Chess player Sergey Karjakin turned down FIDE invitation to the World Cup

One of the most famous Russian grandmasters, Sergey Karyakin, actually refused to participate in the next championship cycle, making it clear that he was rejecting the invitation of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which disqualified him last year for publicly supporting Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, to play in the summer World Cup in Baku. Karjakin explained that he was “categorically” against playing in a neutral status, provided for all domestic chess players and excluding the possibility “in case of a successful performance” “to hear the Russian anthem.”

The International Chess Federation has published preliminary list players who are already eligible to participate in the World Cup. It will be held in Baku from July 29 to August 25. The value of the tournament is added by the fact that three tickets to the next Candidate Tournament will be played at once. In it, eight grandmasters will determine next year in Toronto the contender for the title of world champion, who will meet with its owner, the Chinese Ding Liren. The FIDE list also includes the famous Russian grandmaster Sergey Karyakin. He guaranteed himself the right to play in the World Cup thanks to a successful performance in the previous tournament. It took place in 2021 in Sochi and brought silver to Karjakin, who could not cope only with the Pole Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the final.

Sergei Karyakin in his Telegram channel confirmed that he had received an invitation from FIDE to an important tournament, which the athlete called “favorite”. Karjakin scored several outstanding victories in his career, and in 2016 he played in a championship match with the undisputed leader of the world chess, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, led the score in the course of it and was defeated only in a tie-break. But with the World Cup, which uses the so-called knockout system, he really must be associated with the most pleasant memories. At this competition, Sergey Karyakin almost always showed very good results, and in 2015 he took gold in Baku. Karjakin, who is now in the 11th place in the FIDE rating (out of the Russians, only Ian Nepomniachtchi is in the fourth position), would undoubtedly have the status of a favorite for this Baku World Cup.

Meanwhile, having informed about the FIDE invitation received, Sergey Karjakin made it clear that he would ignore it. He explained that he was “categorically against” the obligatory neutral status provided by the federation for domestic chess players.

“Specifically, at the upcoming tournament, I won’t be able to represent my country, I won’t be able to play under my own flag, and in case of a successful performance, I won’t be able to hear the Russian anthem,” Karyakin added.

At the same time, he nevertheless clarified that he would like to hear the opinion of his subscribers about accepting the invitation, and published survey under the heading “Speech without flag and anthem”. By Thursday evening, about 90% of respondents voted for the “no” option. And a source close to the chess player told Kommersant that Sergey Karyakin “in any case, has already decided not to play at the World Cup, because he considers the FIDE conditions as humiliating.”

In fact, Karjakin’s refusal from the Baku tournament also means the refusal of the championship cycle as a whole.

Within its framework, there is another major tournament – the Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man in the fall with two tickets to the Candidates tournament at stake. But it will have the same restrictions on Russians as in the World Cup.

In fact, those who closely follow chess could easily have predicted this development. The fact is that last year Sergey Karyakin had a loud conflict with FIDE. In March she disqualified him for six months for public, through social networks, support for a special military operation in Ukraine, and the athlete in response repeatedly criticized the federation for unfair, in his opinion, decisions. The development of events in the championship cycle made the punishment especially offensive. Because of him, Sergey Karjakin missed the summer Candidates Tournament in Madrid. He was urgently replaced by the Chinese Ding Liren. As a result, he took second place in Spain after the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, but this was enough to participate in the championship match because of the demarche of Magnus Carlsen, who voluntarily parted with the title. And in the duel for the title that turned out to be vacant, which was played in April in Astana, Ding Liren, like Carlsen in 2021, beat Nepomniachtchi.

Sergei Karyakin’s refusal significantly reduces Russia’s chances of seeing its representative again in the main chess match. Ian Nepomniachtchi secured the right to play in the Candidates tournament as the last contender for the title. But it will be difficult for some of the other Russians to join him. For example, in addition to Sergey Karyakin, several other Russians were included in the preliminary list of participants in the Baku World Cup, but all of them are noticeably inferior to him in terms of experience, background and position in the classification.

Alexey Dospekhov