India, Sept. 21 -- Israel forfeited their Round 6 matches against Netherlands and Bulgaria in the FIDE Chess Olympiad on Monday after their opponents turned down requests to reschedule the encounters.

The Silk Road International Exhibition Centre in Samarkand, Uzbekistan had two empty tables after the Israeli teams did a no-show for their matches.

According to a Fide statement, Israel had requested that the matches either start later on Monday or be moved to Tuesday, the tournament's rest day, on account of the observance of Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Their opponents - Netherlands in the Open section and Bulgaria in the women's section did not agree to the proposed changes. Israel subsequently did no...