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As you walk through the World Rapid Chess Championship in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, you’ll spot a variety of characters among the 319 players (202 men and 117 women) from 46 countries. . Like 10-year-old Argentine prodigy Faustino Oro. Or Timur Galeyev, American-Uzbek grandmaster and world record holder for simultaneous blindfolded chess (48 games in 19 hours), charged with sexual assault in the US, or Sara Khadem, refugee from Iran, undocumented He fled the country because he played in Japan. I wore a hijab in my last tournament. Most controversial, however, is Denis Kismaturin, an ardent supporter of Russia’s war against Ukraine, although unlike other Russian chess players he has never been sanctioned by a ban on playing. .
On December 8, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) released a statement containing issues regarding athletes participating in the 2024 Paris Games. This point reinforces the IOC’s policy since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which states that athletes who actively support the war will not be eligible to compete or compete. was.
In line with these guidelines, the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which brings together 200 countries and autonomous regions, sanctioned world No. 2 Sergei Karyakin for his enthusiastic support of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. . The grandmaster, who was born in Ukraine in 1990 and became a naturalized Russian in 2009, was banned from participating in FIDE chess tournaments for six months in March 2022.
In one of the many expressions of support for the war, Karyakin shot a video to raise funds for military equipment, saying, “The occupiers really need all-terrain vehicles, helicopters, thermal cameras, body armor.” ” he said. Upon achieving this goal, he and Kismatulin went to the front several times, and both were photographed with soldiers. Karyakin’s FIDE sanctions expired in September 2022, but he did not want to play outside Russia, as he will not be allowed to play under the Russian flag after that.
Kis Maturin (who was hired by Karyakin as a coach) plays under the FIDE flag like other Russian athletes who compete internationally, although he appears under the Russian flag in the official world list. There is. Some of his compatriots do the same thing, but with a crucial difference, two-time runner-up at the World Chess Championship, Ian Nepomniachi, competed in Astana (Kazakhstan) with China’s Liren Ding in the World Chess Championship. I explained this to El Passus when we dueled for the title. : “I signed that manifesto [against the invasion] wholeheartedly. ”
He continued: “That war is a horrible, tragic disaster. I understand to some extent the sanctions against Russian athletes, but I highly doubt that they will help the situation. If I were forced to play under the FIDE flag, like when Russia was punished for its massive doping scandal, I would do so. I don’t identify with it, I identify with my beloved homeland.”
Nepomniatchi continues to live in Russia, despite the fact that under the current Russian law, these statements are enough to be immediately sent to prison.
Mr. El Paz asked FIDE why Mr. Kismatullin, who has also made clear statements in support of Russian aggression, was not sanctioned like Mr. Karyakin. “FIDE does not have a procedure for verifying the statements of athletes. In this area, we follow the decisions of our ethics committee,” FIDE’s chief legal officer and Russian director Alexander Martynov said. [which sanctioned Karjakin in 2022 for violating its code]. It seems to us that the judicial process is the best mechanism for addressing these issues. If any interested party appeals to that committee, thereby disqualifying Grand Master Kismatullin, the decision will be strictly respected. ”
Kismatullin lost in the second round of the World Rapid Chess Championship on Tuesday against world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Unlike Polish player Jan-Krzysztof Duda, who refused to shake Kismatulin’s hand during their first-round match, Carlsen upheld tradition. In 2022, the world No. 1 country rejected Karyakin’s position on the Ukraine war, but expressed doubts whether sanctioning him was the best course of action. He gave two reasons for this. One is that it sets a precedent that can lead to sensitive situations. Second, the sanctions allow Karyakin to be labeled a martyr by Russia.
When EL PAÍS asked Carlsen’s father and agent Henrik for an update on his opinion on the player, he responded simply: “No comment.” The newspaper also asks whether Carlsen thinks about Kismaturin the same way he does about Karyakin, and whether Israel’s invasion of Gaza (after a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas), Azerbaijan’s blitzkrieg and occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict I was going to ask if it was something like that. Henrik’s unusual silence comes as Magnus expressed relief that the FIDE Ethics Committee had only fined him €10,000 ($10,800) for withdrawing from the Ethics Committee. (He makes millions of dollars a year). There is no good cause for the Sinquefield Cup to be held in St. Louis, USA in 2022. In a highly controversial incident, Carlsen accused American player Hans Niemann of cheating without evidence and withdrew from the tournament.
President Putin has said publicly on at least two occasions that regaining the world chess title is a top priority for the Russian sport. The Russian Chess Federation, chaired by billionaire Andrei Filatov (close to President Putin), left the European Federation and joined the Asian Chess Federation. And it set up a financial aid fund for talented young players, with the condition that the money must be repaid if they choose to play for another flag. This is part of efforts to prevent the diaspora of Russian chess stars who currently live in other countries or have already adopted another nationality. Beneficiaries include players such as Andrei Eshpenko, who signed the anti-war manifesto and plays under the FIDE flag but continues to reside in Russia. Or the incredible eight-year-old Roman Shogziev, who, like Argentina’s Faustino Oro, has wowed the Samarkand crowd with his courage to play against some of the world’s most established grandmasters.
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