Washington, D. C.
, USA, 2-7 August 2025
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) and
the International School Chess Federation (ISCF)
invite all FIDE member federations and eligible
players to participate in the World Schools Team
Championship 2025. The competition will be held
in Washington, D.C./Alexandria, USA, from 2nd
(arrival) to 7 (departure) August 2025. Playing
venue is Episcopal High School, located 1200
North Quaker Lane Alexandria, Va 22302, city
Washington.
1.1 The World Schools Team Championship (WSTC) is the flagship FIDE and
ISCF competition among the teams of general educational institutions shall be
governed by the General Regulations for FIDE Competitions (EVE), except where
these Regulations override them.
1.2 WSTC is organised under the aegis of the FIDE Events Commission
(hereinafter referred to as “EVE”).
1.3 Teams of chess academies, chess clubs, chess departments of junior
physical training clubs, specialised sports schools, Olympic reserve schools, or
those that combine players from more than one general educational institution are
not allowed to participate.
1.4 Each team must consist of four main players, one reserve, and one non-
playing captain. Where possible, a team shall include both boys and girls, and at least two
players born in 2012 or later.
1.5 All members of the team must have a FIDE ID.
1.6 The national federations have to conduct the eligibility checks that the
children are educated at the school that is entering the tournament. A team that is
found to have an ineligible player will be subject to the following sanctions:
• The team and its individual players will be disqualified from the competition
• and forfeit all prizes they have won (see Article 4.11).
The school will be banned from participation in the next edition of the
• competition. This ban may be extended by FIDE Council.
The National Federation will be banned from entering teams into the next
• edition of the competition. This ban may be extended by FIDE Council.
FIDE Council may report any of the parties involved to the FIDE Ethics &
Disciplinary Commission for further investigation, which may lead to further
sanctions.
WEEKDAY DATE TIME EVENT
10:00 - 19:00 Arrival, Accreditation
Saturday 2nd August
21.00* Technical meeting
10:00 - 10:30
Sunday 3rd August Opening Ceremony
Sunday 3rd August 11:30 - 13:30 Round 1
Sunday 3rd August 15:00 - 17:00 Round 2
Monday 4th August 11:00 - 13:00 Round 3
Monday 4th August 15:00 - 17:00 Round 4
Tuesday 5h August 11:00 – 13:00 Round 5
Tuesday 5h August 15:00 - 17:00 Round 6
Wednesday 6th August 10:00 - 12:00 Round 7
Wednesday 6th August 13:30 - 15:30 Round 8
Wednesday 6th August 20:30 Closing Ceremony
Thursday 7th August Departure
*Time of the Technical meeting to be confirmed. Please follow the official
website worldschoolteam2025.fide.com
3.1 The deadline for the registration is 1st of July 2025.
3.2 In order to ensure proper tournament standards, FIDE member federations
must fully complete the official online registration, accommodation & travel form
before 1st July 2025 including information about the national schools team
competitions with dates and relative links. Those FIDE member federations, who
will have national championships later than 1st of July or another exclusive
circumstance, do not need USA visa and have informed the Organizers in advance
via the official online registration form, will be able to submit the final list of the
delegation after the Orgcommitte approval and not later than 10th July. This
exception applies if there are available spots as per p. 5.1.
3.3 Incomplete registrations will not be accepted. Individual applications will
not be accepted also.
3.4 The registration form is available via link:
https://worldschoolteam2025.fide.com/registration2025/
There will be an option to submit passport data for visa application.
4.1 The tournament will be an 8-round Swiss, played with two games per day
over 4 days.
4.2 The captain will provide their four main players and reserve in a fixed
board order not later than the end of technical meeting. This order will be fixed for
the duration of the tournament. There is no requirement to assign board numbers in
rating order.
4.3 The team composition for each round shall be submitted not later than 30
minutes before each round. A team captain who fails to submit their team
composition in a round will be deemed to have chosen the four main players in their
team.
4.4 The first-named team in a pairing shall have the white pieces on the odd-
numbered boards, the black pieces on the even-numbered boards.
4.5 The time control will be 45 minutes, plus 10 seconds increment per move
starting from move one.
