Velammal MHS School, from India, won the FIDE World Schools Team Championship 2025 with a perfect 8/8 score. The National School of Physics and Mathematics from Kazakhstan took silver with 6/8, while the Harker School from the U.S. took bronze with 5/8 just barely ahead of Astana 2 RSPM, another school from Kazakhstan.
The tournament, which was an eight-round team Swiss, took place on August 3-6 at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia—near Washington, D.C. Alongside it ran the Smart Moves Summit on August 4-5, the first-ever global conference on the role of chess education with over 50 speakers including scientists, researchers, teachers, and other professionals.
Top 10 Final Standings
| Rk. | Seed | Team |
| 1 | 2 | – Velammal MHS School |
| 2 | 1 | – National School of Physics and Mathemat |
| 3 | 9 | – The Harker School |
| 4 | 10 | – Astana 2 RSPM |
| 5 | 3 | – University High School |
| 6 | 14 | – Royal College, Colombo |
| 7 | 20 | – Lyceum “Photon” OF Gyumri |
| 8 | 6 | – Seed Educational Complex |
| 9 | 15 | – Wisdom |
| 10 | 8 | – Hampton |
Fifty-five teams competed in the schools championship, and the 286 players in total represented 48 countries. FM Mike Klein, who was in Alexandria and spoke at the conference, said that many teams wore uniforms and it felt very much like an Olympiad. In the golden era of Indian chess, it is hardly surprising to see an Indian team take gold. This particular school, Velammal MHS School, is also the alma mater of strong GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Leon Mendonca. Their all-titled roster consisted of:
| Board | Title | Name | Rtg | FED |
| 1 | WFM | Keerti, Shree Reddy | 1910 | |
| 2 | IM | Aswath, S | 2369 | |
| 3 | FM | Daakshin, Arun | 2021 | |
| 4 | IM | Ilamparthi, A R | 2358 | |
| 5 | FM | Pranav, K P | 2090 |
The battle for second place was more contentious, and no less than seven teams entered the last round with the chance to win silver. In the end, it was Kazakhstan and the United States that made it to the podium.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich took the stage at the closing ceremony and congratulated the winners before handing out teh awards. He said, “I want to start by congratulating the winners on their great result! Your success is well-deserved, and I hope you leave here with not only medals but also with experiences that will encourage you to achieve more in life.”
Players also had a chance to visit two landmark museums in the area, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum after their games.
The Smart Moves Summit was organized by FIDE and the International School Chess Federation (ISCF), with sponsorship from Freedom Holding. The event spanned two days and featured several experts speaking on a number of panels and you can see the full list of speakers here.
Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a chess fan and supporter, joined via video call and noted that the U.S. Chess Center, a significant and historically noteworthy non-profit located in his district, has taught chess to over 40,000 students.
There were three attendees from Chess.com: Klein (Senior Journalist and Head of ChessKid Content & Scholastic Growth), NM Jeremy Kane (Director of Training Content), and Michelle Martinez (Director of Marketing & Coach Liaison).
Klein spoke about his experience growing a local chess business (rather than ChessKid, his focus now). Klein gave advice “if you up and decide you want to be a chess teacher one day, exactly what the first thing to do is and how to make it sustainable.” One trick he shared was holding chess classes on teacher work days that were not holidays:
Basically, parents needed something for their kids to do and I got in good with the schools that I worked at and they opened up their facilities, and I had events like mini-camps and tournaments.
At the time he came up with it, it was an idea he hadn’t seen implemented anywhere else in the country.
Kane moderated a panel about technology and education in chess, while Martinez spoke about the confluence of chess and marketing.
Timur Turlov, the CEO of the sponsor company, spoke about the importance of maintaining a high level of concentration in today’s world. He said:
We believe that the most valuable thing in our life now is our ability to keep concentration… and I really believe that chess could be a very great tool to overcome this challenge. Because chess is a very interesting game, it’s a game that can keep your attention for a long period of time and is a beautiful way to train your ability to concentrate.
The central event of the first day was the “Strategic Leadership in Global Chess Education,” a panel that “discussed long-term strategies, cross-sector collaboration, and how to drive initiatives to include chess as a part of official government policies” according to FIDE. It was moderated by WGM Dana Reizniece, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, and included government officials and heads of chess education programs.
Day two of the event, according to FIDE, focused on a wide range of topics “from real human stories on how chess helped change the lives of people around the world, to building financially viable chess initiatives and private-public partnerships, to how social media is redefining the image of chess.” You can read FIDE’s more detailed account of each presentation here.
The conference ended with a declaration to integrate chess “into formal and informal learning environments, including public schools, after-school programmes, and digital platforms.” The signatories committed to expanding chess to all people regardless of nationality, disability, or gender—for chess to be inclusive and accessible to all.
The 2025 FIDE World Schools Team Championship was a Swiss team tournament that took place on August 3-6 in Washington, D.C. There were eight rounds each with a 45+10 time control. The Smart Moves Summit ran alongside the event and was the first-ever global conference on the role of chess education with over 50 speakers including scientists, researchers, and teachers.
