Moscow, Jul 2 (IANS): The World Chess Championship will "almost certainly be postponed to the next year," International Chess Federation (FIDE) President Arkady Dvorkovich has confirmed. The championship was scheduled to take place in Dubai in December and Dvorkovich said that the federation is looking at spring and autumn of 2021 as options.

"The match for the World Championship will almost certainly be postponed to the next year due to the current situation. We have already discussed this informally, and I think a formal decision will be made shortly. We are discussing various options — both spring and autumn 2021, but we will announce everything later," Dvorkovich told Russian state-run agency TASS.

Dvorkovich also confirmed that the FIDE will hold its first online Chess Olympiad.

"This year's Olympiad was supposed to be held in Khanty-Mansiysk and Moscow, but we moved it to next year. And this year we will stage an online Olympiad, and in two or three days the registration of national teams for the tournament will begin. We want as many teams as possible to take part in the tournament — we have 195 FIDE members. I don't know if all 195 teams can be involved.

"About 70 per cent of the countries will participate. The Olympiad will last almost a month. And then, indeed, we are determined to hold the second part of the Candidates Tournament in the autumn. As for location, the main option did not change — Yekaterinburg. But if the current restrictions and the epidemiological situation do not allow us to hold the second part of the Candidates in this city, we will consider other venues."