Dramatic moves in Chess Olympiad

The Russian chess team sued the Olympiad organizers following the latter’s decision to reject the Russian woman’s team participation in the event. The team had failed to meet the registration deadline, and was consequently barred from participation by the organisers. That decision was soon revoked by President of the International Chess Federation, Russian Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. However, the Russian team still argued that the Tromsø2014 should compensate for additional cost linked with the late registration.

A court in northern Norway on Tuesday rejected the claim of the Russians. Furthermore, the court also puts all cost related to the court assessment, a total of €15,000, on the Russians, Chess24.com reports.

At the same time, Magnus Carlsen, the World Chess Champion, announces that he will leave the championship, one day before its end. The top player is tired and will home to to rest, newspaper VG reports. Carlsen made two surprise losses during the tournament, against German Arkadij Naiditsch and the Croat Ivan Saric.

The Tromsø2014 is the first ever Chess Olympiad organized north of the Arctic Circle.

The General Assembly of the Chess Federation during the event re-elected Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as its leader. Ilyumzhinov won a vote against Garry Kasparov with 101 against 61 votes.