A joint international scientific meeting organised by the Hungarian University of Sports Science (TF) and the Hungarian Chess Federation was held at the university on Monday with the participation of chess enthusiasts and those interested in chess.
One day before the kick-off of the 45th Open and 30th Women's Chess Olympiad to be held in Budapest, an international scientific meeting entitled "Chess and Sports Science" was held at the Hungarian University of Sports Sciences (TF) where renowned Hungarian and foreign experts gave interesting lectures for a wide audience.
The event was opened by TF’s Rector Professor Tamás Sterbenz. In his speech he reminded the audience that chess plays an important role in the life of the university, as evidenced by the existence and activities of the Research Centre for Sport Economics and Decision Sciences. He also pointed out that the first student to obtain a doctorate in chess science was Dr Zoltán Medvegy, who was also in the audience.
„Chess has always been a symbol of intelligence and good decision making. We learn to play not only to become better players but also to be able to bring more decisions in chess, other sports and different areas of life”, indicated the rector referring to the importance of the sport, adding that chess can be a field of objective scientific research.
Then Dr Zoltán Polyánszky, President of the Hungarian Chess Federation and Head of the Decision-making Body of the Committee that organizes the 2024 Budapest Chess Olympiad welcomed the participants. He stressed that chess is not only a sport but also an intellectual activity closely related to culture, science and arts. In this context, he noted that this would also be reflected in the side events of the forthcoming Chess Olympiad.
The lecture series was opened by former U16 European champion and three-time Slovakian champion chess grandmaster Ján Markos. Markos, now a coach and chess book writer, shed light on the mindset and decision-making mechanisms of professional chess players, mainly from a psychological point of view, in a way that everyone could understand.
Professor Markus Raab, Director of the Department of Performance Psychology, German Sport University Cologne gave a lecture titled „When can chess players trust their intuition? A research program testing personal, situational and task characteristics of chess decision making.” Dr Raab, who has been involved in several joint research projects with TF, supported the university’s recent PhD chess master, Dr Zoltán Medvegy in the preparation of his thesis.
The morning session was closed by mathematician and psychologist Professor László Mérő’s lecture entitled "Game design - what makes a game good?".
In the afternoon, a simuls took place between players of the university sports club’s (TFSE) Chess and Intellectual Sports Department and Slovak chess grandmaster Ján Markos.
The scientific meeting concluded with Markus Raab’s PhD workshop titled “Sport psychology and individual diagnostic and training tools for elite athletes”.
After the event, the press conference of the Chess Olympiad was hosted in the university’s gathering hall. Four TF students representing Hungary will be present at the world event: Julianna Terbe for the A team, Zsuzsanna Terbe and Ádám Kozák for the B team, and Zoltán Medvegy as the captain of the B team.
A chess-themed exhibition was opened in the lobby of the Library and Archives on the day of the press conference of the Chess Olympiad. Visitors can see the medals, cups, relics of TFSE chess players including Julianna Terbe, Zsuzsanna Terbe, Péter Sármási, Ádám Kozák and selected chess books from the library, as well as a stamp issued in honour of the Chess Olympiad. The exhibition will be open until 27 September 2024.
On the afternoon of 25 September, the Library and Archives will host the "Just Chess" day, the final university event of the Chess Olympiad. It will feature chess-related lectures and round-table discussions as well as the opening of the official training ground of the TFSE Chess and Intellectual Sports Department.
Photo by Kristóf Bükfa
