Chess In Prison Olympics Connects Inmates In Catalonia
Chess connected prison inmates around Catalonia (Spain) on July 25 to celebrate the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in a new initiative to promote our sport as an empowering tool.
Chess in Prisons Initiatives in Catalonia
To celebrate the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Ministry of Justice, Rights, and Memory of the Catalan government scheduled a day of sports activities in all the prisons in Catalonia. When they reached out to GM Josep Oms Pallisse, director of the ADEJO Chess Academy, to coordinate the chess section, an idea quickly emerged: to take advantage of the unique possibilities online chess offers so inmates across the country could participate simultaneously in the same event. Thus, the First Inter-Prisons Championship of Catalonia was born.
Only four prisons in Catalonia (Ponent, Quatre Camins, Lledoners, and Brians 2) have regular chess teaching programs, all coordinated by ADEJO. Much progress has been made since the project started in 2008 in Ponent. Thanks to the collaboration of the Catalan Chess Federation, both this prison and Quatre Camins take part in the Catalan League and have hosted tournaments bringing inmates and visitors together. January 2024 marked a new milestone: inmates from Quatre Camins, coached by IM Alfonso Jerez Perez, played an official competition outside the prison walls. The news reached Catalan and Spanish national TV.
♟️ Un equip de reclusos de Quatre Camins ha pogut participar en un torneig oficial d'escacs: la Copa Catalana.
— RTVE Notícies (@rtvenoticies) January 14, 2024
➕ Notícies a https://t.co/YCp3AoruJW pic.twitter.com/t0YTqFOgUy
All parties involved rated the experience as extremely positive and the inmates had the opportunity to repeat it in a rapid tournament in June.
The benefits of chess as an educational tool for children are well known. More and more countries have also adopted chess as a vehicle for fighting social exclusion and helping inmates reintegrate into the community, as seen in the steady growth of FIDE's Chess for Freedom program. In Catalonia, many participants in the ADEJO program have taken up chess permanently, both OTB and online, after serving their sentences, and for some, joining a chess club has been an essential step in socializing in their post-prison life.
Chess has taught me to be patient.
— Gabriel, Quatre Camins prison inmate
The 1st Inter-Prisons Tournament
For the 1st Inter-Prisons Championship of Catalonia, each prison received 10 Chess.com accounts, and, in the weeks leading up to the tournament, inmates could hone their skills and get used to online chess dynamics, including playing with increment or using premoves! In the end, 58 inmates from nine prisons participated in the tournament.
The accounts were completely anonymous, and only each prison coordinator knew which number was assigned to each player, leading to extra fun and banter when players from the same prison were paired against each other. One player had to take a 20-minute break upon receiving a visit from his attorney. First things first! Once he put his matters in order, he quickly resumed his more pleasant chess activities. Once the 90 minutes scheduled for the Arena elapsed, the most repeated phrase among the inmates was: When is the next one?
The first place was claimed by player seven from Mas d’Enric (Tarragona) with 10 wins and two losses. Two players tied for second place: player three from Puig de les Basses (Girona) and player four from Lledoners (Barcelona) with nine wins and one loss. The podium was completed by player eight from Brians 2 (Barcelona), who only had time for eight games... but won all of them! (See full standings here)
Beyond the results, the real winner was... chess! Our beloved sport keeps conquering new spaces. Prison staff and coaches have already started brainstorming future activities: regular matches between prisons, expanding the chess teaching program... and the pending issue inside and outside the prison walls: how to engage more female players?
It's been a wonderful experience! The guys loved it.
— Esther, supervisor at Puig de les Basses (Girona)
In which ways do you think chess can help prison inmates? Leave us your opinion in the comments!
