In a letter dated 4th April 2017, World Chess Federation [FIDE] President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov declared a $10 million investment in African chess.
The President says the project will be centered on introduction of chess in schools and construction of chess schools in different parts of the continent, but in addition to the schools’ program, his presidency intends to promote new schemes including “Chess in the villages”, “Chess in families” and “Chess for people with disabilities”
Ilyumzhinov intends to focus on the development of the chess game and making it a game of people.
“We have done a great job together: united the chess world, increased the number of national federations and official tournaments, attracted new technologies and increased interest in the ancient game. We set an ambitious task to bring the number of chess players to one billion
“For its implementation, I intend to lay the foundations of a systematic work that will let me achieve this goal. Even being under sanctions, I registered a charitable foundation “Kirsan Fund” in the United States.
“Its activities will cover North and South America. This month, I plan to open the Kirsan Fund in Brussels [it will work in Europe and Africa] and in Seoul [it will cover Asia, Australia and Oceania]. I intend to invest 10 million dollars in each of them.
“The Mission of the foundations will be the introduction of chess into the education system and creation of chess schools. In addition to the “Chess in Schools” programme, we will promote new projects: “Chess in villages, “Chess in families” and Chess for people with disabilities,” Read part of the letter sent to all chess federations.
