Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee, some national sporting bodies such as the Spanish Consejo Superior de Deportes also recognize chess as a sport. Learn here international level chess.

The planning of the 2016 championship was a quite convoluted process even by FIDE's standards, firstly due to various novel features such as the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announcing the country (USA) two years in advance.