English Chess Forum

Suppose I'm a 2300-rated Israeli FM. I enter a nine-round open; I have a TPR of 2450 after five rounds. In round 6, I get paired against some Iranian who refuses to play me. All of a sudden, through no fault of my own, my norm chances are gone. You'd be in the same position as if your opponent fail...

In the case of Iran & Israel it is clear that the motivation behind the boycott is not to gain a competitive advantage. Whether a competitive advantage is even obtained is debatable, and at best marginal. It is not the decision of the Iranian players, but is forced upon them by their government. Su...

My point, quite simply, was that religious zealots (of any persuasion, not simply Islam) who believe they are guided by their god are unlikely to be dissuaded by secular authorities. They banned chess. Then they changed their minds and unbanned it. I don't think that was due to any fresh revelation...

FIDE have a regulation that, if two countries are at war with each other, yet are playing in the same event, then they are allowed to refuse to be paired together. Thus presumably, during the Falklands crisis, Argentine and UK teams did not have to play against each other. The problem regarding Isr...

While those religious leaders believe that Allah tells them to give Jews, and even the wrong type of Muslim, a hard time they are not going to say, "Well, if that's what FIDE thinks, maybe Allah has got it wrong". Allah never said anything about the appropriate punishment for playing chess with an ...

individual tournaments (where an affected Iranian player will be paired against someone as close in rating to the Israeli they should have played as possible). Sure, if you're selecting the players from an infinitely large pool. But taking an Iranian's finite pool of potential opponents and removin...

individual tournaments (where an affected Iranian player will be paired against someone as close in rating to the Israeli they should have played as possible). Sure, if you're selecting the players from an infinitely large pool. But taking an Iranian's finite pool of potential opponents and removin...

Punishing Iranian players for the actions and threats of their government is a) deeply unfair b) will not change their governments stance one jot - they do not give a sh*t about chess in the wider context of their enmity towards Israel. Are we or Israeli players really losing anything by them not p...

FIDE have a regulation that, if two countries are at war with each other, yet are playing in the same event, then they are allowed to refuse to be paired together. Thus presumably, during the Falklands crisis, Argentine and UK teams did not have to play against each other. The problem regarding Isr...

But the difference is that Iran does NOT even recognize Israel. USA did recognize USSR. Nope. Cuba, Venezuela, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh... none of those recognise Israel either, but they don't ban anyone who plays against an Israeli. It's definitely Iran's decision. I'm not holding...

It is like a person being accused of helping USSR during the cold war, for the US. You can narrowly find the dead body. Yes, playing a game of chess is exactly like helping a hostile country, that's why the US executed Bobby Fischer in 1972. What's that, they didn't execute him? They didn't even ba...

It must be the translation I'm using. I hold no brief for the way Iran does things, but I suspect a prohibition on dealings with Israelis is there. Could you link to the document to which you refer? https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran 1 mention of Iranian Jew...

chess federations are subordinate to the administrations and they subordinate to the government, all of which should follow the constitution. Where is it written in the constitution that people who don't cover their hair or play against Israelis shall be banned from playing chess? I can't find that...

I will respect Iran's achievements in the chess sphere when they stop banning players for competing against Israelis or for wearing their hair uncovered. And I will stop "bringing politics into chess" when chess stops accepting whatever fait accompli the politicians present to it, for fear that obje...

I've also seen boards lent out for junior events come back with a-h and 1-8 written in marker pen. Your vandals are more restrained than ours. If it's been used for junior chess, every edge is likely to be labeled a-h, h-a, 1-8, 8-1, 8-1 crossed out and 8-1 upside-down. Bonus points if opposite edg...