I just learned the other day that chess will be a “Demonstration Sport” for the Winter 2018 Olympics in South Korea. Here is a link: fide.com/component/conten…-to-seoul.html
I tried clicking on the link after copying and pasting it, and the error message came up. Anyway, in a nutshell, this is what the news is all about:
The possibility of organising large chess forums together with the Olympic heritage, in particular the World Chess Olympiad in 2020 aroused a great deal of interest of the Governor. Following the meeting, Mr. Choi Moon-soon, as the Head of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympic Games 2018 invited FIDE to participate in the Games as a demonstration sport
The President of FIDE, President of IMSA, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov held a press-conference for accredited journalists in Seoul where he spoke about his working visit to the capital of South Korea. In particular, he noted that chess will be featured as a demonstration sport during Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang. This became known after the meeting with the Governor of Gangwon Province, President of the Organizing Committee of Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang Mr. Choi Moon-soon.
Of course, chess was already a “Demonstration Sport” in 2000 Olympics in Sydney and nothing came out of that. Chess is not recognized by the IOC as an Olympic Sport, and there is no reason to think it will ever be.
IOC President Thomas Bach was asked by reporters today about Ilyumzhinov’s claim. In particular, the context was that IOC has moved away from the practice of “demonstration sports” at the Olympics. His reply: