The International Chess Federation (FIDE) will discuss the possible reinstatement of Russian national teams at its General Assembly meeting in December, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich has confirmed.
A proposal will be on the agenda for the General Assembly on December 14. The FIDE president told the Russian state news agency Tass:
“We have the Chess Olympiad next year. Naturally, we are also monitoring the situation within the International Olympic Committee (IOC), other federations, and the Paralympic Committee, which recently reinstated the Russian Paralympic Committee,” he said, noting: “We cannot ignore the recommendations of international organizations here, since our members—the national federations—are also dependent on their National Olympic Committees.”
Dvorkovich also told Tass: “We’re trying to maintain peace and unity in our chess family so that everyone can play and there’s no rift. Therefore, the issue will be raised and considered in December.”
We’re trying to maintain peace and unity in our chess family so that everyone can play and there’s no rift.
—Arkady Dvorkovich
In an email to Chess.com, Dvorkovich confirmed that the proposal will be on the agenda according to FIDE rules, reiterating that “decisions will have to be based on IOC recommendations.” The origin of the proposal has not been disclosed.
However, the IOC’s policy on the readmission of these athletes remains unchanged since the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Just a few Russian athletes were allowed to take part there as neutral athletes after first passing rigorous vetting by the IOC, according to Reuters.
Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, FIDE suspended Russian and Belarusian teams from international chess events. Individual Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to compete, but only under the neutral FIDE flag.
Despite no signs of an end to the war, FIDE has gradually relaxed restrictions in the last year. At the 2024 FIDE General Assembly in Budapest, motions to lift them were dismissed, but a last-minute proposal approved the return of “vulnerable groups.” In January, Russian and Belarusian youth and disabled teams were allowed back and now play under the FIDE flag.
In July, FIDE also sparked protests by giving a green light to a Russian team to compete at the 2025 Women’s World Team Championship, which takes place in Spain in November. The Ukrainian Chess Federation condemned the decision, labeling it a “blatant disregard for 600 Ukrainian athletes and coaches being killed by Russian occupiers,” while the European Chess Union argued that it was in conflict with the policy agreed upon at the General Assembly.
The debate over Russia’s return comes at a time when the nation’s dominance in world chess has visibly waned. In July, Russia found itself without a player in the world’s top 10 for the first time in modern history. Several top grandmasters have emigrated and changed federations, and the ongoing Russian Championship is without a single player rated above 2700.
A new YouTube documentary by SearchParty, an independent news show dedicated to cover stories in international sports and geopolitics, details “how Russia went from chess supremacy to decline,” while noting that Russians hold key positions in FIDE. The video has received more than 350,000 views in less than a week.
This week the Ukrainian Chess Federation announced the death of amateur chess player Anton Boldyrev. The 50-year-old chess enthusiast and platoon commander in Ukraine’s armed forces was killed by a Russian strike in Donetsk on September 20, according to the chess federation.
In a statement titled “Heroes Never Die,” the federation said Boldyrev “loved chess endlessly and played actively in tournaments before the war.” His FIDE player profile shows that his last tournament, a rapid event, took place days before the Russian full-scale invasion began in 2022.
He was buried in his hometown, Shostka, as his friends gathered to pay their respects. “He had no family left,” according to the chess federation.
