The Asian Chess Federation meeting took place today with the presence of the federations’ delegates. During the meeting, the Russian delegate to FIDE addressed the delegates and sent a message from Andrei Filatov, the president of the Chess Federation of Russia.
“This time he could not be at the FIDE Congress, but he sends his best wishes. And as he said in the big interview he gave yesterday, chess will be an example of peaceful coexistence of all countries. Chess should be the example for the political elite of all countries, in order not to make chess a battlefield. Chess should be out of politics“, was said in a speech which refers to the FIDE General Assembly item of removing sanctions against Russian and Belarusian players.
Since the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Chess Federation of Russia organized more than 1000 chess tournaments in occupied Ukrainian territories. European Chess Union today published a strong statement, requesting FIDE General Assembly to keep sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Further on, European Chess Union 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.
The proposal to remove sanctions against Russian and Belarusian players came from Kyrgyz Chess Federation. The Norwegian Chess Federation rejected the Kyrgyz Chess Federation proposal, and the German Chess Federation published a press release, clearly stating that the German Chess Federation is against the return of the Russian and Belarusian chess players without restrictions.
