On November 23, at the World Youth Championship 2023 in Montesilvano, Italy, a workshop for arbiters and federation representatives on how to make chess broadcasts using VAR (video assistant referee) in tournaments was held.

VAR (Video assistant referee) is a set of technological solutions to help referees at sports competitions. In many sports, various technologies are already used to help referees make decisions. The VAR system allows arbiters to track controversial moments in the game. However, the final decision remains with the human arbiter. In other words, VAR systems provide additional information but do not make decisions for people.

Representatives of Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Denmark, Cyprus, India, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Monaco, UAE, and other countries attended the workshop. They learned how to use the idChess platform and to implement VAR technologies at tournaments.

"I learnt about idChess last year. I see that a platform has a lot of useful features; it recognizes the game very well. I'll definitely recommend it," said IA& IO Arild Rimestad from the Danish Chess Federation.

"I was already familiar with this technology and had seen it at many tournaments. The broadcasting platform is very convenient and easy to use. As an arbiter, I welcome the use of VAR at all tournaments very much," said Bauyrzhan Khamzin, a FIDE arbiter from Kazakhstan.

For all federations, tournament organizers, and coaches idChess grants free access to the tournament organizer account at live.idChess.com. The account allows you to create and manage tournaments, save game data in PGN format, instantly upload pairings, and many more. To gain access to a personal account, leave a request.

If you were unable to participate in the workshop, join the idChess webinar November 30: "How to easily broadcast tournament games and use VAR to resolve controversies in the game". To participate, please fill out the form.

Photos: Przemek Nikiel