among them were the Polgar sisters, Judit, Zsófia, and Zsuzsa. Trained by their father, and later coached by Fischer himself, Judit went on to become ranked 8th in the world, and a grandmaster at the game. Zsuzsa became the women’s world champion.
It was Judit who took the initiative to create the Global Chess Festival, an international festival based in Budapest. According to their mission statement: All day entertaining programs await visitors at the Global Chess Festival every year, including professional chess tournaments, simultaneous chess games, art shows, educational conferences and various entertaining programs for all ages. The Global Chess Festival has become a prestigious event in the past ten years - offering a full-day family experience built around the mystical board game.
Though the festival itself takes place in Budapest, events are held world-wide, in the effort to raise the profile of chess internationally and connect players. Indeed, the festival’s motto is ‘Chess Connects Us.’ Last year saw events taking places in as far flung locations as China, Cyprus, India, and Mexico, using chess as an international language.
This year’s program, held in the Hungarian National Gallery, will feature such events as “Women in Chess / Women in Science,” “Lego Robot Programming,” and of course, a tournament.
Below find a recap of last year’s Global Chess Festival, one of the most exciting festival initiatives of late.
Oh, and much of the festival can be seen live, with links on the official festival site, found here. Enjoy.
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