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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s entry ban won’t target Chinese chess players, FIDE says

The FIDE Candidates Tournament will be held in Yekaterinburg on March 15-April 5

Ding Liren EPA-EFE/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

Ding Liren

© EPA-EFE/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Chinese chess grandmasters Ding Liren and Wang Hao, who are scheduled to take part in a tournament in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, won’t be affected by a temporary ban on entering Russia, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said.

"Chinese delegation for Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg is not under a threat of being banned from entering Russia. The limitations imposed restrict a different type of visitors — and after double checking we can confirm the decree is not going to impact Chinese players," FIDE said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an order on introducing since February 20 a temporary ban on Chinese nationals arriving in Russia for work, private, education and tourism purposes. The move is aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus to Russia. However, the Foreign Ministry explained that the holders of service, business, humanitarian and transit visas won’t be barred from entering Russia and the issuing of these types of visas had not been halted.

The FIDE Candidates Tournament will be held in Yekaterinburg on March 15-April 5. The winner of the competition will fight for the world crown with Norwegian chess grandmaster and the current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen. Russia’s chess players Alexander Grishchuk, Yan Nepomnyaschy and Kirill Alekseyenko will take part in the tournament.

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