FIDE pledges reimbursements after Samarkand accommodation chaos; Indian team affected
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has promised to reimburse teams hit by accommodation failures in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, after they arrived for the Chess Olympiad on Tuesday, September 15. India were among the sides affected, with captain Srinath Narayanan and Vidit Gujrathi saying the team did not receive rooms despite being in the airport for more than five hours.
FIDE said it would intervene to assist delegations that had to secure alternative lodging and would compensate teams that were required to stay in official hotels that do not meet FIDE-approved standards. "FIDE notes with deep regret that, during the first day of the 2026 FIDE Chess Olympiad, shortcomings in the accommodation arrangements left some teams without proper loging, forcing them to rent rooms in the city at their own expense." "Although accommodation matters fall within the remit of the local Organizing Committee, and FIDE has no authority in this regard, FIDE nevertheless considers it its duty to assist the federations affected by this situation." "Accordingly, FIDE has found additional financial resources and officially confirms that all teams that had to secure their own rooms will be reimbursed for the cost of accommodation of the appropriate standard for a period of up to three days." "In addition, all teams that are forced to stay in official hotels that do not meet FIDE-approved standards during the Olympiad shall receive an additional compensatory payment from FIDE." "FIDE deeply regrets that these organizational problems occurred and apologizes to the affected federations and teams. While the shortcomings arose at the level of the Organizing Committee, FIDE’s priority is to ensure that no federation suffers financial losses as a result." "Our fundamental objective remains clear: every participating federation must be treated fairly and provided with the conditions established for the Chess Olympiad," read the statement from FIDE.
Austrian Grandmaster Felix Blohberger had earlier highlighted similar issues in a vlog on his YouTube channel and later responded to Srinath’s post saying that they were also facing similar issues. The Indian contingent were eventually allotted their rooms by the end of the day, a process the reporting described as far from straightforward.
Indian Express reported that the Indian delegation reached Samarkand at around 9.30 am and made its way to the assigned hotel roughly an hour later. The first room was handed over only at about 12.30 pm, with a second room arriving around 30 minutes after that. Only two rooms were initially available for the entire Indian contingent.
With just those two rooms, members of the open team, including D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa, used one room to freshen up and rest. The women's team, together with the mothers of Praggnanandhaa and Vantika Agrawal, were accommodated in the other room. Six coaches had to wait while hotel officials worked to arrange additional rooms for the contingent.
India women's team captain Swayams Mishra said the squad had been allocated fewer rooms than expected, reporting they were supposed to get 16 rooms but only got 14 in the end by late evening. “All players now have their individual rooms, some did not get the preferred rooms they had mentioned to the organisers. But the support staff will be adjusting for a couple of days,” said Mishra to Indian Express. Mishra’s comments were reported by Indian Express.
India enter the event as the defending champions after their historic double gold in Budapest in 2024. The lodging failures cited by FIDE occurred on the first day of the 2026 FIDE Chess Olympiad.
