By Shai Hecker, Operations Intern
The last time the Olympic Games were cancelled was in 1940. Japan was going to be the first non-Western country to host the Olympics. However, after Japan declared war on China the games were cancelled.
It has been 80 years since then and the Olympic games have once again been canceled due to the virus. Although the games are not completely cancelled, they will be postponed to a later date.
After the Olympics in Tokyo, the next Summer Olympics is to be held in Paris, France in 2024. A few new sports were proposed to be added to the Olympic Games, one of them being chess.
Recently a campaign was launched to include chess in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. Due to the campaign FIDE has decided to advocate for chess by nominating it for the Olympic Games. The sports director for the Olympic Games in Paris had criteria for chess to be allowed as a sport. That Chess has a tradition in France and that the game must speak to the youth of France.
However, this is not the first time FIDE has advocated for chess to be a part of the Olympics. Unfortunately chess is not recognized universally as a sport as it does not involve any actual athleticism.
Hopefully with this new criteria proposed by the French Sports Director for the Olympic Games Chess will become a part of the Summer Olympics.