Plazma Youth Sports Games – Winner of the FIDE Outstanding Contribution Award 2025

We are honored to receive the FIDE Outstanding Contribution Award 2025, presented by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) for remarkable social impact through chess — in line with this year’s theme, “The Year of Social Chess.”
The award was presented by FIDE President and Plazma Youth Sports Games Ambassador, Arkady Dvorkovich, to Slaven Marić, Advisor to the Organizing Committee of the Games.
FIDE Chess Tournaments within the Plazma Youth Sports Games are held in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia, and this year reached a record number of participants. Each season, chess attracts more children and young people, promoting fair play, logical thinking, and mutual respect.
Beyond tournaments, chess has also become an integral part of the All-Star Day, featuring simultaneous exhibition matches where our young champions, ambassadors, partners, and friends of the Games play against renowned grandmasters.
This year in Sarajevo, alongside the top 20 young chess players, the event gathered: Johannes Hahn, former European Commissioner and Special Envoy for Cyprus; sports legends Slaven Bilić, Nemanja Vidić, Aitor Karanka, Aljoša Asanović, Mehmed Baždarević, Mario Stanić, Predrag Danilović, and Dragan Stojković; Katharine Viner and Adrian Chiles from The Guardian; representatives of The Coca-Cola Company — Bianca Bourbon and Gjorgji Hristov; Karyn Harrington, Dimitris Rompis, and Frank O’Donell from Coca-Cola HBC; as well as Austrian politician Susanne Riess Hahn.
Facing them across the chessboard were Grandmaster Borki Predojević and FIDE Masters Milana and Maša Babić, who made their first moves in chess right here at the Games.
As we look ahead to 2026, marking the 30th season of Plazma Youth Sports Games, chess will continue to be an important part of our program across all four member countries — with free registration and participation for every child.
This FIDE Award is a powerful recognition that we are on the right path — using sport, play, and chess to inspire friendship, equality, and unity among young people.