Setback for Russia and Belarus as global chess body upholds ban

Sept. 23, 2024, 5:15 a.m.

Read time estimation: 3 minutes.

  2

Chess governing body FIDE’s general assembly on Sunday upheld a ban on Russian and Belarusian players imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while backing a move to consider easing restrictions on disabled and junior players. The Ukrainian government, the U.S. State Department and players including former world champion Magnus Carlsen and members of the Ukraine Olympic team had urged chess federations to reject an initial motion by Kyrgyzstan to fully reinstate the two nations.

Representatives from 66 countries ultimately backed a last-minute proposal by the FIDE Council. This proposal suggested seeking guidance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on allowing some Russian and Belarusian players, such as those with disabilities or children under 12, to participate in international events again.

Read | Chess Olympiad: India’s history makers in Budapest

“We believe this approach upholds FIDE’s commitment to inclusivity while respecting the international framework”, the organisation’s deputy president and also a former world champion Viswanathan Anand told the assembly before the ballot.

Forty-one delegates voted against lifting the ban on players, 21 countries favored a complete removal of the restrictions, and 27 abstained or were absent from the vote.

The FIDE Council, an oversight body led by FIDE president and former Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich, has aimed to avoid criticism from both Russia and the West.

Andrey Filatov, president of the Russian chess federation, told local media on Sunday that Dvorkovich was buying time out of fear of sanctions from Ukraine and the United States.

In line with the IOC’s stance on the two countries, Russian and Belarusian players including 2021 and 2023 world championship runner-up Ian Nepomniachtchi are allowed to participate in international events under a neutral flag.

Advertisement Sunday’s vote avoided setting a dangerous precedent by breaking with the IOC, but FIDE should act more energetically towards Russia and Belarus, Pieter Heine Nielsen, Carlsen’s former coach and a frequent critic of FIDE, told Reuters.

Read | How India won historic double gold in Budapest

“We’re talking within the last two years, more than a thousand chess events in occupied Ukraine by Russia … There was no words discussed about how do we force Russia to stop these events”, Nielsen said.

The FIDE General Assembly was held over the weekend in Budapest alongside the 45th Chess Olympiad, the world’s largest chess team event with almost 2,000 participants.

Advertisement World championship challenger Gukesh Dommaraju and his teammates from India won gold in both the open and women’s sections of the event.