Dr Abdullah Al Barakat, Chairman of Fujairah Chess and Culture Club, poses for a photograph.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Providing a major boost to aspiring chess players, Fujairah Chess and Culture Club will teach the basics of the game at the local level through virtual communication platforms under the title ‘Teach 20,000 how to play chess.’

The initiative launched under the generous patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah, targets 20,000 players across the world the basics of the game.

This is an effort of the Fujairah Chess and Culture Club’s administration to continue the development of the game, which plays an important role in the development of the mind.

With just nominal fees, the experts will impart knowledge of the game to players over a period of four to five months.

In conjunction with achieving the club's strategic goals of promoting chess locally and internationally, the initiative is distinguished as it offers courses even for people of determination around the world free of charge.

Hailing the support of the Crown Prince of Fujairah, the Fujairah Chess and Culture Club’s board of directors offered thanks and appreciation to Sheikh Mohammed for his unwavering support and sound guidance for the success of the initiative which reflects the desire of the Emirate of Fujairah to excel in all aspects, including chess.

Dr Abdullah Al Barakat, Chairman of Fujairah Chess and Culture Club and the UAE’s delegate at the World Federation for Chess Composition, said, "The programme is in line with the objectives of the International Chess Federation and World Chess Day 2020, which teaches people how to play chess.

“The new initiative will help strengthen Fujairah's position as one of the most prominent cities in the world of chess.

“One of the goals of the initiative is to make the sport of chess more popular with the public, which will positively affect the behavior of people who practice chess, whether they are students in schools or practising any other profession, according to what has been proven by several studies,” he added.

Mohammed Abdullah Al Zaabi, Vice Chairman of the club’s Board of Directors, revealed that chess courses will be offered through the Zoom visual communication programme in seven languages, including Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Serbian and Hindi.

“The languages are selected based on the data collected from those who are wishing to join the courses and opinion polls carried out by the club previously.

“One session will last six hours, divided into six sessions, each session lasts 45 minutes as a lecture given by the experts, while the last 15 minutes of the session are open to questions and inquiries.
Fujairah is famous for hosting for Endurance Chess Solving Championship annually. In January, they hosted the third edition of the unique tournament.

First of its kind in the Middle East, the championship witnessed the participation of 100 best players from around the globe, including Russia’s former world champion Andrey Selivanov and Azerbaijani Grandmasters Gadir Guseinov and Eltaj Safarli will compete in the third edition of the Fujairah Endurance Chess Solving Championship. Chess players from Poland completed a clean sweep after claiming the top three spots at the third edition.