Israel's Chess Teams Forfeit Matches Due to Yom Kippur Conflict

The Israeli men's and women's chess teams suffered double technical defeats at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, after the International Chess Federation (FIDE) failed to uphold its written commitment to reschedule matches clashing with Yom Kippur. Both teams lost by a score of 4-0.

The Israeli Chess Association had approached FIDE in January upon discovering the conflict and received a written guarantee that games scheduled for the eve of the holiday would be moved to before its start, and those on Yom Kippur itself would be postponed until after it concluded. However, FIDE did not amend the competition regulations, instead opting to rely on the goodwill of opposing teams to reschedule.

While teams from Colombia and Singapore agreed to advance their matches against Israeli teams, the Dutch and Bulgarian teams did not. According to the Israeli association, the Dutch team agreed in principle but faced operational hurdles, while the Bulgarian team actively refused to accommodate the request. FIDE then awarded technical victories to the Netherlands and Bulgaria, citing Israel's refusal to play on the holy day.

Dr. Tzvi Barkai, Chairman of the Israeli Chess Association, expressed anger over FIDE's broken promise, stating, "We are very angry that FIDE did not stand by the commitments it gave." He praised the sportsmanship of Colombia and Singapore but expressed deep disappointment with FIDE, which he felt had damaged a long-standing excellent relationship.

Gil Borochovsky, the association's CEO, warned that the technical losses would severely impact the teams' world rankings, which had been on track for a top-15 position. He added, "FIDE did nothing to mitigate the damage it caused. They could have at least tried to prevent the registration of 0-4. We will consider our steps, this will not pass in silence." The association is considering legal action and demanding financial and professional compensation from FIDE after the tournament concludes.