Trivia revealed

I recently made a Trivia Post about this famous player (https://chessdailynews.com/chess-trivia-541/). He is a friend of mine and his name is Geoffrey D. Borg. In addition to being an excellent chess player (Olympiad medalist), he is also the CEO of Global Chess. He kindly updated us about the activities of Global Chess. Here is what he wrote:

Global Chess is now in the final stages of a preliminary Licence Agreement with FIDE which will be ratified by the Presidential Board in Talinn, Estonia in June. The preliminary agreement is targeted to be signed in Elista during the first part of the forthcoming Candidate matches. Offices have been acquired in Amsterdam and Lausanne and branch offices have been set up in Prague and Moscow.

The initial work of Global Chess is to deliver value propositions to sponsors either for supporting chess development globally or for specific events promotion. There is no doubt that if we want to popularize chess, our communication message must improve and also the image of the world chess community. A higher degree of professionalism is required to ensure that sponsors, organisers, players, arbiters and any other stakeholders have a clear perspective of what the chess world can deliver. We are fortunate in that chess is an attractive sport with so many personal development attributes to support it.

Which other sport teaches you how to make strategic plans? Develops judgment? Gauges tactical situations? Enhances memory retention? Competitiveness? Self confidence? Time management skills? Just a few of the positive factors which come from a wee executed training program for kids. The key issue is that we have to catch them young and the recent explosion in World Youth Championships and now the World School Championships, reflect that despite the everyday distractions of TV, internet and other leisure activities, chess is a growing sport amongst the world youth.

People respect the game and the life lessons it imparts. It may be difficult for the general public to understand the actual thoughts of a professional player during a game and we have to identify means of how to explain and communicate the interesting parts of a game or matches to the public.

Another mission of Global Chess will be to enhance the FIDE chess calendar to provide more opportunity for professional players and also sponsors to support the continuing development of our sport. Global Chess seeks stability, reliability and credibility in its activity and a well organized world calendar which offers tournaments to players of all sexes and ages will help consolidate our objectives.

Geoffrey D. Borg
Global Chess CEO