Day One of Smart Moves Summit 2025: Strategic Leadership and Innovation in
Global Chess Education
Leaders, educators, and innovators from around the world gathered in Washington D.C., to explore how strategic leadership, early childhood integration, academia, and technology are reshaping the global chess education landscape.
The opening day of the Smart Moves Summit 2025 commenced with a powerful exploration of strategic leadership in global chess education. Moderated by Dana Reizniece, the session brought together distinguished speakers including the President of International School Chess Federation Timur Turlov, Dr. Bill Poucher, Steinar Sæthre, Omoboye Odu, and other professionals associated with chess, to examine how long-term planning, cross-sector collaboration, and visionary leadership can shape the future of chess education worldwide.
“Smart Moves is our chance to learn from each other. To bring together educators, researchers and innovators from around the world and have an open dialogue regarding tradition, innovation, and other related topics. We hope that hosting this summit alongside the championship will become a good tradition – where theory and real-world practice go hand in hand.” – said Timur Turlov.
A subsequent session focused on Chess in Early and Primary Education, featuring thought leaders such as Jerry Nash, Mauricio Arias Santana, Rita Atkins, and Fernando Moreno. The discussion highlighted how early exposure to chess fosters critical executive functioning, emotional regulation, mathematical skills, and social learning, – particularly in inclusive and multilingual classroom environments.
“The smartest thing to get your kid is not a profession: its skills,” – noted Dana Reizniece, former Latvia's Minister of Economics and Minister of Finance, and current FIDE Deputy Chair.
In a panel on Educational Equity through Chess, speakers including Leontxo García, Jennifer Shahade, and Priyadharshan Kannappan addressed how chess can serve as a powerful tool for promoting equality across gender, socio-economic status, and geography. Following, a dynamic dialogue on the role of Educational Technology in Chess Learning featured Jeremy Kane, Dr. Kenneth Regan, Ella Papanek, and others.
"Education is about helping each generation, build on our strings and be aware of our frailties, and that's how life gives life to life. And that's been going on for at least a thousand years." – discussed Dr. Bill Poucher, Executive Director of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), ACM Fellow, and Professor of Computer Science at Baylor University during the session.
Leontxo García also moderated a session on building effective public-private partnerships, where Arpine Lpetyan, Jacob-Askham Christensen, and Steinar Sæthre discussed how well-designed learning methodologies aligned with national education goals can support impactful collaborations between chess organizations and government institutions.
The day concluded with two expert-led masterclasses. John Foley, National Master and Director of Training Content, and Rita Atkins, Secretary of the FIDE Chess in Education Commission, delivered practical demonstrations on how to design short chess-based tasks for early math instruction. They also presented scalable, classroom-tested frameworks for empowering educators, both beginners and experienced, to integrate chess and other strategic games into cognitive development, learner engagement, and interdisciplinary education.
“During the next two days, we will have scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and experts from around the world who will share their findings and research on how chess can be useful as an educational tool, both in school and in life. I would therefore like to thank all the speakers who have responded to our invitation and who have come here to present their findings and share their knowledge. I would also like to thank all of those following the summit, both here in person and many more online, for their interest in this important topic.” – said Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE.
The momentum will continue tomorrow, bringing a full day of thought-provoking discussions, groundbreaking ideas, and innovative approaches at the intersection of chess, education, and global development.
The opening day of the Smart Moves Summit 2025 commenced with a powerful exploration of strategic leadership in global chess education. Moderated by Dana Reizniece, the session brought together distinguished speakers including the President of International School Chess Federation Timur Turlov, Dr. Bill Poucher, Steinar Sæthre, Omoboye Odu, and other professionals associated with chess, to examine how long-term planning, cross-sector collaboration, and visionary leadership can shape the future of chess education worldwide.
“Smart Moves is our chance to learn from each other. To bring together educators, researchers and innovators from around the world and have an open dialogue regarding tradition, innovation, and other related topics. We hope that hosting this summit alongside the championship will become a good tradition – where theory and real-world practice go hand in hand.” – said Timur Turlov.
A subsequent session focused on Chess in Early and Primary Education, featuring thought leaders such as Jerry Nash, Mauricio Arias Santana, Rita Atkins, and Fernando Moreno. The discussion highlighted how early exposure to chess fosters critical executive functioning, emotional regulation, mathematical skills, and social learning, – particularly in inclusive and multilingual classroom environments.
“The smartest thing to get your kid is not a profession: its skills,” – noted Dana Reizniece, former Latvia's Minister of Economics and Minister of Finance, and current FIDE Deputy Chair.
In a panel on Educational Equity through Chess, speakers including Leontxo García, Jennifer Shahade, and Priyadharshan Kannappan addressed how chess can serve as a powerful tool for promoting equality across gender, socio-economic status, and geography. Following, a dynamic dialogue on the role of Educational Technology in Chess Learning featured Jeremy Kane, Dr. Kenneth Regan, Ella Papanek, and others.
"Education is about helping each generation, build on our strings and be aware of our frailties, and that's how life gives life to life. And that's been going on for at least a thousand years." – discussed Dr. Bill Poucher, Executive Director of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), ACM Fellow, and Professor of Computer Science at Baylor University during the session.
Leontxo García also moderated a session on building effective public-private partnerships, where Arpine Lpetyan, Jacob-Askham Christensen, and Steinar Sæthre discussed how well-designed learning methodologies aligned with national education goals can support impactful collaborations between chess organizations and government institutions.
The day concluded with two expert-led masterclasses. John Foley, National Master and Director of Training Content, and Rita Atkins, Secretary of the FIDE Chess in Education Commission, delivered practical demonstrations on how to design short chess-based tasks for early math instruction. They also presented scalable, classroom-tested frameworks for empowering educators, both beginners and experienced, to integrate chess and other strategic games into cognitive development, learner engagement, and interdisciplinary education.
“During the next two days, we will have scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and experts from around the world who will share their findings and research on how chess can be useful as an educational tool, both in school and in life. I would therefore like to thank all the speakers who have responded to our invitation and who have come here to present their findings and share their knowledge. I would also like to thank all of those following the summit, both here in person and many more online, for their interest in this important topic.” – said Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE.
The momentum will continue tomorrow, bringing a full day of thought-provoking discussions, groundbreaking ideas, and innovative approaches at the intersection of chess, education, and global development.
