World chess body suspends Russia over activities in occupied-Ukraine

The governing body of world chess has suspended Russia – the dominant force in the game for decades – after ⁠a successful legal challenge by Ukraine.

An international tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in March upheld a complaint by Ukraine that Russia’s chess federation had usurped control of the game in areas of Ukraine captured by Russian forces since 2022.

It ⁠gave Russia 90 days to relinquish control of chess bodies in five regions of Ukraine and stop holding tournaments there.

But on Wednesday, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) – which is headed by Russia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich – said Russia had not complied with the deadline, and it had therefore decided to “impose the sanction of temporary suspension of [Russia’s] membership … with immediate effect”.

Russian adult players will retain the right to ‌participate in FIDE tournaments under FIDE’s flag, not their own. Only juniors can play under the Russian flag.

In team events, Russians “may be eligible” to take part under a neutral flag but this is subject to further FIDE decisions, the world body said. Russian state news agency TASS quoted Andrei Filatov, head of the Russian Chess Federation, as saying its lawyers were reviewing FIDE’s decision and may challenge it.

The Ukrainian chess federation hailed the decision as a “historic victory”.

Passion for chess

Beyond the practical consequences, the ruling is a symbolic blow to a country with a deep and proud chess tradition, where amateurs can be ⁠seen hunched over boards on pavements and in parks at virtually all times of the year.

Grandmasters ⁠from Russia and other Soviet republics occupied the summit of the game from 1927 to 2007 in a procession of world champions that was interrupted only briefly by Dutchman Max Euwe in the 1930s and American Bobby Fischer in the 1970s.

But the era of Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov is now long ⁠gone, and the 21st century has been dominated by Norway’s Magnus Carlsen and a clutch of new stars from India and China.

Only one Russian player is currently in the world’s top ⁠20. In April, Russia’s Andrei Esipenko finished eighth and last in the Candidates ⁠Tournament to decide who will challenge India’s Gukesh Dommaraju for the world championship title later this year.

The dispute over Ukraine was focused on who runs chess in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, which it claims as its own territory but only partly controls, in ‌a war now well into its fifth year.

The temporary suspension of Russia runs counter to a recent trend in which global sport are starting to re-admit Russian competitors after years of sanctions, first over a massive doping scandal and then because of the ‌war ‌in Ukraine.