4.6 The default time is 10 minutes.
4.7 The following FIDE regulations apply in full (see Annex 1):
4.7.1 Captains and Heads of Delegation
4.7.2 Appeals Committee Procedural Rules; the appeal fee will be 200 Euros.
4.8 Articles 3-11 of the Olympiad Pairing Rules (see Annex 1) will apply, except
that:
4.8.1 Odd Number of Participating Teams (Article 2); this does not apply, and is
replaced with, “If there is an odd number of participating teams in a section, the
organising federation has the right to enter another team into that section. If this
team is paired and plays round 1, it shall remain in the tournament to the
conclusion even if teams joining or withdrawing during the tournament results in
there being an odd number of teams.”
4.8.2 Ranking of Teams for Pairing Purposes (Article 3); for the purpose of this
Article, players without a FIDE rapid rating will instead use their FIDE standard
rating. Players with neither of these ratings shall be considered as having a rating
of 1000.
4.8.3 Unpaired Teams (Article 10); Article 10.2 shall be “Any paired team that
has less than three players for two rounds, consecutive or otherwise, will not be
paired for the rest of the tournament.”
4.8.4 Miscellaneous (Article 11); references to the “Global Strategy
Commission” shall be to the “Events Commission”.
4.9 “Standard Level” Fair Play Protection Measures will apply (see Annex 1).
4.10 The team rankings will be determined by:
4.10.1 Matchpoints (2 for a match win, 1 for a match draw, 0 for a match loss)
4.10.2 Olympiad Sonneborn-Berger Tie-Break (Chennai)
4.10.3 Gamepoints
4.10.4 Sum of Adjusted Opponents Matchpoints (Chennai)
4.11 The individual rankings for each board will be determined by:
4.11.1 Gamepoint Percentage (forfeit wins and forfeit losses count)
4.11.2 Number of Games Played (forfeit wins count, forfeit losses do not count)
4.11.3 Number of Games Won (forfeit wins count)
4.11.4 Buchholz (rounds where a player is not
named to play are ignored; forfeit wins and forfeit
losses count as if they were played games)
4.11.5 Higher team ranking (see Article 3.10)
4.12 The following prizes will be presented:
4.12.1 Participation certificates to all players,
reserves and captains
4.12.2 All players, the reserve and captain of the
first, second and third-placed teams determined by
Article 4.10 will receive cups, and gold, silver and
bronze medals respectively, and other memorable
gifts.
4.12.3 The first, second and third-placed players
on each board determined by Article 4.11 will
receive gold, silver and bronze medals and
certificates respectively. Players must play a
minimum of 6 games to be eligible for a board prize.
The definition of a played game in 4.11.2 applies.
5.1 There is a limited number of participating teams, as follows:
a) 7 teams nominated by FIDE Events Commission.
b) First 45 teams registered by national federations in a full compliance with the
current Regulations. The priority will be given to national federations who hold the
national schools team competitions.
c) 5 teams invited by the ISCF.
d) 3 teams nominated by the host federation.
5.2 Following the organizers’ proposal submitted before the start of the
championship, FIDE Events Commission may accept other additional teams to
attend the event.
5.3 The participating teams shall be responsible for their own travel expenses,
insurance, and other matters not covered in Articles 6.3.1 – 6.4. The National
Federation is allowed to assume this responsibility from the participating teams.
5.4 The players and the captains shall strictly abide by all internal rules and
regulations of both the tournament venue and the official accommodation facilities.
6.1 The accommodation reservation will be done
on the “First Come, First Served” basis
6.2 FIDE will be responsible for the global
promotion of the competition and travel grants
for the teams nominated by FIDE.
6.3 ISCF with the support of the local
organizers will be responsible for providing:
6.3.1 Full board accommodation to each team
nominated according to 5.1 in two twin rooms
and one single room for the children, and one
single room for the captain will be provided for
the majority delegations in on-campus housing
facilities at Episcopal High School. This will be
from the arrival day till the departure day.
Teams may require additional rooms, and if
available, such rooms will be provided at the
official hotel at the expense of the team or
National Federation to be paid directly to the
hotel. If on-campus accommodation is not
available due to capacity limitations, teams will
be accommodated in a hotel of 4-star standard
with the same room allocation.
6.3.2 Accompanying persons and non-nominated
teams are invited to stay at the official hotel —
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center (5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA, US, 22311) — at
their own expense.
