In an interview given today, during the 6th round of the Chess Olympiad, Mrs Hyun In Suk, President of the South Korea Chess Federation, and Hando Oh, Vice-President, proudly announced their intention to host the FIDE World Cup in 2023. 

"We are eager to stage big chess events and to work with FIDE. We planned to bid for the Chess Olympiad 2026, but the Olympiad takes a lot of time to prepare. We didn't want to wait many years, so we decided that organising the World Cup 2023 worked better for us. We will submit the official bid in September", said Mrs HyunIn Suk.

FIDE’s Director-General Emil Sutovsky accompanied the representatives of the South Korea Chess Federation during the announcement. After explaining that their discussions started long months ago, he expressed his enthusiasm. “This is big news for the chess world because South Korea has never hosted any chess event of this level. This is a competition with more than one hundred countries represented, as well as all the top players. We also expect Magnus Carlsen to participate, because this is the only chess event he hasn’t won. South Korea is one of the major hubs in many industries, like modern technologies, and I believe it could be a breakthrough event. I am delighted that it materialises". 

The next edition of the FIDE World Cup is set to take place in the third quarter of 2023.