Who are we?

Why Chess & Why Chess in Slums and Rural India?

When & Why did we Start?

Target Audience & Hurdle to Reach them!

Project Scope & Source Of Funding

Impact, Achievements & Media Presence

Future Goals & The Team

• Friends of Tribal Society (FTS) is first registered organization of the movement founded in 1989 with registered office at Kolkata.
• We think globally and communicate locally.

What is FTS?

• Chess as a Bridge to Empowerment

Ek Prayaas

• Empowering Rural India’s Changemakers

Our Vision 

Why Chess?

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Chess is a strategic board game known for enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills

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• Low-Cost and Accessible
• Intellectual Benefits
• Equal Opportunity
• Bringing Communities Together
• Building Self-Confidence

Why Chess in Slums & Rural India?

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• Chess has the power to transcend social and economic barriers

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• Offers a platform for education, personal development, and social inclusion

Start - May 10, 2024 in the remote village of Madhya Pradesh, India

Objective - Transforming lives, by to creating brighter futures with stronger communities

The Right Move - The support of FTS (Friends of Tribal Society) Yuva Indore & the 1st IM of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Akshat Khamparia,

The Launch - The first ever initiative for Chess in central India, "Ek Prayaas - Ek Kadam Shatranj Ki Aur" in the remote villages & slums of Madhya Pradesh

The Momentum - Organized workshops and training sessions in villages and slums, bringing the strategic game of Chess to children who had never been exposed to it before.

Target Audience

Rural kids

Why - so that they don't get into alcoholism and gambling

Rationale - We want to develop critical thinking skills, instill the value of hard work and develop calmness under pressure

Challenges Faced

Limited Resources

Economic Struggles

Social Exclusion

Developing Interest

The Beginning

We started this project with the aim of having Chess in every home of the village - "Har Ghar Shatranj".

Our aim is to take it to every village of Madhya Pradesh.

We have started from scratch & have created a Hindi Chess Database for these children to understand easily.

The rural children connect through Zoom meet & now almost 70 children are learning Chess.

We keep quiz competitions & reward the winners. It motivated the other children. We also kept competition between rural & slum children.

The Future

We will be happy if we can make even 2-3 state or national level players out of these rural children.

Happy to have professionals but Core is to Spread Chess!

Within just 7 months, our kids have started playing games and 2 of them have started taking professional training.

Our Ek Prayaas team participated in the FIDE 100 years celebration and played some amazing moves

The leading print media of Indore, India is supporting this initiative

Fide Social Chess has also appreciated us and mentioned our activities many times on its social media handle.

With the minimal funds we are running this project successfully.

One of the best educational institutions is supporting us.

Impact

• From the Launch, the slum and village kids are spending more time over the Chess boards keeping their mobile phones aside
• They’ve become more responsible and hardworking

Future Goals

• Our future goal is to have daily classes so that these children learn faster
• For this, we have planned to hire a full-time coach
• We are coming up with the first Chess park - "Chaupal" in central India

Coaching

• Trainers, Chess Enthusiasts
• Rated Players
• Idea is to Create Awareness

City Infrastructure

• Physical – includes training space, chess boards, pieces, clocks, water, snacks

Go-To-Market & Financials

• Shortlist 20 Cities
• USD 1 Million for 2 Years
• Dashboards to Track Talent Progress