FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 Controversy: The FIDE Chess Olympiad is set to begin its 46th edition in Bengaluru, and it seems that the prestigious International organisation has faced its first controversy. Indian chess player Srinath Narayanan took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticise how the Indian team is being treated. In his tweet, Narayanan talked about how, despite landing five hours ago in Samarkand, the Indian team has not been allotted rooms.
Srinath Narayanan Tweets About Poor Treatment of Indian Team at Chess Olympiad
Apart from being a successful player, which saw him become India’s 46th Grandmaster, Srinath is also the coach of the Indian team. He has also given personal coaching to Indian Grandmasters, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi and Divya Deshmukh. He is travelling with the Indian team as a coach in the ongoing FIDE Chess Olympiad.
Raising the controversy, Narayanan tweeted, “Having a terrible experience at the FIDE Chess 2026 Olympiad. The team landed 5 hours ago at Samarkand airport. The team still haven’t been allotted rooms, with absolutely no clarity on when it’ll be allotted.”
FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026
The 46th Chess Olympiad will take place between September 15 and 27 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The Olympiad will consist of two tournaments — an Open event and a Women’s event.
The opening ceremony will take place on September 15, before the first six rounds are played on consecutive days from September 16 to 21. September 22 has been marked as the only rest day, with the tournament resuming with Round 7 on September 23.
A total of 208 teams in the Open section and 191 teams in the Women’s section will play 11 rounds in a Swiss format.
Where to Watch FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026?
Chess fans can watch the FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 on the official FIDE YouTube Channel for free.
Pragun is a passionate cricket follower and writer who deeply loves the game. Having completed his education with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has an experience of almost two years in diverse fields. He is known for his statistical and analytical articles. Pragun tries to bring life to his articles by adding a layer of enthusiasm from the perspective of a hardcore fan. Apart from writing cricket articles, he sometimes appears on YouTube videos on a friend’s podcast.
