There have been attempts to includechess as a sport at theOlympic Games since 1924. The gamemade its debut as anexhibition sport at the2000 Summer Olympics.Online chess debuted as anesport viaChess.com at the2023 Olympic Esports Week. Chess has yet to debut as a full sport at the Olympics.
The first known attempt to include chess in the Olympic Games were made by theFrench Chess Federation (FFE) in 1924. While the organisers of the Summer Olympics defined chess as a sport,[1] steps to include chess in the1924 Summer Olympics in Paris failed due to "inflexible regulations".[2] At the time, onlyamateur athletes were allowed to participate in the Olympics; however, the absence of an international chess federation led to complications in distinguishing between amateur and professional players.[3][4][5]
While chess was excluded from the 1924 Olympics, the FFE still organized a parallel event, the1st unofficial Chess Olympiad, known unofficially as the "Chess Olympic Games",[6] consisting of the World Amateur Championship. TheInternational Chess Federation (FIDE) was founded during this event. Among its stated goals were the admission of chess to the1928 Summer Olympics and the definition of amateurism.[7] The second World Amateur Championship was held alongside the2nd Chess Olympiad, coinciding with the 1928 Olympics; however, it was decided here to not discriminate between amateur and professional players, andChess Olympiads since 1927 have been team events open to amateurs and professionals.[4][8] A bid for chess to feature at the1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was rejected by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) before the Games were cancelled due to the outbreak ofWorld War II.[9]
FIDE was recognized by the IOC in 1999, and chess officials have since lobbied for the game to be featured at the Olympics.[10] After 1999, FIDE began implementing mandatorydoping tests at competitions because the IOC requires all members to beWorld Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) signatories.[11] Chess debuted as anexhibition sport at the2000 Summer Olympics inSydney. The IOC supervised two games betweenViswanathan Anand of India andAlexei Shirov of Spain, which took place in the SydneyOlympic Village.[12][13] The two matches were held in afast chess format on 24 September 2000, and both ended indraws.[14][15][16] In 2015, FIDE presidentKirsan Ilyumzhinov suggested the possibility of chess using pieces made of ice in order to feature at theWinter Olympic Games.[10][17]
At the2023 Olympic Esports Week, anonline chess competition was held viaChess.com. The event featured ninegrandmasters and one International Master:Alexey Sarana,Maksim Chigaev,Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn,Aleksandr Rakhmanov,Oleksandr Bortnyk,Samvel Ter-Sahakyan,Bassem Amin,Tin Jingyao,Kevin Goh, andIrene Kharisma Sukandar. Alexey Sarana won gold for Serbia while Maksim Chigaev and Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn won silver and bronze for theIndividual Neutral Athletes and for Vietnam, respectively.[18]Arkady Dvorkovich, the current FIDE president, has stated that he hopes for chess to be featured as an exhibition sport at the2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.[9]
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