Checkmate Behind Bars: How Chess is Helping Inmates from Catalonia Turn the Page
This guest post was written by Woman International Master and FIDE Arbiter Patricia Llaneza Vega, a chess enthusiast who has contributed to the game in various ways. She started as a player and a coach and has combined these roles with arbiter and organizing tasks. Also passionate about language, Patricia has translated several chess books and is a Courses Editor for Chessable.
Hello everyone, and Happy Year of Social Chess! Yes, in case you missed it, FIDE announced a series of initiatives for 2025 back in September aiming “to bring chess to diverse communities and settings, from prisons and refugee camps to elderly care homes and addiction recovery centers.”
In this post, I want to highlight a social project that has been active in Catalonia, Spain, for quite some time. We had the pleasure of collaborating with this initiative throughout the last year: Chess for justice-involved individuals in Barcelona.
On December 21, 2024, the 5th Social Tournament of Quatre Camins was held in this prison, located around 30 km from Barcelona. As usual, the event was organized by ADEJO (the Chess Academy run by GM Josep Oms) in cooperation with the Catalan Chess Federation and the Justice Department of the Catalan Government. Yours truly acted as an arbiter, and some ChessCom staff members joined the group of visitors who played chess behind bars.
Quatre Camins is one of just four prisons in Catalonia that currently runs a chess program, and it has been the most active one in recent times. Here's an overview of their chess activity in 2024, both over-the-board and online.
OTB Chess in Prisons
In January 2024, a team of inmates from Quatre Camins, coached by IM and Chessable author Alfonso Jerez Pérez, competed in an official tournament outside the prison walls for the first time. The event made headlines, reaching both Catalan and Spanish national TV.
The experience was so positive for everyone involved—authorities, inmates, and educators alike—that they immediately began exploring opportunities to make it a recurring event. Thanks to this successful collaboration, inmates got subsequent chances to play in two rapid tournaments later in the year—one in June (Mollet, near the prison) and another in December (Barcelona).
Chess has become an essential part of some inmates' routines at Quatre Camins. They receive weekly group lessons throughout the year and compete in the Catalan League from January to March under the name MABEPA, in honor of a late fellow inmate. Aside from MABEPA Quatre Camins, only one other Catalan prison—Ponent, in West Catalonia—has a team competing, but they made their debut… in 2010!
Online Chess in Prisons
Days behind bars get too long, and internet access is restricted for security reasons. Fortunately, we know of one healthy online activity that makes time fly, right? Of course, all-night bullet marathons are off the table. But when COVID forced everyone to resort to the internet to keep up with our hobby, prisons also appreciated the undeniable value of online chess as a tool to keep up with the lessons.
Thankfully, online chess stayed after we left the pandemic behind, and its popularity continues to grow. So, when the Catalan Department of Justice scheduled a day of sports activities across all prisons in Catalonia at the end of July to celebrate the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and included chess, running an inter-prisons arena instead of a series of small internal events was a no-brainer.
Over 50 inmates from 9 Catalan prisons participated in the 1st Inter-Prisons Championship of Catalonia. Each prison was provided with 10 anonymized 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 mid-September, a friendly event to celebrate the Virgin of Mercy gathered 30 players from 5 prisons. Friendly matches between prisons have become a regular occurrence. Chess connects us!
Four Catalan prisons—Ponent, Quatre Camins, Lledoners, and Brians 2—participated in the 4th FIDE Intercontinental Online Chess Championship for Prisoners in October. This online competition, held on Chess.com, is part of FIDE's Chess for Freedom initiative. While none of the teams advanced beyond the group stage, the event provided a unique opportunity for inmates to enjoy chess and connect with the rest of the world.
A Prison Tournament with Inmates and Visitors
The 5th Social Tournament of Quatre Camins wrapped up a memorable year for chess in Catalan prisons. A group of visitors from local chess clubs joined inmates for a morning blitz tournament.
As an arbiter, this is always the smoothest event of the season. No claims, no issues, just a friendly and positive vibe. It's the only tournament where I not only allow but actively encourage post-mortem analysis in the playing hall. Unlike other events where players complain about an opponent being underrated or playing Black more often than White, here they simply thank you for being there. "You have no idea what this means to us" and "I wish we had one of these every month" are the most common comments I hear before we part ways. For anyone interested, here are the final standings.
This year, we had a record number of 22 visitors, and the experience was just as rewarding. Some return year after year, bringing friends or clubmates along. We all know chess is fun, but they can see firsthand how it can help people.
What's Next
For those in prison, a new season has started with Quatre Camins and Ponent teams competing in the 2025 Catalan League. Chess.com has donated boards and chess sets so they can continue their chess journey. On-site training and online practice have resumed after the Christmas break, and future events are already in the works.
For former inmates, chess has continued to play an important role after their release. Many have joined local chess clubs, and they report that the game has become more than just a pastime: it helps them focus, learn from their mistakes, reflect on the consequences of actions… and connect with new people as they turn the page to this next chapter in their lives.
We're delighted to see the positive effects of introducing chess in the lives of justice-involved individuals, but this doesn't come as a surprise. Earlier, we reported on how graduate student Jane Oldfield, winner of the 2024 Chessable Research Awards, was working with the Chess for Life program to answer the question: what is the impact of ~25 hours of chess play on the executive functions (EF) of adolescents who have been involved with the justice system? You can learn more about her project here.
