FIDE postpones Chess Olympiad to 2021

Paul Cooksey · Post by **Paul Cooksey** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:47 pm

David Sedgwick · Post by **David Sedgwick** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:46 pm

NickFaulks wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:54 pm
The Olympics are off, which may be what an Olympiad announcement has been waiting on.

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑ The Olympiad: https://fide.com/news/460

Spot on, Nick.

The Olympiad announcement refers to the Olympics and FIDE have followed the IOC in postponing for exactly a year.

Far from ideal in either case, of course, but better in my opinion than either outright cancellation or a shorter postponement of uncertain viability.

LawrenceCooper · Post by **LawrenceCooper** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 7:03 pm

David Sedgwick wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 24, 2020 6:46 pm

NickFaulks wrote: ↑
Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:54 pm
The Olympics are off, which may be what an Olympiad announcement has been waiting on.

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑ The Olympiad: https://fide.com/news/460
Spot on, Nick.

The Olympiad announcement refers to the Olympics and FIDE have followed the IOC in postponing for exactly a year.

Far from ideal in either case, of course, but better in my opinion than either outright cancellation or a shorter postponement of uncertain viability.

Agreed, a good call.

Tim Harding · Post by **Tim Harding** » Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:35 pm

Following the IOC's decision to postpone the Tokyo olympics, FIDE has fallen into line:

https://fide.com/news/460

The Chess Olympiad will be held in August 2021 in the same venues (Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk).

The problem for FIDE is the knock-on effect for the World Championship cycle which is not (at least for the present) postponed.

In 2021 there should have been a World Cup in the same country that hosts the subsequent Olympiad.
If the World Cup is postponed to 2022 that messes up the World Championship qualifying process.

Probably FIDE can wait and see how long the pandemic lasts before rescheduling things.

Will we see any other major chess events this year, the Sinquefield Cup for example?

David Sedgwick · Post by **David Sedgwick** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:50 am

Tim Harding wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:35 pm
The Chess Olympiad will be held in August 2021 in the same venues (Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk).

The announcement doesn't say that. It says that the Olympiad will be held in the summer of 2021.

Tim Harding wrote: ↑
Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:35 pm
The problem for FIDE is the knock-on effect for the World Championship cycle which is not (at least for the present) postponed.

In 2021 there should have been a World Cup in the same country that hosts the subsequent Olympiad.

The 2021 World Cup is scheduled to be held in Minsk, Belarus, from 1st August to 28th August.

It might be possible to hold the Olympiad either before or after the World Cup.

That would of course lead to other problems. The British Championships 2021 would almost certainly have to clash with one event or the other and the same would be true of other National Championships.

However, as I said in my earlier post (which I have asked the moderators to move to this thread), the alternatives seem to me to be worse.

Carl Hibbard · Post by **Carl Hibbard** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:02 am

Some posts were moved but I am even more busy than usual so don't expect a quick response on anything sorry.

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