The world’s most popular platform for playing chess on the internet is blocked in Russia. It is fully supported by Sergei Karjakin (32).
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The reason chess.com, with over 50 million users, is blocked is the site’s criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine. They confirm this own websites.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal agency for communications, information technology and mass media monitoring, has decided to shut down the country. Pages like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the BBC are already blocked in Russia.
Chess.com has condemned the invasion and taken several actions on its own pages:
- Russian and Belarusian flags are no longer displayed, but have been replaced by a neutral flag.
- Players who post messages in support of warfare are banned.
- Former World Cup challenger Sergei Karjakin and other players who support the war will no longer be allowed to participate in tournaments under their auspices.
– If chess.com apologizes for their unsportsmanlike actions, I’m sure the site will be reopened to chess players from Russia. Are they going to do that? The question is rhetorical, writes Karjakin on Twitter.
Originally, two articles about Russia’s invasion on chess.com were blocked, before the whole page was made inaccessible to Russians a little later.
VG met Karjakin during the World Cup match in 2021:
Karjakin has openly supported Russia’s invasion from day one of the war. Karjakin was born on the Ukrainian side of the border, on the later annexed Crimean peninsula, but has represented Russia in chess tournaments since 2009.
The chess star believes chess.com is “anti-Russia” and spreads “insulting propaganda”. Therefore, he himself has asked Roskomnadzor to block the site.
– Is this a big loss for Russian-speaking players? No, I mean. Once again, we see how Western platforms, with their “Russophobic attitude”, are losing Russian users, Karjakin writes on his Telegram profile.
The 32-year-old has called the Ukrainian authorities’ actions in the breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donbas a genocide, and said he hopes the people there will be liberated. Karjakin claims that Ukrainian nationalists have blood on their hands for their actions in the regions. It came out in a tribute letter addressed to the President of RussiaVladimir Putin.
Earlier this week, 44 other professional Russian chess players wrote a letter in a completely different tone to Putin. They expressed opposition to the war in Ukraine and sympathy for the country’s population. Magnus Carlsen’s World Cup opponent from 2021, Jan Nepomnyashchy, is among those who have signed the letter.
–Karjakin has also been banned for six months by the International Chess Federation (Fide) due to his support for Putin and Russia. He played a World Cup match against Carlsen in 2016, but is not allowed to participate in this year’s candidate tournament. There, the challenger for the next World Cup match will be chosen.
– Many Russians who have previously either openly supported Putin or have not said anything about it, have chosen to turn around and say that now Putin has gone too far. Karjakin has gone the other way. He has increased his support for Putin. That type of attitude can not be accepted, Carlsen has said VG.
He stated at the same time that he is unsure whether it is right to exclude Karjakin.
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