Archive · 6 Sep 2026
Yerawada Women’s Prison Team Qualifies for Global Chess Championship
Six women at Yerawada Women’s Prison have qualified for a major international chess competition.
They will play against teams from correctional institutions around the world.
The competition will happen online from October 15 to 17.
The team has four main players and two reserve players.
The women learned chess basics before moving on to openings, tactics and endgames.
They say chess helps them think ahead and understand that every decision has consequences.
Their training became more intensive after they missed the Asian qualifiers in 2025.
Coaches say the game is helping inmates develop patience, focus and better decision-making.
The prison department is proud of the team and hopes it wins medals.
Yerawada Women’s Prison’s six-member chess team has qualified for the FIDE Intercontinental Chess Championship for Prisoners for the first time.
The team includes four main players and two reserves, selected from 20 inmate chess players.
The women’s team cleared the Asian qualifiers in May after missing qualification in 2025 and receiving more intensive training.
The online championship will be held from October 15 to 17 on Chess.com, using a 10-minute-plus-five-second time control.
The team’s chess programme began in 2021 through Indian Oil Corporation’s Parivartan: Prison to Pride initiative.
- Who
- A six-member women’s chess team from Yerawada Women’s Prison, coached by Pradnya Khaire.
- What
- The team qualified for the FIDE Intercontinental Chess Championship for Prisoners for the first time.
- When
- The championship will take place online from October 15 to 17; the team cleared the Asian round in May.
- Where
- The team is based at Yerawada Central Prison in Pune, and the championship will be played on Chess.com.
- Why
- The team qualified after more intensive chess training and clearing the Asian continental round.
- Team composition
- Four main players and two reserves
- Selection pool
- 20 inmates who play chess
- Age range
- Contestants range from their early 20s to early 50s
- Championship format
- Online, with round-robin groups of up to eight teams
- Time control
- 10 minutes plus a five-second increment per move
- Training programme
- Parivartan: Prison to Pride, launched at Yerawada in 2021
- Indian women’s teams
- Yerawada and Bhopal prison teams qualified
- Prison population
- The women’s wing houses around 250 inmates