The American grandmaster spoke about the consequences of Russia's non-admission to the Olympics

The non-admission of the Russian national teams to the World Chess Olympiad primarily damaged the prestige of the tournament. This was announced on August 25 by American grandmaster Lev Alburt.

"It was not even the members of the Russian team who suffered from this decision, but rather the prestige of the Olympics. And in the future, a precedent will be set for other boycotts," the grandmaster told RIA Novosti.

The Council of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) did not allow the Russian men's and women's national teams to participate in the Olympics in Samarkand, even under a neutral flag. According to Alburt, the federation's leadership would like Russian athletes to participate in the tournament, but does not give them such an opportunity for fear of pressure from Russia's opponents.

"The Russian national team can compete for medals at the 2026 Olympics"

Chess player Yan Nepomnyashchy — about his victory at the Aeroflot Open, his desire to improve his rating and still become a world champion

On August 24, the Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation said that the FIDE council had not allowed Russian national teams to participate in the World Chess Olympiad. He noted that there are people in the chess community who want to separate sport from politics, but in his opinion, the FIDE Board has a different approach.