Russian chess makes a move to Asia

The first domestic sports structure, which, against the backdrop of sanctions imposed in connection with a special military operation in Ukraine, will change its European “residence permit” to an Asian one, will be the Russian Chess Federation (RCF). Her transition from the European Chess Union (ECU) to the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) is likely to be formalized in late February or early March. The FSR is confident that Russian chess players will have more match practice in the new region, and the level of competition in Asia is now even higher than in Europe.

The fact that in about a month, the transition of the Russian Chess Federation from the European Chess Union to the Asian Chess Federation will probably be officially formalized, Alexander Tkachev, executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, told Kommersant. It must be approved by the ACF congress. The meeting of this body will be held from February 26 to March 3. Mr. Tkachev added that “the entire package of documents necessary for the transition” has already been sent to both the ACF and the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The Executive Director of the FSR recalled that in fact the federation voted for the change of “propiska” back in April last year, and since then the relevance of this idea has become “even more obvious.”

The European structure is also well aware that the federation that is part of the ECU is going to leave it. This was revealed from her published statements. In it, the ECU, predicting such a move, refers to the statements of Russian chess functionaries, in particular, the president of the CFR Andrey Filatov. In December, he warned of its intention to become the first Russian federation to “break through the blockade” that arose from the imposition of sanctions on the Russian sports industry after the start of a military special operation in Ukraine.

The ECU noted that it had no objection to the switch “until it receives a clear statement from the International Chess Federation forbidding it”.

FIDE, which leads Russian Arkady Dvorkovich, over the past few months, did not indicate in any way that she was not satisfied with the change of the regional confederation initiated by the FSR.

The “Asian vector” in the context of the search for optimal options for the development of Russian sports in the current conditions is by no means a new topic. At the end of last year, it was raised by the Russian Football Union (RFU). He raised the question of the expediency of withdrawing from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which, it seems, is not going to cancel the suspension of Russian clubs and teams from tournaments in the near future, for the sake of moving to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for discussion by the executive committee. However, instead of authorizing such a transition, the RFU in January created a working group that has already begun to interact with UEFA in order to develop a road map for the return of Russian football players to its competitions. However, it seems that he does not completely refuse from the “Asian direction”. On Thursday, the press service of the RFU informed that the president of the organization, Alexander Dyukov, and its general secretary, Maxim Mitrofanov, attended the AFC congress in Manama at the invitation of the head of the regional confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa.

In addition, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is also considering the “Asian option”. It arose last week when the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) issued a statement in which it expressed its readiness to admit representatives of Russia and Belarus to tournaments under its auspices. It followed a resonant publication by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In it, the IOC, which immediately after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, in fact, initiated the introduction of a regime of complete international isolation in relation to the Russian sports industry, for the first time spoke in favor of its sharp easing. The new recommendations insist on ensuring the admission to the competition of Russian and Belarusian athletes who refrain from “active support” of the special operation. The OCA emphasized that it is waiting for the IOC, together with the international federations, to finally decide on the “paths for the return” of athletes from Russia and Belarus, subject to “tough conditions”.

Russian chess is formally in a privileged position compared to the vast majority of sports and football, for example. FIDE and did not introduce for them the regime of absolute isolation.

Only Russian teams were suspended. Individually, chess players from Russia, albeit in a neutral status, are still allowed to participate in international competitions.

However, Alexander Tkachev told Kommersant that in reality the policy of the ECU, which de jure adheres to the same sanctions measures as FIDE, as well as its member countries, was aimed at “hard limiting” the admission of Russians to competitions taking place in Europe. As examples, Mr. Tkachev referred to the ban in Germany for local chess players to play in the same tournaments with Russian ones, as well as the fact that only one Russian player, Alexandra Kosteniuk, who won gold, played at the European Rapid and Blitz Championships held in Katowice, Poland in December. .

Alexander Tkachev has no doubt that in Asia there will be fewer problems “both with logistics and with the attitude towards domestic athletes.” Moreover, he pointed out that the Asian competitive calendar is “even richer than the European one.” Thanks to this, the Russians will get more match practice in the ACF than they had in the ECU.

But Mr. Tkachev named another factor as the most important advantage of the transition – the level of competition in the region. Such a thesis in relation to football would sound strange, but in the case of Asia it has a good reason.

In men’s chess, the “share” of this region is constantly increasing. This can be judged, for example, by the fact that there are two Russians in the top ten of the FIDE men’s rating (Ian Nepomniachtchi and Sergey Karjakin) and the same number of Asian representatives – Chinese Ding Liren and Indian Viswanathan Anand. And this is not counting Alireza Firouzja, representing France, who only recently parted with the citizenship of his native Iran. Ding Liren and Yang Nepomniachtchi will play each other in April for the world title (in 2022, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who held the title for almost ten years, refused it).

Moreover, in the coming years, the “Asian component” will certainly be even more noticeable. In the top ten ranking of the best juniors, which is headed by Firouzja, there are six Asian players at once. These are Uzbeks Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sindarov, as well as Indians Gukesh Dommaraju, Arjun Erigaisi, Rameshbabu Pragnanandha and Nihal Sarin. Some of them, despite their teenage years, already have serious sporting achievements. So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the World Rapid Chess Championship in 2021, the World Chess Olympiad in 2022, being the leader of the Uzbekistan national team, and in January 2023 he almost won the prestigious super tournament in the Dutch Wijk aan Zee, being in final table above Magnus Carlsen.

The situation in women’s chess is even more attractive for Asia. Here, in general, we can talk about Asian dominance. The top ten of the rating, in which there are three Russians – Alexandra Goryachkina, Ekaterina Lahno and Alexandra Kosteniuk, consists of exactly half of the representatives of the region. Chinese chess player Ju Wenjun holds the title of world champion, and this country will not part with it in the foreseeable future. Two of Ju Wenjun’s compatriots, Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi, will compete for the title of contender. With juniors bursting into the elite in Asia, everything is also in perfect order. For example, Kazakhstani athlete Bibisara Assaubayeva, who is only 18 years old, won two world blitz championships in a row – in 2021 and 2022.

Alexey Dospekhov