Moscow to host Chess Olympiad 2022 and World Cups 2021

After Belarus had refused to make scheduled transfers for the Chess Olympiad 2022 and the World Cup 2021 and Women’s World Cup 2021, FIDE reopened the bidding for these events but to no avail. In the FIDE Newsletter President Arkady Dvorkovich announces that thanks to a kind proposal from the Russian government all these events will be held in Moscow. He mentions that the Chess Olympiad for Players with Disabilities is still planned to be held in Khanty-Mansisk in summer 2021 if circumstances allow. There is no mention about the postponed Chess Olympiad that was earlier annouced to be held in Moscow in summer 2021, which hints that its official cancellation is likely. 2021 is anyway packed with planned chess events, starting with a reduced Tata Steel Chess and Women’s Grand Prix in Gibraltar in January. If the pandemic situation allows, there won’t be a shortage of otb chess.