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The annual international “Red against Racism” online event took place on Saturday, to which FC Bayern once again invited children and youth teams from numerous countries. In addition to the two tournaments taking place on the lichess.org platform, a team tournament and an individual tournament, each in the popular "arena" format, the three-part event program also included a preliminary program for which all participants were able to come together as part of a video conference.
As in previous years, the preliminary program combined entertainment with the opportunity of getting to know each other. Several representatives of the participating clubs, schools and organizations took the floor and spoke about their experiences and how they deal with critical social issues, such as the fight against racism. International contacts also play an important role, especially for children and young people. This was emphasized by both Edgar De Anda, who teaches chess to children and young people at "The Chess Academy" in Hong Kong, and Philip Lindgren, representative of Limhamns SK. He has been active on the international chess stage for many years and also plays for FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. International understanding is best promoted through personal experience in dealing with people from other countries. This was one of their core messages.
Melinda Wilde from the British team "She Plays to Win" raised the issue of the underrepresentation of women in chess. Her organization is trying to specifically counteract this and offers girls and women in Great Britain a platform to organize themselves and develop opportunities to pursue chess and promote social contacts. In this sense, the invitation to the “Red against Racism” event is a more than welcome opportunity to build contacts across borders. Vera Jürgens, youth leader of the chess department at SV Werder Bremen, immediately responded to this offer and expressed her interest in such initiatives. Regarding the topic of racism, she reported that fortunately this is not causing many problems in the everyday live of her SV Werder Bremen. As Dr. Oliver Höpfner, head of the chess department of SV Werder Bremen and also chairman of the Landesschachbund Bremen (Chess association Bremen) added , SV Werder Bremen make it unmistakably clear under the motto "Klare Kante zeigen” (“Show a clear edge") that racism has no place in his club.
This year's guest of honor at the now well-established event was the President of the German Chess Federation, Ingrid Lauterbach. She not only spoke about her very personal experiences, but also emphasized the role of associations and clubs in realizing social concerns, such as the fight against racism. The German Chess Federation has taken a clear position on this. The association's task is to set a clear direction and act as a role model. But Ingrid Lauterbach also considers the function of the clubs to be particularly important in this respect. In everyday life, the clubs are much “closer” to the active athletes than the respective associations and must take an active role in supporting key social objectives. Events like today's "Red Against Racism" event are a valuable component here. When asked what else she would tell the children and young people for today's tournament, Ingrid Lauterbach emphasized "Fair Play" as a particularly important aspect. A topic that of course cannot be emphasized often enough in any sport, including chess.
The team tournament commenced promptly at 2:00 p.m. Central European Time. An exciting race at the top initially developed between the team "The Chess Academy - ActiveKids" from Hong Kong and the "East Anglian Junior Chess" team, which is made up of children from the eastern English counties of Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It was only in the last 15 minutes of the tournament that the kids from the Far East were able to break away decisively and ultimately achieved a confident tournament victory over the team from the East of England. The fight for 3rd place was literally fought until the last second. There were several position changes over the course of the 60-minute tournament. In the end, the hosts from FC Bayern finished just ahead of the “Green-Whites” from the Hanseatic city of Bremen and the equally strong youngsters from Limhamns SK from Malmö, Sweden.
The team from Club de Ajedrez El Ejido from Spain took part for the first time this year and made an impression in several respects. Apart from the three-digit team result and the best individual result in the team tournament by "Alvaro2702ELEJIDO", everyone now knows that not only can the Great Wall of China be seen from space, but El Ejido too!
While the teams from “She Plays to Win” and the “Juniors of Bosnia and Herzegovina” were not as well represented in terms of numbers this time, their individual results were definitely impressive. And the most important thing in all of this: Everyone involved had fun, visible and audible!
The subsequent individual tournament was once again a highlight and was very well received by the participants in the previous team tournament. “alexander1428” from SV Werder Bremen won the tournament with an impressive 51 points.
The first small anniversary is coming up next year, when FC Bayern Munich's international "Red Against Racism" online event will already be organized for the 5th year. Certainly another opportunity to offer children and young people around the world a forum to get to know each other and have a great competition in chess!
Links to the websites of the participating teams:
- Juniors of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia y Herzegovina)
- FC Bayern München (Germany)
- SV Werder Bremen (Germany)
- The Chess Academy (Hong Kong)
- Club de Ajedrez El Ejido (Spain)
- Limhamns SK (Sweden)
- East Anglian Junior Chess (United Kingdom)
- She-Plays-To-Win (United Kingdom)
Links zu den Turnieren auf lichess.org
- Team tournament: Lichess.org Arena Team Battle
- Individual Tournament: Lichess.org Arena Tournament