ICARUS: the social value of chess
The ICARUS project – Including Chess As a Re-education Up-Skilling tool – is drawing to a close.For two years we have been working on the creation and testing of tools for re-educating inmates in social and emotional skills, using chess both as a tool and as a metaphor, to bring into prisons the key competences needed for re-socialisation: Soft Skills.
It has been a long journey, rich in experiences and emotions, that began in November 2023 and will conclude in October 2025 with the final event to be held in Latvia.
The consortium consists of six organisations from three European countries: each country is represented by a training organisation and a chess organisation.
Italy is represented by Skill Up (project leader), a Rome-based training company specialised in Soft Skills development, and by Unichess – the Italian University of Chess, a major chess organisation based in Perugia. Every year Unichess organises the World Cadet Chess Championship and other international events.
Spain is represented by Indepcie, a training company based in Córdoba specialised in Coaching and Emotional Intelligence, and by Club de Ajedrez Magic, from Mérida (Extremadura) – a renowned chess club with extensive experience in working within prisons and unique expertise in using chess for cognitive rehabilitation.
Latvia, the third ICARUS country, is represented by CEIR (Centre for Education and Innovation Research), a research and training centre also active in the university sector, and by the Latvian Chess Federation, a high-profile national partner from a country with a strong chess tradition.
The partners have worked together to bring the project to life through the implementation of three training Toolkits:• one on the development of Soft Skills for chess players;• one on chess training for ADU trainers;• and one on socio-emotional self-development for inmates.
The results, available in four languages, can be accessed at: https://www.projecticarus.eu/files/.
The project has reached its final stage, following the implementation of training tools, the pilot testing of the Toolkits in prisons across the three partner countries, and the creation of participatory tools such as the ICARUS Manual.
Dissemination and promotion activities are ongoing. In addition to the News section of the website – which also serves as a platform for all developed materials – dissemination has mainly taken place through the project’s social media channels, with photos, videos, posts, and newsletters.Events have been crucial for the project’s final impact: each partner has organised at least one event, with a total of over 2,000 participants to date.
In addition, the partners have written and published three scientific articles and 24 blog posts, and have presented the project at every opportunity. For example, Skill Up presented ICARUS during an event in Reykjavik, Iceland, attended by 50 participants including the President of the Republic of Iceland, and at a meeting in Nice attended by 24 people from eight different nationalities. Club Magic Extremadura will present the ICARUS results on 24 October at a major international conference.
On 21–22 October 2025, the final event will take place in Riga, Latvia, followed by the final partners’ meeting to discuss the results achieved and assess the extent to which the original objectives have been met.The final event in Latvia will feature a national chess tournament during which the project will be presented to attendees.
Among all partners there is a shared sense of pride and excitement for what has been achieved so far and for this final milestone, which is generating great enthusiasm.Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to share the final chapter of the project with us!
ICARUS - Including Chess As a Re-education Up-Skilling tool, is an Erasmus+ project - N. 2023-1-IT02-KA220-ADU-000152409.
