FIDE has quietly pumped nearly €9.4 million into grassroots chess development over the past six years, and the results are showing up in places that rarely make headlines.
The Development Fund has become the real engine driving chess expansion globally. While we obsess over Carlsen and the latest world championship drama, FIDE is building chess from the ground up in countries with no chess tradition to speak of.
The Bahamas offers a perfect example. During the nation's 50th independence celebration in July 2023, the Bahamas Chess Federation brought together 16 talented junior players, including members of the youth national team. That doesn't happen by accident. FIDE's money and support made it possible.
This is infrastructure work. Unglamorous. Unsexy compared to tournament broadcasts. But it's how you create the next generation of players in developing nations. You fund coaches, organize junior competitions, establish federations where none existed before.
The spread matters. FIDE has supported projects across multiple continents, not just the traditional chess powerhouses in Europe and Russia. That means more kids in more countries get access to chess. Some will become strong players. Most won't. But all of them win something from learning the game.
This is the chess world actually expanding, not just recycling the same elite names year after year.