FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman visited Turkish Youth and Senior Chess Championships in Antalya Manavgat.

Turkish Youth and Senior Chess Championships simultaneously took place between 23- 30 January 2016 in Antalya Manavgat Starlight Hotel bringing ages from 7 to 77 together. The Championships hosted 2.236 players and more than 5000 people (players, their parents, arbiters and trainers in total) in total from all 81 provinces of Turkey marking this event the most attended chess championship in Turkey. Statistics are as follows: the number of players participated to Turkish Youth Chess Championship is 2.194. For Turkish Senior Chess Championship the number of players is 42. Despite being a national championship, this organization is also one of the most populous chess events worldwide. After a challenging one week marathon 199 players have achieved the right to join youth national team pool.


FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman

Some colorful moments from the chess event that united Turkey in Antalya:

7 year-olds singing “the chess song” in order to get rid of stress before the round starts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ewidGkYoE&feature=youtu.be 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLxRourMrOk&feature=youtu.be 

Angels were always there to help children:



Turkish Chess Federation’s main sponsor İş Bank organized a press meeting on 28 January 2016. The president of TCF Gülkız Tulay, Board members of TCF, Suat Sözen, the corporate communications Manager of Türkiye İş Bankası, successful players and their parents gathered at the meeting.



The closing ceremony of both champioships took place on 29 January 2016.



Turkish press in general showed great interest to the event. TRT (Turkish National Radio and Television) News, NTV, Fox TV, Ülke TV channels followed the championships attentively, broadcasted news and interviewed the FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman, the President of Turkish Chess Federation Gülkız Tulay and players.

All news can be accessed from the Turkish Chess Federation website:

http://tsf.org.tr/guncel-haberler/9137-81-ili-bulusturan-satranc-soleni-medyanin-gundemi-oldu