MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) must condemn the German Chess Federation (DSB) for canceling funding for any of its players who decide to participate in international tournaments that involve chess players from Russia and Belarus, Russian Chess Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin told TASS on Thursday.
Germany’s popular daily Der Spiegel announced earlier in the day that German players would be stripped of state subsidies if they opted to participate in any chess tournament in which chess players from Russia or Belarus also took part.
"This is obviously a completely unfriendly step, but in terms of what has been going on for quite a long time, they are continuing their anti-Russian movement," Karjakin stated.
"I’ve long said that despite my previous disagreements with the Russian Chess Federation, I still support joining the Asian federation," he said.
"We’re not welcome in European chess, and this is further evidence of that," Karjakin noted.
"I should state separately that the FIDE motto says ‘Gens Una Sumus’ [We are all one family]. However, this move by the German Chess Federation [DSB] says otherwise," Karjakin said.
"I hope that FIDE will speak out and say that this is wrong. But they are trying to have it both ways so I’m sure they won’t do that," he added.
On February 28, 2022, FIDE granted permission to individual chess players representing Russia and Belarus to play in international tournaments under a neutral status and announced that it would not hold official chess competitions and events in Russia and Belarus.
On March 16, FIDE prohibited national teams from Russia and Belarus from playing in FIDE licensed tournaments, but continued to allow individual players from these countries to take part under a neutral status.
Russia’s Chess Grandmaster Karjakin, 33, is currently 10th on the FIDE Rankings List. In 2016, the Russian chess player won the Candidates Tournament and then lost the World Chess Championship’s title match to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen.
Karjakin is the winner of the Chess World Cup in 2015. He is also the world champion in Rapid Chess (2012) and Blitz (2016).