Russian chess players will not participate in the Olympics in Uzbekistan
FIDE has disqualified Russian grandmasters from the World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand.
Russian chess players will not participate in the Olympics in Uzbekistan. The Russian Chess Federation (RSHF) announced that the Russian men's and women's national teams will not participate in the World Chess Olympiad, which begins on September 15 in Samarkand.
The decision not to allow them to play in this tournament was made by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Council after considering the "Russian issue" at its meeting on August 23. The FIDE Council is the organization's highest executive body.
This will be the third consecutive tournament to be held without Russia, after the Chennai 2022 (China) and Budapest 2024 (Hungary).
Earlier, in January 2025, the FIDE Council allowed the children's and youth and Paralympic teams of Russia and Belarus to participate in official competitions. In June of that year, the Russian women's national team was approved to participate in the World Team Championship, and the team eventually won the tournament. This indicated that the sanctions were moving towards easing.
However, on June 10, 2026, FIDE temporarily suspended the membership of the Russian Chess Federation (RSHF) for failing to comply with a decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). According to the CAS decision, the RSHF was to cease managing chess activities and holding events in the occupied Crimea, Sevastopol, the DPR, the LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine.
According to the Executive Director of the RSHF, Alexander Tkachyov, on August 23-24, 2026, the FIDE Presidential Council decided not to allow Russian grandmasters to participate in the World Olympiad. According to him, the majority of the council members were against the participation of the Russian national team. Tkachyov noted that the initiative came from the acting FIDE president, Viswanathan Anand.
Recall that the Russian Arkady Dvorkovich, who ceased to exercise the powers of the FIDE president, stepped aside in July after the European Union imposed sanctions against him. Viswanathan Anand is currently acting as president.