Due to an outrageous incident on Yom Kippur: FIDE president promises to change rules

FIDE President Timur Turlov has promised to change the regulations after Israeli teams at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand were given technical defeats for refusing to play on Yom Kippur. Turlov intends to create a working group to develop a mechanism preventing such conflicts between tournament schedules and religious obligations.

President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Timur Turlov has announced his intention to change the organization's regulations following an incident at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, where Israeli teams received technical defeats for refusing to play on Yom Kippur, which fell on September 21. In his letter, Turlov promised to create a working group with representatives of the Israeli federation to develop a clear mechanism for resolving conflicts between tournament dates and religious obligations in advance. He emphasized that the decision will be applied equally to all national federations and intends to study the experience of FIFA and UEFA. The incident occurred when the teams of the Netherlands and Bulgaria refused to reschedule matches, and FIDE awarded them technical victories of 4-0. Chairman of the Israel Chess Federation Dr. Zvika Barkai welcomed Turlov's position. Earlier, the Israeli federation stated that FIDE had not fulfilled its promise to adjust the schedule and was considering legal measures.