Susan Polgar, one of the main faces of the Chess Olympiad 2024, reports that the heavy flooding that hit Budapest now affects the Chess Olympiad itself. “Oh no! My hometown Budapest is flooding! The streets by the Danube river are completely flooded. I was told that some teams had to change hotels due to “Force Majeure”, ” says Susan Polgar. She added, “It does not effect the playing venue at all. But I am told some teams that stay on Margaret Island have to move because buses cannot get to them.”
One of the players affected is Ding Liren, who had to change hotel. This might have affected his decision not to play against Gukesh today
This only adds to the initial accommodation problems for delegations at the Chess Olympiad, reported by Monaco, Scotland and Germany / Turkey / England / Anish Giri / Croatia and will aggravate the transportation to the playing hall that made Carlsen among other players late for the games
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Update: GM Ian Rogers with a calming message on Twitter/X, “Today the captains of the teams on Margaret Island received a message from the organisers saying the opposite of this. In part: “Friday/Saturday is the highest point of the flooding here in Hungary. However, there is no indication of moving guests out of Margaret Island.””
Vlad Ghita, reporting for Chessdom from the Olympiad venue said, “Team Hungary are giving conflicting account that the reports of the flooding may be exaggerated. The players I talked to live near Margaret Island, which is obviously low ground. They did not have to change hotels. Total of 4 Hungarian teams stay there.”
Developing story, stay tuned for updates
