MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. The Chess Federation of Russia (CFR) has appealed to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to open disciplinary proceedings against Vice-President of the European Chess Union (ECU) Malcolm Pein, according to a document obtained by TASS on Tuesday.

In October, the Telegraph daily published an interview with Pein, in which he spoke about how important chess was in Russia and called for resorting to all measures to uphold sanctions against Russian chess players, even using political levers of pressure.

During the 2024 FIDE General Assembly in Budapest, Pein contacted "with governmental structures like the Embassies of the United Kingdom, the Untied States of America, [the US] State Department, Ukrainian Ministry of strategic procurement," the document reads.

"Mr. Pein acknowledges his own involvement… in the direct influence on the decision" to keep sanctions against Russian chess teams, according to the document.

"Having said all the above, CFR respectfully requests EDC to open disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Malcolm Pein and apply sanction for the conduct and statements as described above. For the sake of completeness, CFR is of the opinion that the appropriate sanction would be an exclusion from office and/or a ban on taking part in any chess-related activity for a period of 12 months, and requests to apply the said," the document added.

The FIDE General Assembly rejected a proposal to reinstate in full Russian and Belarusian chess players’ participation in tournaments, and allow them to play under the national flag and to the tune of the national anthem. The delegates voted in favor of conducting consultations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), regarding a possibility of a partial admission of Russian and Belarusian players in international chess team events.

In July, FIDE allowed the Russian women's national team to participate in the World Team Championship under the FIDE banner and the ECU opposed this decision.