On September 29, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich met with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. 

Opening the conversation, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev congratulated Arkady Dvorkovich on his recent re-election as president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). 

During the meeting Arkady Dvorkovich briefed the President of Kazakhstan about the FIDE Women's Grand Prix Series, which brought together 12 strongest chess players of the world in Astana. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that events of this level make a significant contribution to the development of chess sport in our country. 

“Chess is very popular in Kazakhstan, especially among children and young people. We have more than seven thousand chess clubs and classes, but we need to increase this number at least twofold. Now there are more than 200,000 people involved in chess. Kazakhstani chess players successfully perform at international competitions. We pay great attention to chess. A roadmap for the development of chess is in place and we are planning to launch a large project Chess in Schools” Tokayev said. 

In turn, Arkady Dvorkovich expressed his gratitude to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for his personal support and promotion of chess in Kazakhstan, and also expressed FIDE's readiness to share its successful international experience in introducing chess into the school curriculum. 

The participants of the meeting exchanged opinions on long-term cooperation between Kazakhstan and FIDE and discussed the prospects of holding major international tournaments in the country.

Text and photos: akorda.kz/