From August 4 to 5, 2025, Alexandria, Virginia played host to a forward-thinking event in educational innovation: the Smart Moves Summit 2025. Designed to explore the intersection of chess and cognitive development in education, the Summit brought together an impressive array of global leaders of chess in education. The participants represented international organizations, ministries, academic institutions, civil society, chess education businesses, and non-profits from over 30 countries.
As a result, attendees listened to lectures on the global progress of chess in education, panel discussions and presentations. These ranged in scope from stories on how chess helped change the lives off people around the world, to practical consideration of how to build and sustain financially viable chess initiatives.
The Summit was organized by International School Chess Federation (ISCF) and the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Freedom Holdings Corp sponsored the event. Keynote speakers included FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE Deputy Chair Dana Reizniece, and Timur Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and founder of Freedom Holding Corp, sponsor of the Smart Moves Summit and numerous other FIDE events. In his speech on the opening day, Turlov emphasized the crucial role of a chess game in children’s development. “We’ve already started talking about how even the educational system needs to adapt to modern challenges. One of the biggest is our ability to keep attention and concentration. Global corporations compete for customer attention – and that affects our kids and society. I really believe that chess could be a great solution to help overcome this,” said Timur Turlov.
Background: ISCF and Timur Turlov
The ISCF is a new and rapidly growing player on the global Chess in Education scene. Announcement of the ISCF’s formation came at the FIDE 2024 General Assembly. At that time, the General Assembly voted to support the proposal from Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, to make the ISCF an affiliate of FIDE. In his speech to the General Assembly, Turlov explained that its mission of would be to unite national school chess associations and support the global integration of chess into school curricula. Asia, Africa, and the Americas were set as initial targets of the organization.
Turlov is a founder of the Summit’s sponsor, Freedom Holding Corp. Accordingly, he has been a driving force behind the Smart Moves Summit and other FIDE-related events. As an investment specialist with a net worth in excess of $7 billion as estimated by Forbes, Turlov is uniquely positioned to identify and support worthwhile chess education efforts.
Smart Moves Summit Press Reports
The following reports contain coverage details from the two-day event.
Implications for the Future
After a decade in which Chess in Education conferences were absent from the United States, there have now been two major conferences. This includes the Saint Louis Chess Conference in 2024 and now the Smart Moves Summit 2025.
The capstone event for the conference was the release of the Smart Moves Summit 2025 Declaration setting forth a bold plan for future collaboration, action and shared responsibility. More on this potentially epic development in a subsequent post.
And on the Horizon…
A short, one-day conference, organized by National Scholastic Chess Foundation, is scheduled for December 6 in New York City. Attendance is restricted.
Author: Neil Dietsch, Managing Director, Chess in Education – US. Dietsch attended the Smart Moves Summit, speaking with many of its participants and presenters. He is co-editor with Jerry Nash of the chessineducation.org website and Connections quarterly newsletter on Chess in Education topics.