ECU Commission for Women’s Chess teams up with Women in Chess Foundation

Chess should be a safe and inclusive place for all. Following the adoption of the European Fair Play and Safe Play Policies, the European Chess Union is taking further steps to implement the new policy and provide training for its officials, but also for members of the association.

To continue working towards this goal, the ECU Commission For Women’s Chess has teamed up with the Women in Chess Foundation to enable every European federation to train certified Safe Play Ambassadors.

The training courses will take place online on the following dates:

• March 3, 2024
• April 7, 2024
• April 27, 2024

Each European National Chess Federation can nominate one person free of charge to be trained as an advocate in one of our online seminars with an email to womenchess@europechess.org

The Advocates Initiative

The Advocates Initiative of the Women In Chess Foundation aims to provide independent advocates at chess tournaments to create a safer environment and support any players who may need it. Advocates are trained to identify and respond to potential safety issues, as well as provide emotional support and resources to players who may be experiencing harassment, discrimination, or other forms of mistreatment.

The idea of having advocates on-site is to foster a more inclusive and supportive community for all players, and promote the values of respect and fair play in the game of chess.

More information on advocates and the initiative can be found here: https://www.womeninchess.com/advocacy-initiative

How federations nominate participants

Each federation can nominate one person to get trained as an advocate in one of our online seminars. Federations should provide us with the name and e-mail address of the person they would like to enable to participate in the free advocacy training by February 18, 2024. We will
subsequently contact all participants by February 21, 2024 and provide them with the sign-up link to the seminar. Participants will be able to choose up to two out of the three dates offered, and will be allocated to one of them.

What the advocacy training will involve

Advocacy training will consist of a full day online seminar. Thereby participants will learn about a wide range of topics, such as

• Introduction to Advocacy
• Understanding Trauma and Misconduct in Chess
• Sexual Misconduct Awareness and Education
• Physical and Emotional Misconduct
• Power Imbalances and Misconduct
• Safety Planning for Tournaments and Federations
• Crisis Intervention during or after Tournaments
• Advocacy Skills
• Self-care and Burnout for Advocates

As making chess a safe and welcoming environment is a team effort, we hope that all of the federations will take up our offer to nominate a person within their federation to become an accredited advocate.