MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Russian Chess Grandmaster Sergey Korjakin told TASS on Friday that he ponders an idea of organizing chess tournaments within the BRICS and SCO member states.
"A number of various commercial and state-supported tournaments should be organized during such uneasy times in support of chess players," Karjakin said. "I am pondering an organization of chess tournaments within the member states of BRICS and SCO."
"I am a chess player and I am talking about chess tournaments here," he added.
The international association of BRICS countries is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is comprised of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
On March 21, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) stated that its Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) decided to suspend Russian Chess Grandmaster Karjakin from all competitions for the period of six months.
On February 28, Karjakin published an open letter in which he supported Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The next day, FIDE condemned the Russian grandmaster for public announcement of his political stance, launching a disciplinary case against him.
Karjakin, 32, is currently 18th in the FIDE Rankings List. In 2016, the Russian chess player won the Candidates Tournament and then lost the World Chess Championship’s title encounter to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
Karjakin is the winner of the Chess World Cup 2015. He is also the world champion in Rapid Chess (2012) and Blitz (2016).
On February 28, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments referring to a special military operation in Ukraine.
Following the IOC recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.