The International Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE from Federation Internationale Des Echecs was founded on 20th July 1924. Though there was small organization and World Chess Championship matches reported earlier, the formal FIDE was established on this day.
It was considered that the Secretary General of the French Chess Federation, Vincent Pierre was the patron due to his commitment for establishing the organization. The first president of FIDE was Dr. Alexandar Reub from the Netherlands.
The first 15 countries signed in the FIDE Establishment were Argentina, Belgium Canada, France, Spain, Finland, England, The Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslovia.
Sri Lanka Joined FIDE in 1978 with their first participation in the FIDE Chess Olympiad in the same year at Buenos Aires, Argentina.
FIDE has taken a lot of steps in promoting the game, conducting many events. It’s motto is Gens Una Sumus, Latin for “We are one Family”. In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and chess admitted as a sport in regional Games. It is now one of the largest sports organizations, encompassing 199 countries as affiliate members, in the form of National Chess Federations. According to the estimates there are more than 600 million Chess competitive players in the world and FIDE is working hard to make it till 1 billion as soon as possible.
The International Chess Day is celebrated annually on July 20, the day the International Chess Federation was founded in 1924. The idea to celebrate this day as the international chess day was proposed by UNESCO, and it has been celebrated as such since 1966, after it was established by FIDE.
The Sri Lanka Chess Federation is celebrating it’s Golden Jubilee (1972 – 2022) this year with a grand event of more than 500 Chess players in Blitz Chess Championships, Simultaneous Exhibition and some Chess lessons. One of the leading supermarket Chains, GLORMARK has joined as the official partner.
The Sri Lanka Chess Federation with GLOMARK wish you a great INTERNATIONAL CHESS DAY!
