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The 2022 Chess Olympiad, scheduled for July 26-August 9, won’t take place in Russia. This was announced by FIDE following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
Note that you can find Chess.com’s stance on the issue here.
This year’s Olympiad was supposed to take place in Moscow, alongside the competition for players with disabilities and the FIDE Congress. “We will do our utmost to find another organizer for the Olympiad and, in due time, provide information on the location and dates of FIDE Congress 2022,” FIDE writes in a statement on Friday.
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich provided some background while talking to Russian reporters. He stated that it was a decision of the whole FIDE Council: “It’s not a question of my reaction. We made this decision taking into account all the circumstances that are now developing, and understanding that the participants of the World Chess Olympiad will not be able to come to Moscow during such a period. Of course, it was hard to accept it, but objectively it was necessary. As to whether we will be able to hold such events in the future, I would not like to comment anything. We will have a meeting of the FIDE Council on Sunday, where we will discuss these issues. After that, I will be able to say more.”
By not holding the Olympiad in Russia, the International Chess Federation took a similar step as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which has moved this season’s Champions League final away from St. Petersburg, to Paris instead.
Unlike UEFA, which issued a statement condemning the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine yesterday, FIDE thus far has not condemned the military actions by Russia. Instead, in a statement also on Thursday, the chess body said it expressed its “grave concern” regarding the “current rapidly deteriorating geopolitical situation.”
FIDE’s president Dvorkovich, who held high positions in the Russian government between 2008 and 2018, has been on a tour in Africa this week.
One high FIDE official did take a stand. GM Nigel Short, a FIDE Vice President, tweeted: “The Russian invasion of #Ukraine is the most appalling act of aggression against a sovereign nation.”
The Russian invasion of #Ukraine is the most appalling act of aggression against a sovereign nation.
— Nigel Short (@nigelshortchess) February 25, 2022
FIDE’s decision to move the Olympiad was published around the same time as a statement from the Ukrainian Chess Federation, also on Friday afternoon, on Facebook.
The federation calls for the European Chess Union and all national federation to “immediately assess [the violent events in Ukraine] in the wake of FIDE’s reluctance to call war a war” and notes that “all bank accounts and sponsors of FIDE have come under sanctions and FIDE itself remains headed by the close friend of Russia’s Putin—Arkady Dvorkovich.”
The Ukrainian chess officials are appealing to FIDE “urgently to convene the General Assembly outside the territory of the Russian Federation and Belarus in order to condemn the behavior of the FIDE leadership and the re-election of its governing bodies, ban Russian players from international chess events and ban Russian representatives from participating in new FIDE elections.”
The statement from the Ukrainian Chess Federation finishes with a request for “the appropriate assessment and punishment of the famous grandmasters who openly supported the criminal aggression against Ukraine,” naming the 12th world champion GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Sergey Karjakin, and GM Sergey Shipov.
Karpov was one of the 351 members of the State Duma voting in favor of the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). Karpov yesterday emerged on the European Union’s list of individuals and legal entities against which sanctions were imposed. The EU sanctions come down to the freeze of assets of these persons on the territory of the EU as well as blocking them from traveling into the EU.
Shipov, a popular chess commentator in Russia, is a supporter of Putin as well. On Thursday, he wrote on Facebook: “Now Donetsk and Lugansk will be able to sleep peacefully. Eight years of life under the bombs have been completed.”
Karjakin has faced strong criticism from fellow grandmasters for his open support of Russia’s government. Also on Thursday, he shared his point of view by saying that it’s the same as expressed by Russian state media journalist Anna Shafran. In a text on Telegram, she argued that Russian “didn’t start the war” and that “any support for the Kiev regime is support for the war.”
Karjakin: “I subscribe to every word! You can’t formulate it better.”
Много людей спрашивают мое мнение по поводу Украины. Сперва я уже почти написал большой текст со своими мыслями, но потом наткнулся на пост @Anna_Shafran и… подписываюсь под каждым словом! Лучше не сформулируешь!👏👏👏https://t.co/5TJhrkauzp
— Sergey Karjakin (@SergeyKaryakin) February 24, 2022
Many other Russian grandmasters have expressed altogether different views—that of horror and disbelief, and called for the war to end. The most recent was St. Petersburg-based GM Nikita Vitiugov, who wrote on Twitter: “I will make my position clear—you cannot defend yourself on someone else’s territory. Russians and Ukrainians are brothers, not enemies. Stop the war.”
