Chess governing body FIDE’s general assembly on Sunday upheld a ban on Russian and Belarusian players imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while backing a move to consider easing restrictions on disabled and junior players.
The Ukrainian government, the US State Department and players including former world champion Magnus Carlsen and members of the Ukraine Olympic team had urged chess federations to reject an initial motion by Kyrgyzstan to fully reinstate the two nations.
In the end, delegates from 66 countries supported a last-minute proposal by the FIDE Council to consult the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about letting some players and teams from Russia and Belarus, such as those with disabilities or children aged under 12, return to international events.
“We believe this approach upholds FIDE’s commitment to inclusivity while respecting the international framework,” the organization’s deputy president and also a former world champion Viswanathan Anand told the assembly before the ballot.
Forty-one delegates voted not to readmit the players, 21 countries favored lifting the ban entirely and 27 abstained or were absent.
The FIDE Council is an oversight body chaired by FIDE president and former Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who has strived to avoid criticism in both Russia and the West.
Russian chess federation president Andrey Filatov told local media on Sunday that Dvorkovich was buying time for fear of sanctions from Ukraine and the United States.
In line with the IOC’s stance on the two countries, Russian and Belarusian players including 2021 and 2023 world championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi are allowed to participate in international events under a neutral flag.
Sunday’s vote avoided setting a dangerous precedent by breaking with the IOC, but FIDE should act more energetically toward Russia and Belarus, Pieter Heine Nielsen, Carlsen’s former coach and a frequent critic of FIDE, told Reuters.
“We’re talking within the last two years, more than a thousand chess events in occupied Ukraine by Russia ... There was no words discussed about how do we force Russia to stop these events,” Nielsen said.
The FIDE General Assembly was held over the weekend in Budapest alongside the 45th Chess Olympiad, the world’s largest chess team event with almost 2,000 participants.
World championship challenger Gukesh Dommaraju and his teammates from India won gold in both the open and women’s sections of the event.

OS ANGELES, United States: Lydia Ko continued her late-season surge on Sunday, firing a sensational nine-under par 63 to win the US LPGA Queen City Championship by five strokes on the heels of her Olympic and British Open triumphs.
New Zealand’s Ko started the day two shots behind Thailand’s Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul, but she seized control with an eagle at the 11th and powered to victory with a 23-under par total of 265.
She had seven birdies and no bogeys at TPC River’s Bend near Cincinnati, Ohio, where Jeeno started strong with a birdie and an eagle on the front nine but just couldn’t keep pace coming in.
“It has been pretty surreal,” Ko said of the last two months, which saw her complete her collection of Olympic medals — and secure her place in the LPGA Hall of Fame — with her Olympic triumph in Paris.
She followed that with her first major title in eight years at the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews.
“After having three weeks off (I was) not entirely sure what it was going to be like,” she said. “To have a round like this to cap off a win is pretty special.”
Ko drained a 15-foot birdie putt at the 10th to pull level with Jeeno, and made another 15-footer for eagle at the 11th to take a two-shot lead as the Thai player was unable to capitalize on the par-five.
Jeeno pulled back a stroke with a long birdie at the par-three 12th, but there was another two-shot swing at the 13th, where Ko’s superb second shot left her an eight-footer for birdie as Jeeno missed the green on the way to a bogey.
Ko got up and down for birdie at the 15th and punctuated the win with a birdie at the par-five 18th.
Jeeno carded a two-under par 70, but her pursuit of a fourth LPGA title — her first in an individual stroke play event since 2022 — was further doomed by bogeys at the 15th and 17th.
Her 18-under par total of 270 gave her solo second ahead of South Korean Ryu Hae-ran, who carded a five-under 67 for 271.
Former teen phenom Ko’s victory was her third LPGA title of 2024. She also won the Tournament of Champions to start the year.
Her 22 titles are seven more than any other active LPGA player and the 27-year-old said her resurgent season has her reconsidering her career goals.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to do the career Grand Slam, but I just thought that would be so out there,” said Ko, who needs the US Open and Women’s PGA Championship to complete her collection of major titles.
“But, you know, I feel like I’ve already been part of this fairytale, so why not?”