Vladimir Kramnik commented on the technical loss for Israel’s rosters at the Chess Olympiad 2026. Kramnik believes that Israel’s opponents should have accepted the offer to reschedule the matches. Vladimir recalls how he agreed to reschedule a game at the Candidates Tournament in the 1990s.

Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Kramnik

14th World Champion

“I had once a similar episode, when playing a Candidates match against Leonid Yudasin in 1993. He asked me whether I would agree to start one of the games after sunset, after Shabbat.

I agreed. We started after 5 PM instead of 2 PM as everyone else did. Frankly, I believe Israel’s opponents should have agreed to it, if the time of play was still reasonable.

As well as a similar situation with the hypothetical most special holy days of Muslims or Christians. Just as a personal human gesture of respect towards different religions and cultures.

We need such an attitude in today’s polarized and militant world. If politicians can’t, we, on a personal human level, should try to soften it ourselves when we can.”

The Israeli Chess Federation (ICF) stated that they contacted FIDE in January. The ICF requested a special Olympiad schedule to allow Israeli players to observe Yom Kippur. FIDE signed the agreement with the ICF on January 15.

FIDE did not incorporate the arrangement into the tournament regulations. Schedule changes depended on whether Israel’s opponents agreed. The Singapore men’s team and the Colombia women’s team accepted Israel’s request and finished their matches before 5:00 PM on September 20. The teams of the Netherlands and Bulgaria rejected the request for a special schedule for September 21.

The religious holiday Yom Kippur is the holiest day in Judaism. It is celebrated with a strict 25-hour fast. People abstain from work and do not engage in competitive activities during the fast.

The Chess Olympiad 2026 takes place from September 16 to 27 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The members of the Pakistan team refused to play in the match against team Israel in the first round of the event. Israel received a technical victory 4-0 in the first round. The Israel team is in 48th place after 6 days of the event.

Credit: Anna Shtourman / FIDE