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Russia’s Chess Grandmaster Karjakin plays chess game against ISS cosmonaut Kononenko

The chess game was held in the online video mode and Kononenko had been assisted by another Russian cosmonaut, Nikolay Chub

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/. March 13. /TASS/. Russian Chess Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin played on Wednesday an online chess game against a Russian cosmonaut working on board of the International Space Station (ISS).

Karjakin played a chess game against International Space Station cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who is also a TASS special reporter in space, from Russia’s Flight Control Center in the town of Korolyov.

The chess game was held in the online video mode and Kononenko had been assisted by another Russian cosmonaut, Nikolay Chub. They both tried to challenge Karjakin.

The chess match was played as the International Space Station was making an orbital spin over the Pacific Ocean. After 12 moves of playing the so-called Petrov’s Defense chess game, Karjakin decided to offer it a draw and the Russian cosmonauts agreed.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolay Chub and Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are working aboard the space station.

Karjakin, 34, won the Chess World Cup in 2015. He is also a former world champion in Rapid Chess (2012) and Blitz (2016). In 2016 he won the FIDE Candidates tournament and later that year lost to Norwegian Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in his battle for the World Chess Crown.

FIDE’s previous ban on Karjakin

On February 28, 2022, Karjakin published an open letter in which he supported Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The next day, FIDE (the World Chess Federation) condemned the Russian grandmaster for the public announcement of his political stance, launching a disciplinary case against him.

On March 21, 2022 the International Chess Federation (FIDE) stated that its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) decided to suspend Russian Chess Grandmaster Karjakin from all competitions for a period of six months.

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