The Ukrainian Chess Federation has filed a last-minute complaint against the participation of “Team FIDE” in the FIDE Women’s World Team Championship, which begins Tuesday in Linares, Spain.
The tournament brings together 12 of the world’s top women’s national teams, such as China, India, Georgia, France, the United States, host nation Spain, and Ukraine. But it also features the controversial participation of “Team FIDE,” a team consisting entirely of Russian players competing under the FIDE flag.
The inclusion marks the first time since March 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 the same year, that a Russian lineup has been approved to take part in an official FIDE team event, excluding junior tournaments.
FIDE’s decision from July 18 to ease restrictions on Russian participation triggered a condemnation from Ukraine, along with a protest from the European Chess Union. During the tournament’s technical meeting on Monday, the Ukrainian delegation formally lodged its objection.
The Ukrainian 🇺🇦 chess Federation has files a protest during the technical meeting at the Womens World Team Championship, asking for the Russian 🇷🇺 team to be kicked out : pic.twitter.com/3wxeEcClgq
— Peter Heine Nielsen (@PHChess) November 17, 2025
Team captain GM Mykhaylo Brodsky, delegation head Volodymyr Kovalchuk, and team coach GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko noted that FIDE cannot legally field a Russian team without receiving a formal “non-objection letter” from the IOC. Without such an approval, FIDE would violate both IOC guidelines and FIDE rules. The Ukrainians claim such an approval does not exist.
However, FIDE Legal Director Aleksandr Martynov provided Chess.com with a letter from IOC’s Sports Director Pierre Ducrey, addressed to FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich and signed on July 28, stating that the IOC “would not take a position” on the matter.
Since this decision would not impact the Olympic Games, should FIDE decide to approve the admission of women teams of neutral athletes in relation to the World Women’s Team Championships, the IOC would not take a position on this.
Martynov argues that the phrasing satisfies the requirement: “They confirm that they are fully informed about the situation, raise no objections, and leave the decision to the federation’s discretion. This is clearly a non-objection letter.”
The Ukrainian delegation maintains the opposite: That the absence of a direct affirmative approval constitutes lack of approval, and therefore FIDE is in breach of its own rule.
Regardless, the Ukrainian delegation says allowing the Russian team to compete “sends a deeply inappropriate signal that the organizers and arbiters of this event condone a team representing a state currently engaged in armed aggression against a sovereign European nation.”
The letter ends with:
We therefore request that the FIDE/Russia team be disallowed and removed from the list of participating teams. Should this not occur, we consider that all results of this World Championship-and potentially the validity of the Championship itself, would be compromised.
The championship begins on Tuesday in Linares with several of the world’s top female players in action, including world number-one GM Hou Yifan. Also competing are GMs Alexandra Goryachkina and Kateryna Lagno (Team FIDE), Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan), while IM Carissa Yip heads the U.S. Georgia is the reigning champion, having won the event in 2023.
The time control is an unusual one, 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment, but will be officially rated as classical chess as part of a pilot project.
