The meeting of the FIDE Council took place two days ago during the FIDE Congress 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. One of the items on the meeting was a proposal by Kyrgyz Chess Federations to lift sanctions against Russian and Belarusian Chess Players.
The topic will be included in FIDE General Assembly agenda, and FIDE now informed the federations about the final decisions of the FIDE Council. Sports Director of the German Chess Federation Kevin Hoegy shared the FIDE Council’s decisions regarding the Kyrgyz Chess Federation proposal:
The FIDE Council, upon reviewing the proposal of the Kyrgyz Chess Union and of the Chess Federation of Russia, with reference to the art. 17.2 (h) of the FIDE Charter, according to which the FIDE General Assembly expresses general guidance on FIDE activities, hereby decides to include the requested matters and the following draft resolutions to the agenda of GA:
Var.1 – To recommend to the FIDE Council to lift all restrictions imposed by the FIDE Council in its resolution as of 27.02.2022 and resolution as of 15.03.2022 with reference to Russia and Belarus
Var.2 – To recommend to the FIDE Council to consider whether less severe restrictions could be imposed with reference to Russia and Belarus, instead of those specified in the FIDE Council resolution as of 27.02.2022 and resolution as of 15.03.2022
Var.3 – To recommend to the FIDE Council to hold the FIDE Council resolution as of 27.02.2022 and resolution as of 15.03.2022 unchanged
European federations are strongly against lifting sanctions against Russia and Belarus. European Chess Union published a strong statement, requesting FIDE General Assembly to keep sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Further on, ECU asks FIDE to demand Russian Chess Federation to cease any operations in Ukrainian territory. In case of non-compliance, ECU urges FIDE to suspend the Russian Chess Federation with the immediate effect.
World No1 Magnus Carlsen also shared his thoughts and supported Ukraine during the FIDE100 Gala Dinner, upon receiving the award for the greatest chess player.
While the Norwegian Chess Federation rejected the Kyrgyz Chess Federation proposal, the German Chess Federation published a press release, clearly stating that theย German Chess Federation is against the return of the Russian and Belarusian chess players without restrictions. The President of the German Chess Federation Ingrid Lauterbach explained that the proposal is absurd: โI think it is absurd that this application was even made, and now I hope that common sense prevailsโ.
The FIDE General Assembly starts tomorrow and takes place on 21-22 September in Budapest, Hungary.
