Alireza Firouzja is among the notable players who played under the FIDE flag. He formerly represented
Iran but opted to play as a neutral athlete under FIDE in 2019 due to
Iran's sports policy of boycotting Israel. He eventually transferred to France's federation in 2021.
Russian and Belarusian flags Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia was speculated to be required to play under the FIDE flag in the
World Chess Championship 2021 due to the
World Anti-Doping Agency's sanctions against Russia in the Olympics and tournaments considered as world championships. He officially played for the
Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) instead with a flag bearing the CFR's logo and abbreviation. On 27 February 2022, an extraordinary meeting of the FIDE Council was held in response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Council decided, among other measures, to ban the display of Russian and Belarusian flags: Players retained the right to choose, whether to play under their national chess federation with a black flag, or play under the FIDE flag, which would constitute them as "foreign player with a status of the original federation for the purpose of titles calculations and all related matters". On 6 March 2022, the FIDE Council approved a simplified procedure for Russian/Belarusian players to perform under the FIDE flag, initially establishing the expiration date for this resolution on 31 May 2022. The expiration date has been continually extended by the FIDE council, as of December 2024, set to 1 January 2026. After the expiration date, "in the absence of other requests, the player will automatically be returned to the previous federation". ==See also==