The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has selected 17 chess players, coaches, and organizers for its 2026 support program, distributing a total of €37,000 among them. This initiative, started 12 years ago, has now allocated nearly €500,000 to veterans. Profiles of the recipients highlight their contributions to chess.
FIDE's special panel, appointed by the FIDE Council, reviewed numerous applications to choose the 2026 beneficiaries. The recipients include grandmasters, international masters, and other titled figures from various countries: GM Leonid Yudasin (ISR), GM Florin Gheorghiu (ROU), WGM Irina Levitina (USA), IA Boris Postovsky (USA), GM Yehuda Gruenfeld (ISR), IM Vadim Faibisovich (RUS), IM Alexander Lysenko (RUS), Mark Ruderfer (RUS), GM Nikolay Legky (FRA), IM Aleksander Veingold (EST), WIM Ligia Jicman (ROU), FM Yunus Hasan (BAN), FM Danilo Buela Valdespino (CUB), WFM Valeria Dotan (ISR), WIM Lyudmila Aslanian (UKR), WFM Jambaldoo Lkhagva (MGL), and Zdenek Zavodny (CZE).
Each profile underscores decades of dedication. For instance, Yudasin, born in 1959 in Leningrad, faced challenges in the Soviet Union but achieved joint victory in the 1990 USSR Championship and won the León tournament in 1993 ahead of players like Anatoly Karpov. Gheorghiu, Romania's first grandmaster born in 1944, won the World Junior Championship in 1963 and reached world No. 10 in 1980. Levitina, a Woman Grandmaster born in 1954, secured multiple USSR Women's Championships and was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2024.
Postovsky, born in 1937, coached Russia to four Olympiad golds in the 1990s and holds the International Arbiter title. Gruenfeld, born in 1956, won the 2024 ICCD World Deaf Championship at age 68. Other recipients like Lysenko, who coached Japan's national team, and Lkhagva, who advanced Mongolian chess, exemplify ongoing impacts through coaching, organization, and writing.
FIDE plans to publish brief profiles honoring their careers, recognizing enduring contributions to chess.