Figures and skating: FIDE did not decide to return the flag to the Russian national team

The General Assembly of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) did not support the proposal to return Russia and Belarus to the world arena in full - under their own flag, with the right to participate in team starts and organize big competitions. Most of the voting delegates of the assembly were only in favor of lifting sanctions on team tournaments for children under 12 and athletes with disabilities. And that was after consultations with the IOC. FIDE's decision was a great disappointment, as chess had a real chance to start the process of lifting political restrictions on athletes based on nationality.

Chess without Russia is like hockey without Canada

There has never been a total ban on Russians and Belarusians in chess. But in 2022, under pressure from the IOC, FIDE imposed partial sanctions - it banned our athletes from playing under their own flag, from taking part in team tournaments as part of national teams, and from holding major competitions. As a result, the Chess Olympiad had to be moved to India, and the absence of one of the most successful national teams from major competitions significantly reduced their level. In our country, many people spoke negatively about Arkady Dvorkovich, the head of FIDE, who approved such unfair restrictions on his own country. But the former deputy prime minister stood his ground, fearing a wave of boycotts from the West.

The current idea to lift the restrictions belonged to the president of the Kyrgyz Chess Federation, Babur Tolbaev.

"Russia and Belarus should be returned to the family of chess," TASS quoted Tolbaev as saying. - The first reason is that double standards are unacceptable. The second - FIDE should treat all countries equally. Third - Russia has done so much for chess that it is like hockey without Canada, like soccer without Spain, Brazil, France. Fourth - Russia is one of the main sponsors in chess. And the fifth reason is that 157 delegates, 90%, applauded Arkady Dvorkovich two years ago in the Chennai elections. A Russian citizen. And now he is under tremendous pressure."

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is by no means unique in the world, supported his colleague, First Deputy President of the Armenian Chess Federation Smbat Lputyan.

"I don't want to name countries, but they are not punished for participating in wars," he reminded. - As for the IOC's recommendations to FIDE, I didn't know that the International Olympic Committee is our leadership. Why should we listen to them? Politics is not chess. Chess is joy, happiness. Of course, war is very bad. But I am in favor of preserving our chess family. We must not destroy it.

Alas, the FIDE Council did not support the radical proposal to abolish the restrictions, offering an intermediate option - to lift the ban only on the performance of children's national teams and teams of disabled athletes from Russia and Belarus. This, of course, is more than nothing. But as a compromise, such a step looked too shallow.

"We recommend that the general assembly consider a partial re-evaluation of the sanctions and allow vulnerable groups - children and persons with disabilities - to participate in tournaments," said FIDE vice-president Vishwanathan Anand of India, who was tasked with running the high-profile meeting.

Dvorkovich declined the role to avoid accusations of bias.

The key issue turned out to be the form of the expression of will. Many delegates of the assembly had complained the day before about pressure and intimidation by the Ukrainian delegation and the US State Department. Sergei Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, said in an interview with TASS that a secret ballot would be fairer: "Many issues in FIDE are decided in an open manner. But it seems to me that this is a very complicated and delicate issue. Such issues should be considered in secret so that the parties vote independently of each other and are not subject to pressure."

However, the leadership of the international federation decided to follow the regulations and not take additional measures to protect delegates from possible prosecution for supporting Russia.

As a result, 66 delegates voted in favor of partial admission to team tournaments of certain groups of Russian and Belarusian athletes (after consultations with the IOC). 41 participants voted in favor of maintaining sanctions, while 21 people voted for the complete abolition of restrictions. Another 11 abstained.

"There was interest-free pressure."

Of course, this is not what we had hoped for. After all, even the microscopic concession that was achieved would require IOC approval. Chess, as we know, is part of the world Olympic movement, although it is not represented in the program of the main Games. Nevertheless, all federations are autonomous in the matter of sanctions. This has been proved, for example, by the situation with athletics, surfing and winter sports, which have not lifted the ban on neutral Russians for a year and a half, despite recommendations from Lausanne.

- "If we take the history of the issue regarding the lifting of sanctions, it was voiced by many delegates two years ago at the congress in India," Russian Chess Federation President Andrei Filatov told Izvestia. - After that, the FIDE president repeatedly said that, of course, it was necessary to lift sanctions on Paralympians, veterans and children under 12 as soon as possible. None of this was done. For two years the issue has been dragged out to announce now that they will not make a decision again until they consult with the Olympic committee. As you know, the committee has given broad powers to the international federations. For example, to allow transgender people to compete. And on the admission of our children, the international federation suddenly decided to ask the IOC. In my opinion, this is another ploy by Dvorkovich to drag out the time and not to solve the issue as soon as possible.

Perhaps some delegates took the appeal of the 16th world champion Magnus Carlsen to heart. The day before, the Norwegian had urged FIDE not to lift the sanctions. However, this grandmaster lives in one of the most unfriendly countries for Russia and communicates a lot with pro-Western politicians. Meanwhile, we have a huge number of friends in the world of chess. And where, if not here, to abolish unfair restrictions. So far, only the International Boxing Association has dared to do such a thing - and this was one of the reasons for its final break with the IOC. Perhaps the delegates to the assembly had this experience in mind, too.

- The delegates were put under interest-free pressure," continued Andrei Filatov. - They were frightened. There was a statement of the US State Department, representatives of Ukraine approached them, influenced them, threatened them with sanctions. This affected the outcome of the vote. There were letters from ambassadors of Western countries. After the decision to vote openly, the outcome was predetermined. If the voting had taken place in closed mode, we would have seen a different result.

It should be noted that 199 federations, including Russia and Belarus, participated in the General Assembly. Our country was represented in Hungary by the head coach of the Russian national teams, Grandmaster Sergey Yanovsky.