Russian chess player Sergey Karjakin was suspended for six months

Russian chess player Sergey Karjakin, who faced Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in 2016 for the title of world champion, was suspended this Monday for six months for any international competition due to his shows of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The ethics commission of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) considered that the statements of the 32-year-old Russian, who fervently approved the invasion of Ukraine, could “undermine the reputation of chess and/or FIDE”.

That is why it decided to impose a “ban on participation” in any competition organized by FIDE for six months, starting this Monday.

Karjakin, currently 18th in the world, was due to participate in the Candidates' Tournament in Madrid in June, the main individual competition of 2022 and which brings together eight players to designate the next player who will challenge the world champion, Magnus Carlsen.

On social media, Karjakin repeatedly supported the Russian invasion and President Vladimir Putin's policy “for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.”

“The slogan 'No to War' is now written by people who have cynically not noticed in eight years the war against the Russians in Donbass, the mass murders in Kiev, Mariupol and other cities,” he wrote on Twitter on February 25, a day after the start of the invasion, using Kremlin rhetoric.

On his Telegram account, Karjakin denounced on Monday a sanction that he considers “shameful”.

“I don't regret anything,” he said, saying that he is “patriot above all”, rather than an athlete or competitor.

The Russian Chess Federation stated in a statement its intention to appeal a measure that it considers “discrimination”.

Another Russian player, Sergei Shipov, was also the subject of the Ethics Commission's trial. He was not sanctioned “because he is much less known”, with which he has a smaller audience, and because his words were considered “a little less provocative” than those of Karjakin.

bur-fs/chc/dr