France announced its Open and Women’s teams for the 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2026 on Tuesday and notably addressed the absence of French number-one and world number-nine GM Alireza Firouzja. The Iranian-born grandmaster, who moved to France in 2019 and obtained citizenship in 2021, has yet to represent the country at the Olympiad. The federation hadn’t officially commented on the rift with their strongest player so directly until now.
The biennial global competition takes place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan this September, and the Open French team consists of GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Etienne Bacrot, Maxime Lagarde, Jules Moussard, and Marc’Andria Maurizzi. The team captain is GM Sebastien Maze. The Women’s team consists of GM Marie Sebag, IM Sophie Milliet, WGM Mitra Hejazipour, IM Pauline Guichard, and Deimante Daulyte-Cornette. The team captain is IM Silvia Alexieva.
It’s not a surprise that Firouzja isn’t playing in the event; the last time he played in an Olympiad was in 2018, representing Iran. The French federation wrote that Firouzja declined to play “without officially stating his reasons.” But it’s more than the Olympiad, as they point out: “This marks the fifth consecutive year that he has not participated in either the Olympiad or the European Championship representing France.”
The federation also suggested a potentially lasting break: “Alireza Firouzja will not be called up to the national team in the future, unless he clearly expresses his desire to permanently rejoin the team.” It clarified that his “immense talent” is in no way in doubt, and that the decision “aims to remind everyone of the importance of the commitment attached to the French national team jersey.”
It’s clear that the door to reconciliation has been left open for the future. National Coach GM Laurent Fressinet posted on X that he is one of Firouzja’s biggest fans and that he “can only welcome a change in the future.”
I am, and obv remain, one of Alireza’s biggest fan since @PHChess had this « crazy » idea to invite a young talented boy on a Magnus training camp. I deeply regret his choice not to represent France in any team event last 5 years and can only welcome a change in the future. https://t.co/zysHGLc9bK
— Fressinet Laurent (@FressinetL) May 13, 2026
The youngest-ever 2800 grandmaster has skipped other important events, the most significant example being the FIDE World Cup in both 2023 and 2025—an event that’s part of the world championship qualification cycle. In 2023, he gave his reason: “I didn’t see myself playing one month every day chess, it was just too much to compete,” saying that playing one chess event for so long is “a bit weird.” He has also expressed his interest outside of chess: fashion.
By missing the World Cup in 2025 after narrowly missing out on tiebreaks in the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, he didn’t give himself a chance to play in the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament, which decided the next world championship challenger, GM Javokhir Sindarov. Firouzja had played in the previous two Candidates Tournaments.
Firouzja is slated to play in a number of other elite events between now and September, including the Grand Chess Tour (he came fifth in the first event and will play the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 starting on Thursday), Norway Chess 2026 at the end of this month, and potentially the Esports World Cup 2026. The Grand Chess Tour and EWC schedules clash in August; in February, several top players signed an open letter addressing the conflict, but no change has been made public. So he will likely have to choose one or the other.
The French number-two Vachier-Lagrave will, instead, lead the French team. His participation for the nation, too, has had interruptions. He sat out of the 2022 Chess Olympiad but returned in 2024. He also missed the last European Championship (it conflicted with the Grand Chess Tour Finals in Sao Paulo), and France finished 24th without its top-two players. In a lie detector video with GM Levon Aronian in 2025, he inadvertently expressed frustration with Firouzja.
Aronian: “Are you happy that Alireza is representing France?”
Vachier-Lagrave: “Yes.”
After it’s called out as a lie, he explains, “If I may, I asked him to play for us in the Olympiad, and he didn’t want to.”
Aronian: “I understand. The unhappiness comes from the point that Alireza is not representing the team.”
The returns of Bacrot and Sebag are notable as well. Bacrot, despite being the French number-three, was not selected to compete in the European Championship, with the federation saying the decision was made based on group cohesion and not solely Elo; and he appealed the decision. His return to the national team for the Olympiad, then, marks a “smoothing out” of disagreements between the player and the federation.
Sebag, in 2008, was the first French woman to earn the grandmaster title—also one of only 44 women in history to achieve it—and plays in the Olympiad for the first time since 2022 in Chennai. In years since, she has been absent from major team events until now.
The French Open team remains largely unchanged from 2024, except that Moussard replaces Fressinet. All the women remain the same as well, except that Sebag steps in for WGM Natacha Benmesbah. The team captains are unchanged.