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/dcaahhf-hilton-alexandria-mark-center/?SEO_id=GMB-
AMER-HH-DCAAHHF&y_source=1_MTIyMDkxNi03MTUtbG9jYXRpb24ud2Vic2l0ZQ%3D%3D
Room Rates (breakfast included):
• Single rooms: $159 plus applicable state and occupancy taxes, currently
• 15.50% and $1.25 (subject to change)
Double rooms: $179 plus applicable state and occupancy taxes, currently
15.50% and $1.25 (subject to change)
6.3.3 Full board accommodation and stipends of tournament officials. The
officials will be one Chief Arbiter, two Deputy Chief Arbiters, one Pairing Officer,
one Fair Play Officer, one FIDE Technical Delegate, three members of Appeals
Committee and an appropriate number of Match Arbiters.
6.3.4 Transfers to and from the airport and local transportation, free of charge
for all participants.
6.3.5 The Venue
6.3.6 Opening and Closing ceremonies
6.3.7 Refreshments in the playing venue
6.3.8 Volunteers
6.3.9 Local promotion
6.4.10 Additional cultural program, museum visits and excursions
6.4 All 60 teams mentioned in point 5.1 are entitled to free accommodation –
two twin rooms, two single rooms.
6.5 Buying the tickets for the teams covering:
• Economy class flights from the member Federation to the host city.
• Any domestic internal travel expenses from the city in which the school is
situated to the airport (e.g. standard class rail fare, internal flights).
6.5.1 The Organizers will purchase flight tickets directly, once the team’s
participation has been officially confirmed via email. The Organizers may also
assist in booking tickets for accompanying persons, provided that the full cost of
such tickets is covered by the accompanying individuals themselves.
6.6 All participants will be provided with transport services on 2nd August as
well as the departure transfer on 7th August. If any delegation arrives one or two
days before the competition or leaves later the same service will not be provided.
6.7 Delegations who make private transport arrangements and clearly indicate
this in the registration form will be fully responsible for any problems they
experience during arrival or departure.
7.1 Each team shall wear a team uniform. The uniform can be created by a
National Federation or a team.
7.2 No players with inappropriate cloth (e.g. dirty, ripped) shall be allowed in
the playing area.
7.2 The players and the captains are invited to attend all official functions
approved by EVE during the WSTC including the Technical Meeting, Opening and
the Closing Ceremonies.
7.3 The players are expected to cooperate with the media.
7.4 By participating in the tournament, all players (and their legal
representatives, in the case of minors) acknowledge and agree that the Organizers
have the right to photograph, record, and livestream the event, including all
participants, accompanying persons and others without the need for any additional
consent or compensation. The resulting photos, videos, and other media materials
may be used by the Organizers for promotional, educational, informational, or any
other purposes across all media platforms (including print, digital, and social
media), both during and after the tournament without any restrictions.
7.5 By registering a non-playing captain or any accompanying person, national
chess federations confirm that these individuals are suitable and eligible to
perform their roles at the World Schools Team Championship (WSTC). Each
Federation bears full responsibility for ensuring that all such individuals have
successfully passed an appropriate background check, in accordance with the
legal and safeguarding standards of their respective countries.
The Organizers reserve the right to deny accreditation or access to the event to any
accompanying person or non-playing captain if credible concerns regarding their
eligibility or background arise.
8.1 Those who need visa must submit their data via online registration system
the latest July 1, 2025 to get the invitation letter.
8.2 The Organizers will provide visa support in the form of official invitation
letters primarily for the registered participants and, where possible, for
accompanying persons. However, the responsibility for arranging visa
appointments with the embassies, obtaining entry visas to the host country, as
well as any necessary transit visas, lies with the respective national federations
and participating teams
8.3 Useful information on visa is here: https://www.state.gov/visas/
8.4 The Organizers will issue invitations only after FIDE confirms teams’
participation.
Official email worldschoolteam@fide.com
Official website worldschoolteam2025.fide.com
Relevant FIDE Regulations can be found here:
General Regulations for FIDE Competitions (EVE):
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/D0401202312
FIDE Laws of Chess:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023
Olympiad Pairing Rules:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/OlympiadPairingRules2022
Captains and Heads of Delegation:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/CaptainsHeadsDelegation
Appeals Committee Procedural Rules:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/AppealsCommitteeProceduralRules
Fair Play Protection Measures:
https://handbook.fide.com/files/handbook/FPL_Protection_Measures_20
24.pdf
Regulations for the Appointment of Arbiters in World Events:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B0604082023
Arbiters Stipend Regulations:
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/ArbiterStipendRegulations2024
