The Grand Chess Tour has joined other organisers in banning former World Championship challenger Sergey Karjakin from taking part in their tournaments, and say of the Russian 32-year-old that “we can no longer associate our organization with him”. The ban is another blow for the world number 18, who also faces a FIDE ethics case and risks being thrown out of the Candidates Tournament.
Sergey Karjakin in the Superbet Rapid & Blitz in 2019 | photo: Lennart Ootes
On Wednesday, chess24 revealed that Karjakin will be facing difficulties receiving invitations to top tournaments after his controversial statements on social media supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and expressing his full support for Vladimir Putin.
Norway Chess, a tournament Karjakin won in 2013 and 2014, said they “cannot be associated with people who show support for cruelty like that”, while the London Chess Classic estimated the chance of inviting the Russian “as somewhere between zero and minus 1”.
Today the Grand Chess Tour broke their silence and joined in banning Karjakin, publishing the following statement ending with, “Together, we stand in support of Ukraine”.
Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) supports the human rights of the Ukrainian citizens. The GCT Executive Director, Michael Khodarkovsky in consultation with the GCT Board has determined that Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin is banned from all upcoming and future GCT events due to his recent hostile comments on social media supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Per the FIDE law that “no player shall bring the game of chess into disrepute,” we believe Grandmaster Karjakin's actions are such that we can no longer associate our organization with him. It is our firm decision not to invite him or any other chess players that support the on-going war in Ukraine to participate in upcoming and future Grand Chess Tour events.
The ban is a huge blow for the controversial Russian, who cashed in a total of $246,750 with his participations in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
More organisers could also follow in sanctioning the Russian. Tata Steel Chess in Wijk aan Zee declined to comment on the matter for chess24, while the organisers of the Gashimov Memorial in Azerbaijan, with whom Karjakin enjoys a close relationship after participating five times, are yet to make a decision.
Shortly after the publication of this article, Karjakin responded on Twitter.
The 2-time World Champion in rapid and blitz also risks being expelled from the prestigious Candidates Tournament, as he faces a disciplinary hearing under FIDE's Code of Ethics. The Chairman of the relevant committee, Francois Styrdom, told chess24 that a decision is expected to come within three weeks, pending a statement by Karjakin.
Twitter (and, it seems, Facebook and YouTube) being banned in Russia looks to have come too late for Karjakin.
While he was never invited to this year's edition of the Grand Chess Tour in the first place, Nepomniachtchi was and he remains one of the "full tour participants". The previous World Championship challenger is now listed under the FIDE flag, which is in line with the steps taken in the ongoing FIDE Grand Prix in Belgrade.
Ian Nepomniachtchi remains one of the "full" participants in this year's Grand Chess Tour, but the Russian flag has been removed
Russian and Belarusian players will now also face difficulties playing in tournaments in Europe. The board of the European Chess Union (ECU) met in an extraordinary session yesterday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
With immediate effect, the ECU decided to suspend the Russian and Belarusian Chess Federations, and “condemn the members of the chess community who have expressed their support for the brutal and unacceptable invasion of Ukraine.”
The ECU doesn't entirely exclude Russian and Belarusian players, as has been done by several other sporting bodies, but notes that, "Individual players representing Russian or Belarusian federations shall be excluded from all ECU competitions unless they change federation or by their expressed will represent the FIDE flag".
President of the ECU Zurab Azmaiparashvili clarified for Chess-News.ru that it won't be enough for Russian and Belarusian players to have the FIDE flag by their table at ECU tournaments. They'd need to request a change of federation or quit their federation in order to play under the FIDE flag.
The Nordic Chess Federation, consisting of federations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Isles has gone one step further by banning Russian and Belarusian players from taking part in any tournaments.
In a remarkable open letter yesterday some of Russia's top chess players urged Putin to stop the war, appealing directly to the president, saying it is “unbearably painful for us to see the catastrophe that is happening”.
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