FSI - Federazione Scacchistica Italiana - The Italian Chess Federation

The Federazione Scacchistica Italiana or FSI is known in English as the Italian Chess Federation. Established in 1920, it is the primary chess governing body in Italy.

As can be expected, the FSI is heavily involved in most of the chess related events and tournaments in the country, many of which have gained acclaim in the international chess circles. One of these events is the Mitropa Cup 2008. This is a team tournament organized by the FSI, which will be played between teams from the Chess Federations of Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland, Slovenia, and of course, Italy. The upcoming Mitropa Cup will be the 28th held since the tournament was established. To date, Germany has won 6 of these tournaments, while Hungary and France have won 4 and 3 respectively. Yugoslavia has racked up 6 wins in the tournament prior to the country’s division.

The Mitropa Cup 2008 will be held in the seaside resort town of Sardegna, Olbia.

The excellence of the Italian Chess Federation (FSI) is reflective of the current healthy state of chess in Italy, which is no stranger to prestigious events. In 2006, the country was the site of the 37th Chess Olympiad. The event was held in Turin, and attracted some of the best chess players from all over the world.

The Chess Olympiad is held every two years and features both men's and women's competitions. The 37th Olympiad, which was held on May 20 to June 4, was comprised of 13 rounds.

Out of the 150 teams that took part in the Italian chess event, Armenia won the men’s event, winning the gold medal with four players in addition to two reserves for each team. Out of the 108 women's teams that participated, Ukraine won the gold for the women’s event, with three players in addition to one reserve.

The teams that took part in the event belonged to 144 national federations from all over the world. Italy itself had three men's teams and two women's teams join in the Olympiad. Aside from these teams, some other teams also participated including The International Braille Chess Association or IBCA, the International Physically Disabled Chess Association or ICPA, and the International Committee of Silent Chess or ICSC. Each of these teams had both a men's and a women's team.

In a bit of trivia regarding the Italian Chess Federation, FSI, the federation once barred one of the country’s best players from playing on the Italian Olympiad team. The player was seven time national champion Stefano Tatai, and the reason for his being barred was because he was over the 30 year old age limit that the FSI set for its players to represent the country. Tatai was 44 years old at the time. This decision by the FSI proved to be disastrous, as it resulted in a very poor performance by the Italian team at the Olympiad. This decision was met by a considerable amount of criticism from both chess players and fans all over the country.