Dam break prevented: Restrictions for Russian chess players remain

Magnus Carlsen barely batted an eyelid as he accepted the trophy for the best chess player in the 100-year history of the world chess federation FIDE in Budapest on Thursday. “In my opinion, Garry Kasparov had a better career,” said Carlsen. He concluded his one-minute speech with a demand to FIDE that he was sure was in line with the Putin critic Kasparov’s views: Carlsen spoke out “against the reintegration of the Russian and Belarusian chess federations.”

The world number one and most famous chess player thus joined a movement led by the German Chess Federation (DSB) under President Ingrid Lauterbach – and which achieved its goal on Sunday. At the Fide General Assembly, the majority of national associations voted against the Kyrgyz Federation’s proposal to lift the restrictions on Russian and Belarusian chess players. They are therefore only allowed to compete under a neutral flag in Fide competitions, their anthem is not played and there is no Russian or Belarusian national team in team events.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov announced: “Our chess federation will continue to work to ensure that all sanctions are ultimately lifted.”

For a long time, the western associations were in the minority with their opposition. A letter from ARISF, the association of sports federations recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) whose disciplines are not Olympic, organized by the DSB, ultimately caused many to rethink their position. Fide is a member of this association, and even though ARISF did not explicitly threaten exclusion in the letter, it did “encourage” Fide to continue to adhere to the IOC recommendations when dealing with athletes from Russia and Belarus.

Fide would have been the first sports association recognized by the IOC to lift the restrictions on Russian athletes. That would have been like a dam breaking. But under increasing pressure, the plan apparently became too much for Russian Fide President Arkady Dvorkovich and he spoke out against it in the Fide Council, the association’s executive body. Andrey Filatov, President of the Russian Chess Federation, told the state news agency Tass said he was “surprised” that the Fide boss was suddenly listening to the IOC.

Dvorkovich was not present at the vote at the general assembly. However, even Vladimir Putin’s press spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reacted to the result. He said on Monday: “Our chess federation will continue to work to ensure that all sanctions are ultimately lifted.”