Grassroots charity Movement in Refuge (MiR) aims to extend the benefits of chess to thousands more refugee children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, if additional funding is secured. And the dream is to bring a youth team from the camps to the next Olympiad.
MiR founder and director Magnus Wolfe-Murray‘s plea for additional support from the chess community follows an introduction of the game to youngsters in Cox’s Bazar last month (August) through a FIDE-MiR Chess for Protection Programme, which brought tangible benefits to its young participants, many of them traumatised from fleeing genocide in neighbouring Myanmar. Here, across 34 camps, more than 500,000 youngsters have little or no access to movement, sport or organised leisure activity. It is the largest refugee camp in the world.
MiR’s chess initiative, organised and delivered in tandem with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the Himalayan Chess Academy and Nepali women’s champion Monalisha Khamboo, was an unprecedented success, says Wolfe-Murray. “We’ve seen amazing benefits for the youngsters: a sense of focus, confidence, and empowerment. And a real sense of joy in communal, competitive play.”
Wolfe-Murray, a seasoned aid worker, travels to the World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, this week (22–27 September), where the international chess elite are battling it out. He hopes to canvass support from key players, sponsors and other partners at the prestigious tournament. He will also be addressing the FIDE Chess in Education EDU Summit on Thursday (24 September) to highlight how chess has brought a range of benefits to refugee and conflict-affected youngsters – many of them traumatised – and how the game could make a major impact on the lives of thousands more, with additional support.
His sentiments are echoed by national champion Ms Khamboo: “Chess can be an agent of change for every individual, which is what happened to me.”
Wolfe-Murray’s dream is to bring a youth refugee team from Cox’s Bazar to compete in the next Olympiad. “Wouldn’t that be something amazing?” he adds. “We would love to support a refugee team that could be represented at the next Olympiad. Just as refugees have a pathway to the Olympic Games. This would bring enormous motivation and pride to our refugee coaches and players.”
While basic chess pieces and a board mat can be secured for as little as one US dollar, a trained coach from the local community is US $20 for a week, and refreshments for the youngsters are around 40 cents a head. To install fans and lights to run from a solar system in a women’s and girls’ center: US $1,000 (critical due to the heat and humidity).
Adija, 14, speaks for many young refugees taking part in MiR activities: “Before Movement in Refuge started, we had nothing to do – stuck at home, often sad and depressed. Then we started training with MiR. It was like someone turned on the sun.”
For more details and/or an interview with Magnus Wolfe-Murray please contact
Andrew Goss on +44 7914 173116; or andy.goss@hotmail.co.uk
Editor’s notes
Movement in Refuge is a grassroots charity established to bring play, movement, and activity to the Rohingya children of Cox’s Bazar, working directly with the refugee community. Introducing chess has brought a range of benefits to refugee youngsters. MiR is a registered charity in Scotland as well as in the USA as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation.
Official website: https://www.movementinrefuge.org/
The Programme: The Chess Protection Programme in partnership with FIDE and the Himalayan Chess Academy took place in Kutupalong Refugee Camp during August. It was delivered by FIDE chess instructor and women’s champion MonalishaKhamboo through MiR and local partner The Humanitarian Assistance Programme (HAP/Bangladesh). Thirty chess players took part in coaching sessions, and the programme concluded with a girls and boys tournament of 64 refugees aged 10 to 22 years.
Funding target: Movement in Refuge hopes to raise USD $100,000 to help bring chess to up to 5,000 more refugee youngsters over the next two years.
Refugee numbers: 1.3 million Rohingya are living in the 34 camps that make up Cox’s Bazar, the largest refugee camp in the world. Of those, more than 541,000 are children, according to the Government of Bangladesh and the UNHCR (as of March, 2025).