Невозможно поверить. В 2022 году в Европе люди гибнут на войне, ломаются судьбы десятков миллионов людей. Ужас. Не вижу, чем эмоции в интернете могут помочь. Зафиксирую свою позицию – нельзя защищаться на чужой территории. Русские и украинцы – братья,а не враги. Остановите войну.
— Nikita Vitiugov (@N_Vitiugov) February 25, 2022
A lot of similar reactions from chess personalities appeared on Thursday, including from Russia. For instance, 2021 world championship contender GM Ian Nepomniachtchi wrote: “History has seen many Black Thursdays. But today is blacker than the others. #нетвойне #saynotowar”
История видела немало чёрных четвергов. Но сегодняшний чернее прочих. #нетвойне #saynotowar
— Yan Nepomniachtchi (@lachesisq) February 24, 2022
GM Peter Svidler: “Silence made today possible. #notowar”
Молчание сделало сегодняшний день возможным. #нетвойне
— Peter Svidler (@polborta) February 24, 2022
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk tweeted a black image without a further comment:
— Alexandra Kosteniuk (@chessqueen) February 24, 2022
GM Alexander Motylev: “NO WAR.”
Russian IM Alina Bivol: “Until recently, I believed that this would not happen. I would like to call on chess players all over the world not to hate us for the actions of the authorities. We ourselves understand everything. #notowar”
До последнего верила, что этого не случится. Хотелось бы призвать шахматистов всего мира не ненавидеть нас за действия власти. Мы сами все понимаем. #нетвойне
— Alina Bivol (@zabivol_mc) February 24, 2022
Note that, while not commenting, several other well-known players have added a Ukrainian flag to their profile on social media, showing support.
Meanwhile, there is growing fear of the safety of the Ukrainian chess players—especially because of tweets like the following from GM Kirill Shevchenko, the winner of the 2021 Lindores Abbey Blitz in Riga.
Kyiv, right now, not far from home.
Please share it everywhere!!!!! It’s not fake photos,it is happening right now! https://t.co/4cICMjwfCe ретвит пожалуйста! pic.twitter.com/38A5Ezjcht
— Kirill Shevchenko (@Chesser_22) February 25, 2022
More top grandmasters spoke out. One of the first was American GM Hikaru Nakamura: “It has been many years since I was in Ukraine, but to see what is happening now is heartbreaking. Stay strong Ukraine.”
It has been many years since I was in Ukraine, but to see what is happening now is heartbreaking. Stay strong 🇺🇦
— Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru) February 24, 2022
Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi: “Tragic & inhumane.”
Tragic & inhumane. 😔
— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) February 24, 2022
13th world champion Garry Kasparov, who warned about what is happening this week in his 2015 book Winter is Coming, is active on Twitter and other platforms. Especially the following thread with five tweets was retweeted many times.
Ok, after years of warnings were ignored and hearing “Garry, you were right!” all damn day today, I’ll repeat what I said in 2014: Stop telling me I was right and listen to what I’m saying now. My recommendations follow: 1/5
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) February 24, 2022
Scottish GM Jacob Aagaard, a well-known author and trainer, pointed out what the Ukrainian Chess Federation mentioned today as well: the fact that FIDE is heavily depending on Russian sponsors, which are often state-owned companies. Examples are gas supplier Gazprom, the fertilizer giant PhosAgro, and the mining firm Nornickel.
Aagaard: “In FIDE we have accepted taking Gazprom money for years. It did not matter politically to what Russia did, of course, and at the time everyone were happy to take them. Now we have to face reality and exclude Russia, as long as it if financed by war.”
In FIDE we have accepted taking Gazprom money for years. It did not matter politically to what Russia did, of course, and at the time everyone were happy to take them. Now we have to face reality and exclude Russia, as long as it if financed by war.
— Jacob Aagaard (@GMJacobAagaard) February 24, 2022
Meanwhile, World Champion Magnus Carlsen has provided a comment to Norwegian television, saying: “When you represent a country that does so many strange things as Russia does, you get many ups and downs. Russian players and I both think this is something a country shouldn’t do. I have to do my best and I am lucky to live in a country where there is peace.”
Carlsen to TV 2: “When you represent a country that does so many strange things as Russia does, you get many ups and downs. Russian players and I both think this is something a country shouldn’t do. I have to do my best and I am lucky to live in a country where there is peace”
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) February 25, 2022
The moving of the Olympiad was an expected step made by FIDE, but it remains to be seen what other effects the war in Ukraine will have on the chess world.
