“I regret nothing”
Chess grandmaster banned for war statements
03/21/2022, 7:29 p.m
Sergej Karjakin was born in Ukraine, has had Russian citizenship since 2009 – and supports the war of aggression against his native country. The chess grandmaster is now blocked by the world association for this. He finds it “shameful” and the Russian FA doesn’t want to accept it.
The World Chess Federation FIDE has banned the Russian grandmaster Sergei Karjakin for six months because of his comments on the Ukraine war. The former World Cup challenger had publicly supported the Russian invasion. The federation announced that it had damaged the reputation of the sport and violated the code of ethics. Karjakin loses his place at the World Cup Candidates Tournament in Madrid (June 16 to July 7).
The 32-year-old was born in Ukraine and has had Russian citizenship since 2009. Among other things, he wrote on Twitter: “Many people ask if I regret my public support for the special operation. After all, I have already lost invitations to tournaments in the West and could lose an invitation to the Candidates Tournament. My answer is simple. I am at the side of Russia and my President. No matter what happens, I will support my country in any situation without thinking for a second.”
The Ethics Committee wrote in the justification for its decision: “The comments on the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine have led to a significant number of reactions on social media and elsewhere.” In most of these reactions, then, Karjakin’s views are rejected.
The 32-year-old Karjakin, currently 18th in the world rankings, described the decision as “shameful” and wrote: “I have no regrets.” The Russian Chess Federation announced an appeal against the verdict.
Shipov gets away with it unpunished
Karjakin, 2016 challenger to Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen, like his compatriot Sergey Shipov, publicly defended President Vladimir Putin’s policies and made fun of the victims in the war zones. Schipov was not blocked. He is less well known and therefore does not have such a powerful platform. The Commission justified its decision by saying that his statements were also somewhat different and of a less provocative character.
Shortly after the start of the war at the end of February, FIDE announced the consequences. The association would terminate “all existing sponsorship contracts with Belarusian and Russian companies that are state-controlled or sanctioned,” it said at the time.
In addition, all FIDE competitions planned in Russia and Belarus were cancelled. On Wednesday, the Russian and Belarusian national teams were also excluded from all tournaments, although individual players are still allowed to take part in competitions.