Tajikistan's national championships, the early stages, will be hosted on this platform under a new partnership with the Chess Federation of Tajikistan.

Get ready for an influx of new players from Central Asia after the Chess Federation of Tajikistan became the first federation to link up with World Chess.

Under the agreement, World Chess will provide its tournament infrastructure and digital services to support the President’s Cup of Tajikistan 2025, which will be held in the capital Dushanbe from November 9 to 16, 2025.

Eight national online qualification tournaments will be staged exclusively on worldchess.com, FIDE's official online gaming platform, to determine the strongest players in the country.

Tajikistan took a team Group C bronze in the Open section at 2024 Olympiad in Budapest. Photo: Michal Walusza/FIDE.

The final tournament in Dushanbe will feature qualifiers from these events, including leading women, juniors, and veterans.

In addition to competitions, World Chess and the Federation will collaborate on online training, fair-play initiatives, and digital learning programmes for players and coaches.

This partnership highlights the growing adoption of World Chess’s platform and marks another step in its international expansion strategy, as more national federations seek to modernise their activities through official digital partnerships.

Zafar Mirzo, President of the Chess Federation of Tajikistan, said:
"Chess has deep roots in Tajikistan, and the President’s Cup is one of the most important sporting events in our calendar.

"Partnering with World Chess allows us to bring the tournament to a wider audience, provide modern tools for training and development, and ensure that our players can compete on an international standard platform.

"We believe this partnership will help us inspire the next generation of Tajik players while showcasing our country’s chess culture to the world."

Ilya Merenzon, Chief Executive Officer of World Chess, commented:
"We are delighted to partner with the Chess Federation of Tajikistan.

"This collaboration is a natural fit with our mission to grow chess globally by combining national traditions with world-class digital infrastructure.

"The President’s Cup is both a celebration of chess in Tajikistan and a demonstration of how national federations can use World Chess to train, inspire, and connect players.

"Our platform is developing rapidly, and this is one of many opportunities we expect to pursue as federations look to modernise their activities online."