Corte to host the Mitropa Cup in 2022
The FFE was present at the constitutive assembly of the Mitropa Cup Association. Created in the margin of the last meeting of the European Chess Union, in Slovenia, this new association gathers the ten Central European federations which participate today in the Mitropa Cup. In 2022, the FFE is in charge of hosting the 40th edition of this competition. The Federal Board of Directors has decided to delegate the organisation to the Corsican Chess League.
Chess is one of the most popular sports on the island of beauty. For more than twenty years, the Corsican Chess League is a model of chess dynamism and development. It is present today in all the island and distinguishes itself by the quality of its activity in school, by the excellence of its training for young people, but also by the organization of emblematic events. The FFE thanks the Corsican Chess League for this partnership, and is pleased that the 2022 edition of the Mitropa Cup will be held on an exceptional territory that will undoubtedly delight the participating teams. The city of Corte will be at the centre of Europe from April 27th to May 8th 2022!
Press release of the Mitropa Cup Association :
The MITROPA countries: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, founded the Mitropa Chess Association (MCA), at a meeting following the ECU General Assembly, on 13 November 2021 in Catez, Slovenia. Theodorus Tsorbatzoglou, Secretary General of the European Chess Union, was invited to the meeting.
The statutes were signed by the representatives of the federations. Marco Biagioli was elected as the first President of the Association, Nina Rob as Vice-President and Luigi Maggi as Treasurer. Walter Kastner was appointed Secretary General. The headquarters of the association is in Vienna, Austria, where the Mitropa Cup was founded.
The Mitropa Cup is an idea of the Austrian international referee Gertrude Wagner. She wanted to create a competition for Central European teams, as was common in football. Kurt Jungwirth, president of the Austrian Chess Federation from 1971 to 2017, saw the opportunity of this idea and said: “OK, let’s organise a Mitropa Cup”.
The first Mitropa Cup took place in Innsbruck in 1976. Germany won the first edition before Switzerland and Yugoslavia. This year, Switzerland organised the 39th Mitropa Cup for the first time in a hybrid online format due to the pandemic. The 40th Mitropa Cup will be held in France in 2022 and will hopefully be possible again on the chessboard.
A project that illustrates how the MCA can cooperate in the future is the Erasmus plus project “CUPS”, presented in June 2021. “Chess Unites and Encourages Skills” will, if the application is successful, bring chess into schools as a compulsory subject. The focus is on the German “Bremen model”, in which teachers and children learn chess together in a weekly lesson. Regardless of the age of the children, chess can develop better concentration, patience and perseverance, a greater sense of creativity, better intuition, better memory and better analytical and decision-making skills. In addition, children and young people can learn determination, motivation and fairness through the game. In addition, chess promotes social inclusion. This includes pupils with a migrant background, pupils with socio-economic difficulties, but also pupils with disabilities.
The MCA is committed in its statutes to working more closely together and to agreeing on common values. Chess is a sport, but also a means to promote friendship, culture, common values such as sportsmanship, gender equality, inclusion and social improvement.
Article Author : French Chess Federation
