The theme of this year's festival was Women in Chess, Women in Science. In the program of the same title, Australian university lecturer and chess grandmaster David Smerdon spoke about the relationship between chess and gender in his lecture "Facts and Myths". International master mathematician Rita Atkins gave a presentation about how single-sex schooling increases girls' confidence and interest in STEM subjects and how this influences their decisions to continue their education. Network researcher Albert-László Barabási spoke about the role of women in academia. NATE (Women in Science Association) and the festival's main sponsor, Morgan Stanley's SMARTIZ program, support girls' careers in science, IT and engineering.

In addition to the inspiring presentations and roundtable discussions, families were given an insight into the Judit Polgár Method, which aims to develop playful, inspirational and complex skills for children aged 4-10 through chess in traditional educational settings. In addition to the interactive adult and children's programs and craft activities, participants could try out robot programming, take part in a talent assessment at the Morgan Stanley Chess Café, while the "classic" program of the festival, the Simultaneous, offered the chance to test their skills against Judit Polgár and the chess Olympiad and World Age Group Champion Zsóka Gaál.

Budapest will host the 2024 Chess Olympiad. In connection with this, a mixed doubles "Inspiration Cup” tournament was organized with the participation of prominent players from the present and the recent past, such as world No 7 Anish Giri, which was won by Team Dracarys (Sofia Polgár and Yona Kosashvili)

In the framework of the festival, the international conference "Chess in Education" was held in cooperation with the European Chess Union (ECU), and this year's patron, Georgia's Minister of Education and Science, Dr. Mikheil Chkhenkeli, in his speech, underlined "Chess is proven to be one of the most powerful tools we can give children to succeed in school and life."

In the closing panel discussion of the festival, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, CEO of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), Judit Polgár, the best female player in chess history, Gábor Orbán, CEO of Richter Gedeon and Norbert Fogarasi, head of the Budapest office of lead sponsor Morgan Stanley, shared their thoughts on what companies can do to give girls the attention and opportunities they deserve to learn STEM skills and get into science.

"At the festival, we explored the opportunities for girls in STEM fields from several angles. I believe that if they have the motivation and the support of their environment, i.e. society, there is nothing impossible for them. The role of chess in education is growing worldwide, and the experts and educators who spoke at this year's conference contributed greatly to this. Chess has been successfully used in the education of millions of children from preschool age upwards and has proven to be an effective tool for children with autism. This game can be integrated into education in many different ways, in many different subjects, and our aim is to make these programs known and used in more countries in the future", highlighted the main organizer, Judit Polgár.

The program for the 2022 festival can be found at the links below:

Women in chess Women in science presentations:
https://youtu.be/P_lhrgSqDyc

"Chess in Education" international conference:
https://youtu.be/iaNNRy_DcjY

"The Inspiration Cup" hand and brain match:
https://youtu.be/1PfH59HBb-g

Video summary about the 2022 Global Chess Festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1Bw9MvsYM