The organizing committee of the World Chess Olympiad, which will take place in Tromso, Norway on August 1-14, decided on July 21 to allow the Russian women’s team to participate in the competition. All teams that have been previously excluded from the Olympiad will be able to participate, according to the organizing committee’s statement, published on the Russian Chess Federation’s website.
On July 16, the organizing committee sent an official letter to the World Chess Federation (FIDE) excluding Russia and several other teams from the Olympiad because they had missed the June 1 registration deadline. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov later said that Russia, Afghanistan, Gabon, and Pakistan are now allowed to participate.
“Yes, our team will perform at the Olympiad. The lawyers’ common sense and arguments prevailed. Apparently, the legal arguments made by American company Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan influenced the organizing committee, and it understood that it had committed a violation by preventing several teams from performing,” Chairman of the Russian Chess Federation Management Board Mark Glukhovsky said in an interview with RBC Daily.
According to Olympiad rules, the deadline to register for the competition was June 1. The Russian Chess Federation registered the men’s team on time, but there were some issues with registering the women’s team. Kateryna Lagno, who previously played for Ukraine, was not cleared to play for Russia until the last minute.
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