A project to rethink cultural spaces by using mind games starts in Sofia

The initiative belongs to Euro Advance Association, with the partnership of Sofia Municipality

From 19 August to 15 November, Euro Advance Association is implementing a project called "Hybrid Festival of Mind Games: Rethinking Cultural Spaces". The initiative aims to present and promote a healthy lifestyle among the youth of Sofia, through the practice of chess and other mind sports, as a countermeasure to the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The essence of the project is to hold a one-day event in a central city gallery, where the art space will be reinterpreted as a field for sports, and intellectual and social expression of young people. The event will also take place in the context of the European Year of Youth, with the target group being children and young people between the ages of 5 and 29. The game part will be followed by a discussion about the benefits of chess and thinking games for child and adolescent development and for the social life of the Bulgarian capital.

The date of the festival and the registration methods will be announced at a later stage on the website of the Association.

The project has three main aims

In particular, the project envisages the following activities:

• Hybrid Festival of Mind Sports – a simultaneous chess session where youngsters will have the opportunity to play a game against a grandmaster, both in-person in the art gallery and on an online platform from home. The hybridity will also have an inverted aspect as the players in the gallery will also have the opportunity to test their skills against one of the best computer chess software in the world. Other intellectual games will also be visually presented;
• A live discussion with a wide range of participants about the possibilities of integrating chess and intellectual games into the pedagogical process, as well as about the possibility of urban spaces being transformed for similar sports-social purposes that integrate different groups of urban society;
• The publication and distribution of an e-book with good practices to serve as a guide for educators, mentors, administrations, non-governmental organizations, and business organizations in the rethinking of private and public spaces for social purposes, as well as in the preparation of educational and training programs.

The project borrows from the successful model of the Global Chess Festival held in the city of Budapest by the Judith Polgar Foundation in partnership with the National Gallery of Hungary. There, the chess festival has become a prestigious event for the whole family, and one which mixes the spheres of culture, sports and art, providing the public with quality free time.

The project "Hybrid Festival of Mind Games: Rethinking Cultural Spaces" is implemented with the financial support of the Sofia Municipality - Program "Europe" 2022. "Euro Advance" Association is the beneficiary, in partnership with the "Art Sport Talent" Foundation, First English Language School and District of Lozenets.