MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) carries on with its anti-Russian policy having extended the right of Russian chess players to take part in international tournaments under the organization’s flag for another year, Russian Chess Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin told TASS on Friday.
On November 23, the FIDE announced a decision to extend until January 1, 2025 the right of Russian and Belarusian chess players to take part in international events under the organization’s flag.
"It turns out that the FIDE continues with its anti-Russian policy," Karjakin said. "Instead of remembering that sports, including chess, must go beyond politics they continue taking unfriendly steps."
"Such steps will affect me and other chess players, but I made a personal decision previously that I would not play under a neutral flag and, in fact, I am not going to change my mind about this," the Russian chess grandmaster stated.
"In fact, I enjoy playing at different tournaments, for example, at the World Blitz Championship, where I was pleased to take part, but again I think this is all wrong considering what is going on," he said.
The world’s governing chess body announced in a statement on Thursday: "Extension of FIDE Flag Representation for Russian and Belarusian Players: Russian and Belarusian players currently performing under the FIDE flag will be granted an extension to continue playing under the FIDE Flag until January 1, 2025."
Karjakin also said in an interview with TASS that he would participate in two more chess tournaments this year.
"It’s hard to say what will happen next year, but this year, in December, I will certainly take part in two tournaments," he said. "The first one will be a commercial tournament organized by the ‘Region’ group of companies and the other one will be the third round of the ‘Chess Stars’ series."
The Russian chess grandmaster stated earlier that he would not participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization chess tournament, which is scheduled to run in China on December 17-18.
Speaking about his decision to skip the Shanghai Cooperation Organization chess tournament, Karjakin said: "The invitation was received at a late date, because I am plotting my schedule a few weeks in advance."
"I just cannot say at the very last moment that I would be playing," he said. "However, I has another reason [to skip the tournament in China] because I inked a contract to play at the ‘Chess Stars’ tournament…"
"I believe that the domestically-hosted tournaments must be supported in the first place. It is extremely important for me to have a chance of competing on the territory of Russia," Karjakin added.
Karjakin, 33, 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 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.
Russian sport of chess under sanctions
On February 28, 2022 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments because of the special military operation in Ukraine.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February last year, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
On March 16, 2022 the FIDE barred athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments. The organization, however, allowed representatives of these countries to play individually under the flag and logo of FIDE.