44th Chess Olympiad, Moscow

[Matt Mackenzie]

I'm off.

Wouldn't it be better just not to post for a while.

Seconded.

Things are heated at the moment in here as more widely, that will surely change in the future.

[David Sedgwick]

World Teams (in Jerusalem) next month, chess24 reports - The Polish Chess Federation says that if Russia aren't removed from the World Team Championship this April, Poland won't play in Polish

The World Teams Championship has been postponed until November 2022.

FIDE Statement: www.fide.com/news/1608

[Roger de Coverly]

The World Teams Championship has been postponed until November 2022.

Which teams had qualified?

[Jonathan Bryant]

The World Teams Championship has been postponed until November 2022.

FIDE Statement: www.fide.com/news/1608

Is anybody aware of Ukraine - or anyone else - requesting the event be postponed on the grounds that Ukraine might not be able to attend?

[Chris Rice]

Nigel Short was interviewed yesterday on the recent FIDE Council decisions. Even though he is in effect the head of FIDE at the moment he is clear that the decisions are still being made collectively and that this is a very difficult diplomatic process. From the 8 minute interview it seems from his repeated statements such as "it seems clear to me what needs to be done" that he personally doesn't think FIDE have gone far enough and that they need to get to a position where all Russian and Belarussian players as teams or individuals will be banned from all chess events for the time being.

There were some revealing insights into the size of the FIDE budget ballooning after Dvorkovich took over and how FIDE won't be as affected as you might have thought over getting rid of all the Russian sponsors. The Olympiad and the World Team Championships being moved to later in the year are also referenced.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Nigel Short was interviewed yesterday on the recent FIDE Council decisions. Even though he is in effect the head of FIDE at the moment he is clear that the decisions are still being made collectively and that this is a very difficult diplomatic process. From the 8 minute interview it seems from his repeated statements such as "it seems clear to me what needs to be done" that he personally doesn't think FIDE have gone far enough and that they need to get to a position where all Russian and Belarussian players as teams or individuals will be banned from all chess events for the time being.

There were some revealing insights into the size of the FIDE budget ballooning after Dvorkovich took over and how FIDE won't be as affected as you might have thought over getting rid of all the Russian sponsors. The Olympiad and the World Team Championships being moved to later in the year are also referenced.

This seems in line with how the sporting world in general is starting to treat the situation. Nations just don’t want to compete against Russia and Belarus.
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-inva ... n-12556194

Andreikin’s comments might be quite accurate. His current event might well be his last, at least for a long time.

[JustinHorton]

From the 8 minute interview it seems from his repeated statements such as "it seems clear to me what needs to be done" that he personally doesn't think FIDE have gone far enough

Is it possible it would be easier if the head of FIDE wasn't the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, and did Nigel help put him there

[Matt Bridgeman]

I wonder if as the biggest chess platform, chess.com should pull all the the Russian player and coaching profiles off the site?

[JustinHorton]

Is your issue with the Russian state or with the Russian people?

[Matt Bridgeman]

Is your issue with the Russian state or with the Russian people?

The sanctions and sporting measures clearly effect both. Probably a universal ban on competitions is the cleanest way forward, and probably what’s actually going to happen anyway.

[JustinHorton]

Is your issue with the Russian state or with the Russian people?

The sanctions and sporting measures clearly effect both.

Yes but there is an enormous difference between barring representative Russian sides and barring people who are just Russian citizens.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Is your issue with the Russian state or with the Russian people?

The sanctions and sporting measures clearly effect both.

Yes but there is an enormous difference between barring representative Russian sides and barring people who are just Russian citizens.

It will probably depend on public opinion in America for chess.com to actually do anything. The banking sanctions are obviously ruining ordinary Russian citizens financially. Probably a large company making a bit of stand is a drop in the ocean compared to that. But probably all measures help at this point as direct conflict seems out of the question.

[JustinHorton]

probably all measures help at this point

How specifically would this measure "help" though?

[NickFaulks]

it seems from his repeated statements such as "it seems clear to me what needs to be done" that he personally doesn't think FIDE have gone far enough and that they need to get to a position where all Russian and Belarussian players as teams or individuals will be banned from all chess events for the time being.

That may be his view, but I didn't hear that in his comments. I think he was just saying that there are still many unanswered questions, on which he has his own opinions.

FIDE has always been based on a structure in which players have to be members of a member national federation. This has worked well enough except when something goes wrong, at which point there is no readily available solution.

[NickFaulks]

Is it possible it would be easier if the head of FIDE wasn't the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

I don't think so. He has been quick to accept publicly that there must be consequences for Russia, to a point that may well have made him unpopular in the Kremlin.