FACI Project Expands: More Asian Countries Join the Chess Initiative
In 2025, the Freedom Asian Chess Initiatives (FACI) project expands! Initially helping five countries, it will now support eight Asian nations where chess is still developing.
What is FACI?
FACI is a program launched in 2024 by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation (KazChess/KCF) with support from Freedom Holding Corp., FIDE, and the Asian Chess Federation (ACF). The goal is to help chess grow in countries where it is less developed.
The first five countries in the program were:
✅ Cambodia
✅ Nepal
✅ Oman
✅ Tajikistan
✅ Sri Lanka
How FACI Trains Chess Players and Coaches
Since April 2024, top Kazakhstani chess coaches have been training players and coaches in these countries:
🟢 Kirill Kuderinov – Sri Lanka
🟢 Dmitry Stativkin – Oman
🟢 Murtas Kazhgaleyev – Nepal
🟢 Evgeniy Vladimirov – Tajikistan
🟢 Bakhtiyar Askarov – Cambodia
The program includes:
✔ Training sessions for both youth and adult national teams
✔ Seminars for local coaches
✔ Online lessons after in-person training
Each coach spends one month in the country, followed by eight weeks of online coaching, then one final month on-site, making it a four-month training cycle.
FACI Expands to Eight Countries in 2025
Thanks to great feedback, FACI will now support three more countries! A working group, including chess leaders from FIDE, ACF, and KazChess, reviewed applications in February 2025 and selected:
🌍 New Countries in FACI 2025:
🇧🇹 Bhutan
🇯🇴 Jordan
🇵🇰 Pakistan
Performance at the 2024 Chess Olympiad
At the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest, the newly added countries performed as follows:
🏆 Men’s Teams:
🥇 Pakistan – 97th place out of 188
🥈 Jordan – 130th place
🥉 Bhutan – 141st place
🏆 Women’s Teams:
🥇 Jordan – 92nd place out of 169
🥈 Pakistan – 122nd place
❌ Bhutan did not compete in the women’s tournament
What’s Next?
The final list of coaches for all eight countries will be announced soon. Plus, FACI has launched its official website for updates and news! Stay tuned for more chess growth in Asia.
Photos: FIDE_chess
Source: FIDE CHESS NEWS
