Following hockey players, figure skaters, biathletes, skiers and other Russian athletes, the path to international competitions was also closed to representatives of a non-Olympic sport – our chess players.
More precisely, not completely closed. After all, you can’t catch them doping: meldonium and other chemicals are not needed for those who conquer the heights of sports with the power of their mind, and not due to the flexibility or power of the body. Therefore, in order to receive a pass to the “highest level,” our guys were traditionally asked to humiliate themselves.
Photo: from open sources
FIDE (International Chess Federation) has extended permission for Belarusian and Russian chess players to participate in international competitions, but on the condition that, like the Olympians, there will be no flag, Russian anthem or any mention of our country at all. They were also banned from publicly supporting the SVO.
Many outstanding Russian athletes who were preparing to go to the Olympics in Paris eventually abandoned such a humiliating participation.
Our illustrious grandmaster Sergei Karyakin did not exchange his homeland for the opportunity to compete for victory at world tournaments.
Fans who follow this sport immediately understood how difficult it was for the chess player to make this, of course, the right decision.
After all, Sergei Karjakin had to overcome many obstacles before he finally had the opportunity to compete for the honor of his country in the international chess arena. And suddenly this situation!
Sergey Karyakin
Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko
However, the master of the most peaceful sport is accustomed to taking a blow. Just remember the scandal in which Karjakin found himself in 2022. At that moment, he was preparing for a serious test: participation in the World Cup. Our grandmaster had to compete for the “chess crown” with the best chess players on the planet.
And at that moment the liberation North Military District began in Donbass.
Then Sergei Karyakin openly spoke out in support of the special operation. He simply could not stand aside and not express his civic position, because our chess player was born in Crimea and lived there until he was 19 years old. And the future champion spent another three whole years with his family in the Donetsk region. Karyakin knows for certain that the residents of Crimea and Donbass have always been with Russia in their souls.
Photo: from open sources
The reunification of Crimea with its historical homeland, which took place in 2014, made the chess player incredibly happy. But the genocide that the Ukrainian government committed in Donbass awakened only anger and indignation in his soul.
After Karjakin publicly supported the holding of the SVO, FIDE suspended the Russian grandmaster from participation in international competitions for six months.
The blow was noticeable. The World Cup took place without the Russian chess player. But what struck Sergei Koryakin most of all was not the FIDE decision, but the silence on this matter of another Russian – Arkady Dvorkovichwho, by the way, is the head of the federation.
Arkady Dvorkovich
Photo: RIA Novosti / Pavel Lisitsyn
By the way, even before the story with Sergei Koryakin, the Russian chess world had a lot of questions about Dvorkovich.
Here is a quote from an interview that Dvorkovich gave to the American magazine Mother Jones:
“We are ensuring that there are no official chess activities in Russia or Belarus, and that players are not allowed to represent Russia or Belarus in official or rating tournaments until the war is over and Ukrainian players return to chess.”
What is it? For this one statement he should be thrown off the Russian chessboard. However, to justify his words, Arkady Vladimirovich immediately turned the tables on the “king,” that is, the IOC, whose recommendations FIDE supposedly has to follow without complaint.
Photo: from open sources
In general, FIDE has a rather mediocre relationship with the IOC. Once every two years, the federation shuffles its foot at the threshold of the committee and pitifully asks to include chess in the list of Olympic games, gets turned away and holds its own local competitions.
At the same time, FIDE itself has quite “fat” Russian sponsors and the Olympic Games are completely unnecessary for it from this side. The Federation could well withdraw from the IOC, which has long since begun to rot from the top.
But Dvorkovich is in no hurry to do this. Apparently, he thought through his actions several moves ahead, because in order to maintain the status of the head of FIDE, it is easier for him to sacrifice Russian athletes. But this, excuse me, is no longer chess, but some kind of checkers game of “giveaway.” Oh, Dvorkovich is heading the wrong federation!
Sergey Karyakin
So in the case of Karyakin, Arkady Dvorkovich not only did not speak out in defense of the grandmaster. The pressure on our chess player continued under the silent connivance of Arkady Vladimirovich.
“It’s difficult for me to say whether he could have canceled my disqualification, but he could have tried to do something,” commented Sergei Karyakin. – He did not support me either personally or on the sidelines. As far as I understand, at that moment he was also worried that he might lose his post due to the fact that he himself was a citizen of Russia. But he resisted and forgot about me.”
Unfortunately, Dvorkovich was not the only one who, in the black-and-white world of chess, put his own interests first, rather than those of the state.
Garry Kasparov
Once a famous chess player, and now a person on the list of terrorists and extremists Garry Kasparov (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) recently told Forbes that he would refrain from returning to Russia because “there are doubts that I will no longer be able to go back.”
He wouldn’t doubt it! Kasparov is quite rightly afraid of arrest, because he has been actively involved in opposition political activities for many years.
Karjakin suggested that the once excellent chess player Kasparov was ruined by the thirst for profit. After all, he is paid well for promoting Russophobic sentiments among the masses. Therefore, Garry Kimovich abandoned useless chess and has been trading his excellent analytical brain on the political panel for the past decade. Apparently, there is still demand.
Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Photo: RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko
There is another chess player who forgot about his love for his Motherland as soon as he shook a wad of banknotes. In fact, he has a surname to match his essence: Ian Nepomniachtchi.
This one decided not to swim against the tide, quickly added his signature to the letter against the SVO, received the green light and with a light heart went to rearrange the pieces on the black and white board at the next international competition. Well, God will be his judge, as they say.
By the way, Nepomniachtchi often finds himself at international meetings next to Israeli chess players, whose compatriots are killing tens of thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip. And this does not confuse or outrage anyone.
“But I can’t do that,” sighs Sergei Karyakin. “While our soldiers there defend the right of Russians to exist, we have no right to turn away from them. To abandon our flag, anthem, our roots. After February 24, I supported Russia, not thinking about the chess consequences. And I signed a letter addressed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin supporting the special operation.”
Sergey Karyakin and SVO soldiers
At the moment, Sergey Karyakin and his colleagues are actively working on the development of the domestic chess sport, watching with empathy what is happening at the front, and trying to remember less about those who were once called their “colleagues”.
However, this game is not over yet. Decisive moves lie ahead of us. Those who cowardly hid behind the backs of other people’s kings and queens will be replaced by other people, new generations of excellent chess players with a clear position. And that time is just around the corner.
Do you follow the ups and downs that are happening in the international chess arena?
2024-03-06 16:36:00
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