Friday 31st May was a day off for the Norway Chess 2024 players, and along with our Spanish sponsor Fundacion RMD, we arranged and hosted an outdoor children’s chess tournament in Bjergstedparken, Stavanger.

Image: Drone of the children’s tournament “Norway Chess Parksjakk” in Bjergstedparken, Stavanger, Norway

The tournament was a “celebration” of children’s chess that aims to highlight the educational and formative nature of this discipline.

The children who participated were from various schools in the Stavanger region, mostly secondary schools but also some from primary schools. One of the teams consisted of children from the school “Agustinos Sumibesa” in the León province in Spain, who after winning a similar chess tournament last year in Spain, was invited to participate in the Norway Chess park chess tournament this year.

The Mayor of Stavanger, Sissel Knutsen Hegdal, kicked off the event by welcoming everyone and saying a few words. She also gave a warm welcome to the Spanish children’s team – in Spanish!

Image: Group photo of the various schools participating in the Children’s tournament “Norway Chess Parksjakk”

The various schools competed for more than five hours in an outdoor team tournament in a fast-paced format; 25 teams played 5 rounds divided into two groups and 12 large outdoor chess boards and pieces, made of recycled rubber.

In the end, it was beetween to Norwegian schools.

The winner groups had a final match on the world’s largest chessboard.

The winning team was from Giske Ungdomsskole (Giske Secondary School), and in addition to receiving a trophy on the spot; a large chess piece made of recycled rubber, they won a trip to León in Spain, where they will play in the grand final in November along with teams from various Spanish provinces.

Image: The winning team, students from Giske Ungdomsskole (Giske Secondary School)

A big thanks to all of our volunteers who participated and made this a day to remember!