The World Junior Team Championship was adopted at the 1997 FIDE General Assembly to replace World Youth U26 Championship which was just labelled as a junior chess event while players reaching age of twenty six years are usually mature and experienced masters those years. The respective chapter of FIDE Handbook was resolved by FIDE Executive Council in 1998. It was decided that the World Junior Teams shall be organized annually and only players not to have reached the age of 20 by January 1st of the year in which the tournament would be held were eligible to participate. It is important to mention that we use "U20" label only for transparency reasons, because it is not part of the name of the event.

Four editions of the Championship took place, all of which organized by Rio de Janeiro Chess Federation (FEXERJ), who welcomed their guests with great hospitality. The event took off in 1998 but it did not happen to become anything more than a third part, local event. Although some talented players from Europe used to appear there (like Miton, Ács, Solak) very few teams from outside South America put their feet at the Brazilian soil while the championships were played. The format of the first edition was that each team comprised of two boys and one girl. Brazil won. Then the format changed slightly. There were separate competitions for boys and girls (each team had right and obligation to put two players in a line-up; no reserves were allowed), the overall title was decided by a sum of girls' and boy's points. Poland took the title of Absolute World Junior Team Champions three times in a row facing rather poor opposition though. Because of limited interest the event was definitely ceased in 2001, although it was not removed from FIDE Handbook.

The winner list:

Overall: 3x Poland, 1x Brazil

Boys: 2x Poland, 1x Argentina

Girls: 2x Poland, 1x Brazil