ICARUS – Including Chess As a Re-education Up-Skilling tool

Summary

ICARUS used chess as a gamified tool within an innovative metacognitive training method, helping prison inmates rebuild self-awareness, relationships and civic values. Piloted with 39 detainees and 258 trained educators and chess players across Italy, Spain and Latvia, its toolkit gained extraordinary traction: more than 2,000 participants at the project events, over 100,000 social media views, endorsements by FIDE, and adoption by the global 'Chess for Freedom' network, demonstrating that chess communities can drive real rehabilitation. 

“There is a lot of empty noise in prison. But during a chess game, a different kind of silence takes over - a good silence, one in which you can organize your thoughts, feel your emotions, and, for a moment, be not a prisoner, but a player.”

Topic(s) addressed

• Democratic participation
• Fair play
• Rule-respect
• Shared responsibility
• EU values
• Dignity
• Equality
• Inclusion
• Metacognitive reflection
• Civic re-engagement
• Social reintegration
• Prison education
• Active citizenship
• Chess community engagement

Target group(s)  

• Adult male inmates (39)
• AE educators and chess trainers (258), from Italy, Spain, Latvia. 

Methodologies used

ICARUS combined chess as a gamified learning tool with a metacognitive method: after each game, inmates engaged in structured self-reflection (using the York-Barr questionnaire), linking practice to knowledge, skills and attitudes. Adult education trainers and chess players/coaches learned from each other, co-designing sessions in which chess strategy became a metaphor for life skills - a truly multidisciplinary approach. This peer learning combined formal and informal learning and encouraged inmates to take an active role in their growth, building self-awareness, respect for rules and relationships. Cooperation with external stakeholders - prison directorates, FIDE and the FIDE Social Commission - ensured access, credibility and real-world validation. 

Innovation environment

ICARUS built a cross-sectoral environment where adult education organisations and chess clubs and federations became mutual enablers of innovation, each transforming the other's practice. This trust-based partnership allowed prison staff, trainers and chess coaches experiment safely within a whole-organisation approach across 6 partners. Sustainability is built -in: chess is a universal language usable in any context, and the free ICARUS Toolkit (containing soft skills, chess and self-assessment modules) is available online in English, Italian, Spanish and Latvian. As trainers and teachers are the primary beneficiaries, the model transfers naturally to VET, and can be adapted to youth and school education, as well as sport, since chess itself is a recognised sport. 

Teachers’ role

ICARUS positioned trainers as true agents of innovation, cooperation, competence development and wellbeing through their role in co-designing three integrated toolkits. Adult education trainers received 15 examples of good practice and six modules on chess as a teaching tool; chess coaches received 15 examples of good practice and nine modules on the metacognitive method and soft skills; and inmates received 12 exercises plus a self-assessment tool. Adult education organisations with Erasmus+ experience and newcomer chess clubs learned from each other via an LTTA and meetings. Trainers and chess players turned this exchange into a tangible impact on inmates’ wellbeing: a 76-year-old inmate, previously depressed and on hunger strike, found new motivation and was granted leave to participate in an external tournament; a 32-year-old took up chess in the hope of playing with his son one day.

Impact and output

ICARUS delivered a strong direct impact: 258 adult education trainers and chess coaches were upskilled across Italy, Spain and Latvia, while 39 inmates were direct beneficiaries. It reached one of the most overlooked groups - male prison inmates – by offering chess and self-reflection as tools for reintegration. The spill-over, driven by the global chess community, exceeded all expectations: more than 2,000 event participants, over 100,000 social media views, a video  viewed 40,000 times, endorsement by FIDE on its Facebook page (which has over one million followers), attendance by the FIDE Social Commission  at the final event, adoption by Chess for Freedom, invitation to present ICARUS at the 2024 Chess Olympiad and the Chess for Freedom European Workshop 2026 -  extending the reach of the ICARUS method to prisons worldwide. 

Learn more about the project