GM Sergey Karjakin is serving a six-month ban for voicing pro-war and pro-Putin statements on the ongoing war. Here’s more on the issue.
Reason behind banning Karjakin from tournaments
Sergey Karjakin, a Crimea-born Russian Grandmaster is on a ban by FIDE’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission for six months. FIDE is the International Chess Federation and the governing body of the sport. The ban is following his comments on Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Karjakin is a strong Putin supporter and is now going to miss the June 2022 Candidates tournaments. He has been voicing pro-war and pro-Putin messages on the current conflict. “Celebrating the first day of spring. A Russian spring,” states one of his tweets. People and chess communities across the world are condemning his captions and tweets.
Additionally, his tweets are terming part of Ukrainians as Nazis, blaming the west, and stating that Russian money is keeping chess and FIDE alive. Due to the ban, he can no longer participate in chess tournaments sanctioned by the FIDE for the next six months. While the GM can appeal against this ruling, he initially stated that he will not be appealing. However, according to Andrey Filatov, they are filing an appeal. Filatov is the president of the Russian Chess Federation.
What is the official response from FIDE?
FIDE’s ethics and disciplinary commission have voted Karjakin guilty for breaching the code of ethics’ Article 2.2.10. Stating “disciplinary action following this Code of Ethics will be taken in cases of occurrences which cause the game of chess, FIDE or its federations to appear in an unjustifiable unfavorable light and in this way damage its reputation”. The committee also believes that Karjakin is significant in the world of chess. However, his comments and damage to the governing body and federation are unfortunate.
“The EDC Chamber finds, against the background given above, on the standard of comfortable satisfaction, that the statements of Sergey Karjakin. Which, by his own choice and presentation, can has connections to the game of chess, damage the reputation of the game of chess, and/or FIDE. The likelihood that these statements will damage the reputation of Sergey Karjakin personally is also considerable,” stated the official statement.