Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin was banned from competitors for six months on Monday because of his unwavering assist on social media for Russia amid the battle in Ukraine.
As the invasion enters day 26, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) introduced that “the statements of Sergey Karjakin, which, by his own choice and presentation, can be connected to the game of chess, damage the reputation of the game of chess and/or FIDE.”
Karjakin’s statements on Twitter have praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and the army actions taken in Ukraine for the reason that preliminary invasion on February 24.
If you’ve got by no means been there, are you certain you’ll be able to decide?
And sure, I’m in Russia, supporting my nation and my President!😉 https://t.co/2u66ymvkxs— Sergey Karjakin 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺 (@SergeyKaryakin) March 4, 2022
As the battle continued, some started to name out Karjakin for his public statements of assist. In a Twitter thread, Karjakin mentioned, “Many people ask if I regret my public support of the special operation? After all, I have already lost invitations to Western tournaments and may lose an invitation to the candidates tournament.”
“My answer is simple,” he added. “I am on the side of Russia and my President. No matter what happens, I will support my country in any situation without thinking for a second!”
In addition to his outward assist of Russian forces, Karjakin additionally posted in regards to the United States, sharing a tweet from Chinese authorities official Lijian Zhao and wrote, “Many thanks to our Chinese friends for telling the truth.”
The announcement of the 32-year-old chess participant’s sanction from competitors didn’t come as a shock to Karjakin, who wrote in a Telegram put up on Monday, “An expected, but no less shameful decision by FIDE. All sports selections have been trampled, the basic principle that sport is out of politics has been trampled.”
Russian groups and gamers have been faraway from a number of big-time sporting occasions in current weeks as boycotts and sanctions ramp up. FIFA, the governing physique for soccer, and the International Ice Hockey Federation introduced that they had been banning Russian groups from competing, and Electronic Arts (EA Sports) got down to take away Russian groups from its upcoming video video games.
FIDE now joins the ranks as they discovered Karjakin responsible of breaking the “FIDE Code of Ethics, and is sanctioned to a worldwide ban of six months from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition,” the announcement learn.
Alas, FIDE disgraced not me, however themselves,” Karjakin added in his Telegram post. “And now we are able to all be satisfied that the worldwide sports activities officers, who’ve been banning Russian Olympians lately with or with out trigger, have reached chess, which has at all times been removed from this lawlessness.”
“I’m a patriot of my nation, and solely secondly – an athlete. If my ideas return to the scenario once I supported the President of Russia, the folks and the military, then I’d have carried out precisely the identical! I don’t remorse something,” Karjakin wrote.
Newsweek reached out to International Chess Federation for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images for World Chess