 Israel participated without Boris Gelfand, Emil Sutovsky, and Ilya Smirin due to a dispute with the Israel Chess Federation management.The hardships were already evident in 2015, when the country failed to send a team at the European Team Chess Championship due to monetary difficulties.Boris Gelfand, who played on board one for Israel at nine consecutive Olympiads (1998-2014), said the management of the Israel Chess Federation have "absolutely forgotten about such things as the prestige of the country".