The World Amateur Chess Championship is a tournament organised by FIDE and Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO).
The world governing body intended to promote amateur chess play by holding championship tournaments linked to the Olympic Games, but only two events were held. Since 1996, it has been an annual FIDE event.
The first championship was held the year that FIDE was founded, at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.This is considered the unofficial first Chess Olympiad, and is the only Olympiad that was an individual event.The second championship was held at the 1928 Summer Olympics in The Hague, in conjunction with the 2nd Chess Olympiad.
Chess has never been an official part of the Olympic Games, and since the chess community does not make any essential distinction between amateur and professional[1] the championship was discontinued after 1928. However, in 1995 FIDE has revamped it to celebrate the centenary of the Hastings International Chess Congress[2] and since then it has been held annually. The first renewed edition, held concurrently with the 1995/96 Hastings Congress from 28 December 1995 to 5 January 1996, was restricted to non-FIDE rated players.[3] Subsequently, amateur was defined as a player with a FIDE rating below 2000 and not having attained a rating of more than 2000 in the past 2 years. Since 2016, the championship has been split into three rating categories: U-2300, U-2000 and U-1700. Additionally to these rating limits, a player must not hold the title of International Master or higher (or Woman International Master for women) for U-2300 and U-2000 section or the title of FIDE Master (or Woman FIDE Master for women); however, players that are 65 years or older are exempt from this additional requirement to qualify.[4]
According to the current FIDE regulations, the winners of the U-2300 and the U-2000 sections are awarded with the title of FIDE Master (FM), while the winner of the U-1700 category, the runner-ups and bronze medallists of the U-2300 and the U-2000 categories receive the Candidate Master (CM) title. Analogously the women's champions in the U-2300 and U-2000 categories receive the title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM), the winner of women's U1700 category, the silver and bronze medallists in the women's U-2300 and U-2000 categoriew are granted the title Woman Candidate Master (WCM).[5]
Since 2012, there is another World Amateur Chess Championship, organised by the Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO),[6] which is not recognised by FIDE.[7]
| Year | Dates | Host | Winner(s) | Women's champion(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | 4 May – 27 Jul | Paris |  Hermanis Matisons | ||
| 1928 | 17 May – 12 Aug | Amsterdam |  Max Euwe | ||
| 1996 | 28 Dec – 5 Jan | Hastings[8] | Brian Johnson[9] | ||
| 1997[10] | 28 Dec – 5 Jan | Hastings |  Olev Schults |  Catherine Dewitte | |
| 1998[11] | 29 Dec – 11 Jan | Hastings |  Viraf Avari | Rosalind Kieran | |
| 1999[12] | 29 Dec – 10 Jan | Hastings |  Gaguik Oganessian | Jessie Gilbert | |
| 2000[13] | 29 Dec – 6 Jan | Hastings | Sven Mühlenhaus | Elaine Rutherford | |
| 2001[14] | 27 Dec – 8 Jan | Pamplona |  Bismarck Nicolás Chaverra Rojas |  Maria Goni | |
| 2001[15] | 6–13 Dec | Bento Gonçalves |  Flávio Olivência |  Amanda Benggawan | |
| 2002[16] | 13–19 Dec | Bento Gonçalves | Juliano Resende Pereira | Thalita Cincinato | |
| 2003[17] | 2–13 Jul | Tshwane | Shabier Bhawoodien | Daleen Wiid | |
| 2004[18] | 30 Jun – 10 Jul | Cape Town | Farai Mandizha | Jenine Ellappen | |
| 2005[19] | 31 Jul – 12 Aug | Piešťany | Cancelled[20] | ||
| 2006[21] | 23 Nov – 3 Dec | Tripoli |  Rachid Hifad | Nirmala Chandrasiri | |
| 2007[22] | 11–18 Aug | Predeal |  Alexandru Gabriel Duca | Eugenia-Daniela Ghita | |
| 2008[23] | 28 Apr – 6 May | Chalkidiki | Panagiotis Galopoulos | Mitali Patil | |
| 2009[24] [25] | 27 Apr – 3 May | Thessaloniki | Stefan Parlog | Efstathia Andrikopoulou | |
| 2010[26] [27] | 19–25 Mar | Skokie |  Andrew Hubbard | Yun Fan | |
| 2011[28] [29] | 1–10 Oct | Antalya | Bilgunn Sumiya | Bayar Anu | |
| 2012[30] [31] | 16–22 Apr | Chalkidiki | Haralambos Tsakiris | Laura Perez | |
| 2013[32] [33] | 21–30 Apr | Iași | Lehel Vrencian | Bayarsaikhan Yanjinlkham | |
| 2014[34] | 26 Apr – 3 May | Singapore | Gijir Munkhbayar | Chitlange Sakshi | |
| 2015[35] | 14–21 Apr | Chalkidiki |  Mire Deniz Doğan |  Paula-Alexandra Gitu | |
| 2016[36] | 18–28 Apr | Chalkidiki |  Zhuban Bigabylov (U2300)Khulan Enkhsaikhan (U2000) Jatin S.N. (U1700) | Georgia Grapsa (U2300) Khulan Enkhsaikhan (U2000)  Diana Zakharova (U1700) | |
| 2017[37] | 1–9 Apr | Spoleto | Win Tun (U2300) Maciej Koziej (U2000)Hope Mkhumba (U1700) | Bayarjargal Bayarmaa (U2300) Zainab Saumy (U2000) Vilena Popova (U1700) | |
| 2018[38] | 22–29 Apr | Cagliari | Arvinder Preet Singh (U2300) Kanan Hajiyev (U2000) Batuhan Sutbas (U1700) | Bayarjargal Bayarmaa (U2300) Elisaveta Chetina (U2000) Vilena Popova (U1700) | |
| 2019[39] | 29 Jun – 7 Jul | Colima |  Elías Renzo Gutiérrez Medina (U2300)Jesús Amezcua Luría (U2000) Dashtogtokh Amarsaikhan (U1700) | Alexandra Zherebtsova (U2300) Batnasan Khaliun (U2000) Omya Vidyarthi (U1700) | |
| 2020[40] | 2–12 Apr | Heraklion | Postponed to 2021[41] | ||
| 2021[42] | 16–26 Oct | Rhodes |  Dimitrios Ladopoulos (U2300) Mukhtar Ainakul (U1700) Peter Anand (U2000) | Alexandra Zherebtsova (U2300) Glenda Madelta (U1700) Marigje Degrande (U2000) | |
| 2022[43] | 20–30 Oct | Mellieħa | Abdilkhair Abilmansur (U2300) Tuguldur Soninbayar (U1700) Sodbilegt Naranbold (U2000) | Grigoryan Meri (U2300) Margadgua Erdenebayar (U1700) Baliuniene Margarita (U2000) | |
| 2023 [44] [45] | 2-11 Nov | Muscat | Abdilkhair Abilmansur (U2300) Dashtogtokh Amarsaikhan (U2000) Ganbat Danzanjunai (U1700) | Bauyrzhan Amash (U2300) Norovsambuu Badamkhand (U2000) Bat-Amgalan Anujin (U1700) |