What's GM short doing?!

[ben.graff]

I wanted to put on record my full support for the ECF motion. All credit to Nigel, Malcolm et al for taking this issue forward. A point that has not been touched on so far, is the impact Iran's actions have on Israeli players. What about the damage to Israeli careers which flows from countries refusing to play against them, or not inviting them to events in the first place? Why should we stand by and let chess be used to divide people, rather than bring them together? I certainly don't see trying to tackle discrimination as "gesture politics," irrespective of the prospects of success, to answer a point Jonathan made in his interesting post.

Chess players the world over are not responsible for the policy positionings of their Government. I am very moved by Soheil's points on Iranian players and the individual challenges they face as a result of the Iranian regime. However, discrimination against Israeli players can have no place in chess or wider society. That's why I proudly stand with the ECF on this one.

[Matthew Turner]

Just because firuzja or some others have left iran, doesn't mean all people can afford to, and have to, immigrate.
And I don't think anyone ever "required" special pairing, although it is customary.
For example, I myself never met any Israeli player OTB. Why on the earth should I be affected?

Soheil,
I am not sure I understand what you are proposing should happen.
Lets take your own circumstance, either you think the pairings should be changed so you won't face an Israeli, or you have a strategy if you are paired against an Israeli player.

[Angus French]

What about the damage to Israeli careers which flows from countries refusing to play against them, or not inviting them to events in the first place? Why should we stand by and let chess be used to divide people, rather than bring them together?

Has that happened or is it likely to happen? More likely in my view is damage to the chess careers of Iranian players if a blanket ban is imposed on all Iranian players.

Chess players the world over are not responsible for the policy positionings of their Government. I am very moved by Soheil's points on Iranian players and the individual challenges they face as a result of the Iranian regime. However, discrimination against Israeli players can have no place in chess or wider society.

What about discrimination against Iranian players?

[Roger de Coverly]

For example, I myself never met any Israeli player OTB. Why on the earth should I be affected?

What would you do or be told to do, if such a pairing were made?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Just because firuzja or some others have left iran, doesn't mean all people can afford to, and have to, immigrate.
And I don't think anyone ever "required" special pairing, although it is customary.
For example, I myself never met any Israeli player OTB. Why on the earth should I be affected?

Soheil,
I am not sure I understand what you are proposing should happen.
Lets take your own circumstance, either you think the pairings should be changed so you won't face an Israeli, or you have a strategy if you are paired against an Israeli player.

I mean if there is no other way, then do the pairings as normal, and at most Iranians would skip a round.
Why to retaliate before a crime?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

For example, I myself never met any Israeli player OTB. Why on the earth should I be affected?

What would you do or be told to do, if such a pairing were made?

I myself?
I have Israeli GM friends. So, I myself won't avoid playing an Israeli if given a choice, nor would most other Iranians.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What happened today at the FIDE meeting?

[Paul Cooksey]

What happened today at the FIDE meeting?

https://www.chess.com/news/view/fide-ge ... ran-israel

[Stewart Reuben]

Soheil, you may not know the long history of all this.
South Africa could not play in FIDE events for some years. The players and teams were boycotted because of the repulsive Apartheid Laws. That only ceased when there was the regime change.
Iran left FIDE because the Khomeini banned the game. Eventually that ban was lifted and Iran returned to FIDE.
Then many Arabic countries or players would not play against Israel. There was an unwritten rule that meant whenever such a pairing came up, the pairings were changed. That came to a head in the Olympiad in Dresden where Israel were paired with Yemen. I, and many others, knew that meant Yemen would forfeit. The pairings controllers were obdurate. Israel duly won 4-0 by default, quite a big advantage. They also had the advantage of a free day. Israel won the bronze medal.
After that the special non-written rule withered away. Except Iran or Iranian players still try to adhere to the old rule. There is, or was, a FIDE Law that countries at war with each other did not have to be paired together in the Olympiad. Iran feels it is at war with Israel, but Israel does not feel it is at war with Iran.

All other members of FIDE agree. Gens Una Sumus. Why should Iran be different from everybody else?

Matthew your solution causes other problems. If one player is removed from the pairings, that means there is an odd number of players. Somebody must get a win bye and this is unfair on all the other players. Yes, you can introduce a filler. But only Britain seems to like that.

[David Sedgwick]

That came to a head in the Olympiad in Dresden where Israel were paired with Yemen. I, and many others, knew that meant Yemen would forfeit. The pairings controllers were obdurate. Israel duly won 4-0 by default, quite a big advantage. They also had the advantage of a free day. Israel won the bronze medal.

This happened at Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad 2010, not at Dresden Olympiad 2008.

[David Sedgwick]

What happened today at the FIDE meeting?

https://www.chess.com/news/view/fide-ge ... ran-israel

Proceedings at the FIDE General Assembly can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lxqCLoFKKY&feature=youtu.be. Discussion of the Iran issue commences at about 2:49 in.

[Roger de Coverly]

What happened today at the FIDE meeting?

The FIDE delegates agreed to a motion whereby the Iranian Federation and Iranian players are warned as to their future conduct.

[Stewart Reuben]

Israel are in a European zone in FIDE. That geographically makes no sense, but it solved the problem in those days of the hostility of the federations in the relevant zone to Israel.

I was, fairly recently, invited to a chess event in Iran. I decided to tun it down partly because I could tell my family were alarmed at the idea.

[Nick Grey]

What was the outcome of the meeting?

[David Sedgwick]

What was the outcome of the meeting?

A yellow card rather than a red card. See Roger's post a little upthread.