Putin defense. How politics split Russia's chess community

In January, the chess community discussed a new scandal: Iranian referee Shohreh Bayat said she was a victim of politically motivated persecution after FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich suspended her for writing “women, life, freedom” on a T-shirt. The scandal questioned Dvorkovich's legitimacy as president of FIDE and highlighted the politicization of chess. The Russian chess community split immediately after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Forty-four signatures, including those of thirty grandmasters, were placed under an anti-war appeal, while Sergei Karjakin wrote denunciations against his colleagues and set up chess tournaments in the occupied regions. Karjakin failed, however, in the Chess Federation elections, and apart from Karpov, none of the prominent chess players were on his side. Grandmaster Igor Glek tells a story of how Russian chess was divided into black and white.Читать на русском языке

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