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From July 6 to 11, Stellenbosch College, close to Cape City, will host the African Continental Stage of the FIDE ISCF World Faculties Workforce Championship (WSTC), bringing collectively college groups from throughout the continent. Collectively organised by FIDE and ISCF, with Freedom Holding Corp. serving as the final accomplice, the match will decide which African crew advances to the worldwide WSTC last scheduled for December.
Twenty nationwide college groups have registered for the African stage, representing South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Tanzania, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, Zambia, Uganda, and Burundi. The individuals, aged between eight and fourteen, will compete in a crew format. Alongside the match, organisers have ready an academic program that features lectures, masterclasses, and workshops designed for younger gamers, coaches, and lecturers.
The occasion types a part of a broader worldwide championship that has expanded considerably since its launch. The World Faculties Workforce Chess Championship was first held in Aktau, Kazakhstan, in 2023. Initially conceived as a world competitors for varsity groups, the match has since developed into a worldwide championship consisting of continental qualifying occasions adopted by a world last. This 12 months’s competitors started in April with the Asian stage in Kazakhstan, the place Uzbekistan’s Knowledge Faculty secured qualification for the ultimate. Following the African match in Cape City, further continental levels might be held in Europe in addition to Americas earlier than the profitable groups meet in December to compete for the world title.
The championship is organised underneath the auspices of the Worldwide Chess Federation (FIDE) in partnership with the Worldwide Faculty Chess Federation (ISCF), which focuses particularly on creating chess in faculties and integrating the sport into academic methods. In September 2024, the FIDE Common Meeting supported granting affiliated-organisation standing to ISCF. In the present day, the federation coordinates worldwide college chess initiatives, helps continental competitions, and works with nationwide chess organizations and training methods to increase entry to chess for younger college students.
Past organising competitions, the partnership between FIDE and the ISCF locations appreciable emphasis on training. The continental championships are designed not solely to determine the strongest college groups but additionally to create alternatives for college kids and lecturers to change experiences, take part in workshops, and interact with main figures from the worldwide chess group. This academic part accompanies every continental stage.
Freedom Holding Corp., a number one fintech firm working in 22 international locations, has supported the championship since its inception and serves as considered one of its principal companions. The corporate’s founder and Chief Govt Officer, Timur Turlov, can also be President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and President of the Worldwide Faculty Chess Federation (ISCF). Mr. Turlov is an avid chess fanatic himself and has spent greater than three years selling and creating the sport each in Kazakhstan, the place Freedom is headquartered, and internationally. In his view, chess performs an necessary function in creating cognitive talents and might make a major optimistic contribution to the mental progress of youngsters and younger individuals.
“Chess is a singular sport. It shapes the way in which we predict, teaches self-discipline and decision-making, and helps us perceive the implications of our actions. I say this not solely as President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and the Worldwide Faculty Chess Federation, but additionally as a father whose youngsters play chess. Recreation after sport, they study persistence, they learn to win, and, simply as importantly, learn how to lose with dignity,” stated Timur Turlov.
Turlov can also be one of many wealthiest individuals in Kazakhstan, with an estimated internet value of round $5.5 billion. Freedom Holding Corp., a fintech enterprise working in 22 international locations, has been listed on NASDAQ underneath the ticker FRHC since 2019. As of right now, the holding firm’s market capitalisation is round $7.5 billion. Turlov’s enterprise operates throughout a number of sectors, starting from banking, funding and telecommunications companies to way of life and media. Collectively, these companies kind Freedom’s digital ecosystem, which Turlov is creating in the USA, Europe and Central Asia.
In 2025, Freedom Holding Corp. partnered with FIDE and the ISCF to organise the World Faculties Workforce Chess Championship in the USA. The occasion introduced collectively greater than fifty college groups from totally different international locations and launched the Sensible Strikes Summit, an academic discussion board held alongside the competitors. The summit gathered representatives of FIDE, nationwide chess federations, educators, researchers, and ed-tech entrepreneurs to debate the function of chess in training, cognitive growth, and classroom studying.
Freedom Holding Corp. has additionally expanded its involvement within the chess ecosystem by means of expertise. In April 2026, the corporate acquired ChessBase, one of many world’s oldest and most generally used suppliers of chess software program, databases, and analytical instruments. Freedom introduced plans to take a position €5 million within the platform whereas offering entry to its digital ecosystem, which serves greater than 14 million customers.
Turlov has performed a outstanding function within the growth of chess in Kazakhstan. Since changing into President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation in 2023, he has overseen a interval throughout which Kazakhstani gamers have gained 448 medals at official worldwide competitions. Throughout the identical interval, the federation has expanded packages geared toward rising youth participation and strengthening the nation’s aggressive chess system.
One of many federation’s priorities has been the introduction of chess into the training system. Supported by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, this system has expanded steadily, and right now greater than 1,500 faculties throughout Kazakhstan embrace chess as a part of their academic curriculum. The initiative seeks to make chess extra accessible to youngsters at an early age whereas integrating it into broader academic packages.
In line with Freedom Holding, the corporate allocates greater than $15 million yearly to the event of chess by means of tournaments, academic initiatives, youth packages, infrastructure, and worldwide tasks. These efforts mix help for elite competitors with initiatives geared toward increasing participation in class chess each in Kazakhstan and internationally.
