The European Team Championships reached the half-way stage on Saturday with the Ukrainian Open Team and the Polish Women's team leading the standings after five rounds in the nine-round event at Batumi. The event is used by most national teams to fine-tune their rosters for the Chess Olympiad, which will be held next year. But this year’s European Team Championships have one notable omission: the Norwegian team, who have not been sent to Georgia this year because of a lack of funds. What’s shocking about this is the fact that Norway is the home to the world’s greatest chess player of the current generation, Magnus Carlsen. As per the figures announced by the Norwegian Chess Federation, a budget of 2,00,000 Norwegian kroner (approximately Rs 17.5 lakh) has been allocated for the federation's Top Chess Committee, which looks after elite players. The annual budget for the Top Chess Committee of Norwegian Federation pales in comparison to the amounts that players can make playing in individual events. Gukesh, for example, pocketed approximately Rs 13.6 crore from prize winnings in 2024 alone. Viswanathan Anand pocketed approximately Rs 58 lakh in the recent exhibition event in St Louis against Garry Kasparov. The Norwegian Chess Federation’s decision to skip the European Team Championships has not gone down well with the players, with some speaking out against the decision. “The European Team Championship started in Georgia, but sadly without team Norway. It’s heartbreaking that a nation with the world’s best player for 15 years can’t find the budget to send its top players to compete,” Aryan Tari, the third-ranked chess player in Norway wrote on X. It must be noted that Carlsen, who recently became a father for the first time, was unlikely to represent Norway anyway in Batumi this year. But Norway did have a formidable line up with players like Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, Aryan Tari, Jon Ludwig Hammer and Elham Amar. The Norwegian Chess Federation explained its decision to “forgo” the European Team Championships in a message on its website from the Top Chess Committee. “The top chess committee is downgrading the European Championship and making a bigger investment in the Olympics. The Top Chess Committee has an annual budget from the Norwegian Chess Federation of 2,00,000 Norwegian kroner (approximately Rs 17.5 lakh). These funds have historically gone to the European Team Championship and the Olympic Games,” a statement from the Norwegian Chess Federation’s top chess committee read on the site. “After conducting a major survey among the top players in Norway, we have concluded that we do not want to use the top chess funds to send teams to the European Team Championship in 2025. Our assessment is that the funds can be used in a better way to benefit Norwegian top chess. With this as a starting point, we are planning an ambitious commitment towards the 2026 Olympics. The strategy involves engaging a dedicated national team coach for the women's national team, while providing more tournament support to players in the open class. Announcement of engagement as a national team coach for the women's national team will be posted shortly.”
