The chess rivalry between Russia and Ukraine existed before the invasion of February 2022. It also existed before the first invasion of Russia in February 2014. It existed, one might say, before the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991. But it has never been harsher than this year. The world of chess has once again become, as it was during the Cold War, a battleground for image, influence and power.
Ukraine wants the presidency of FIDE
Arkady Dvorkovich is the typical servant of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Secret Service: a speaker of foreign languages, even though with that characteristic Slavic accent, well-mannered, educated at an American university where he specialized in economics, well ideologically oriented - including with regard to Russia's role and place in the world. Reasons enough for him to be the deputy prime minister of the Russian Federation for six years, during the term of Dmitry Medvedev. In 2018, however, Dvorkovich seemed ready to give up his great political ambitions - unless other tasks had been prepared for him. The fact is that, after years in the Kremlin, he became involved in the organization of the World Cup, hosted that year by Russia, and then became the head of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), a position in which he followed the line of his predecessor Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, another figure close to Moscow's power circles, without replicating his famous extravagances though.
Dvorkovich's term has come to an end this year. The Russian is seeking to renew it, arguing that in recent years he has managed to stabilize the shaken finances of the Federation. The election is set to take place in July during the Chess Olympics in Chennai, India. Normally, Dvorkovich should have no problem winning, with the support of small and poor national federations in Asia and Africa, but the war in Ukraine has complicated the race for the most important position in the chess administration. The Olympics, during which FIDE traditionally holds its congress, should’ve been held in Russia, but the FIDE leadership itself had to make the decision to move it, given the boycott that Moscow was risking to face from many teams around the world. In other words, Dvorkovich will no longer compete “on home turf”.
Moreover, his opponent in the race for the FIDE leadership is a Ukrainian. Grandmaster Andrey Baryshpolets has been living in the United States for some time, where he completed his studies and continued the chess career he had started in Kyiv. He hopes to win the votes of the Western chess federations, which would not want to leave FIDE “in the hands of the Russians”, especially against the current political background.
But it will not be easy for the Ukrainian candidate. Arkady Dvorkovich is running in the elections with a formidable team, which includes a former world chess champion, the popular Indian player Viswanathan Anand. If Dvorkovich wins a new term, Anand will become vice-president of the Federation. The mutual support between Russia and India seems to have been replicated at the FIDE level as well. The funny part is, however, that Dvorkovich risks losing the support of the very Russian chess federation. It's just speculation, though not unlikely, given his statements on the war in Ukraine. “My thoughts are with the Ukrainian civilians”, Dvorkovich said in March, a month after the invasion.
“War is the worst thing that can happen to people”, he said “and this one is no exception”, he added, to the irritation of the invasion's supporters. One of them, a member of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, accused the former deputy prime minister of national treason and demanded his honorary resignation.
Russian chess players are defying the Kremlin
Although acts of rebellion in Russia are rare, Dvorkovich's anti-war stance is not unique among the Russian chess players. Until recently, Iran was the country that chess players preferred to give up in order to pursue a career. The Tehran authorities would force them not to play with the Israeli chess players, which affected their performance. Now, Russia is the one that has taken the lead in the top of the countries abandoned by athletes, including chess players. They are afraid of becoming a pariah in the international chess community, but they also reject the Kremlin's warlike rhetoric.
After the invasion, Russian chess players are no longer accepted in international tournaments. However, the federation offered them the possibility of a simplified change of affiliation to a federation, as well as the option to play in tournaments under the FIDE flag. A significant number of Russian grandmasters took advantage of the offer, so at the moment, in the top 100 chess players in the world rankings, there are ten Russian grandmasters listed under the FIDE flag, while the Russian Federation has only twelve representatives. Practically, almost half of the top Russian players have chosen to renounce their national federation, which is a unique statistic in the history of world chess.
A notable exception is the great Russian master Sergey Karjakin, who in 2016 played with the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen a match for the world title. Karjakin not only remained on the list of the Russian Chess Federation, but carried out an open pro-war propaganda on social media. After the launch of the attack in February, he also wrote a letter of appreciation to President Vladimir Putin for his decision to invade Ukraine. The attitude cost him in sports. Sergey Karjakin was eliminated by FIDE from the Madrid Candidates Tournament, the competition organized to select Magnus Carlsen's opponent in the match of the year for the title of world chess champion.
In fact, it’s not the first time that the Russian chess player reacts like this. Back in 2014, when Crimea was seized, Karjakin, born in Simferopol, Crimea, applauded the Kremlin's action, and left the Ukrainian Chess Federation, where he had played until then, to join the Russian Chess Federation.
Arms against pieces
On the other hand, there are many more Ukrainian chess players who are literally fighting the Russian army. For example, the executive director of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, Oleksandr Matlak, sent his family to the west of the country after the Russian invasion, and he remained in Kyiv at the disposal of the Ukrainian military authorities. So did grandmaster Yuri Timoshenko and the international master Evgeni Odnorozenko, who also enlisted to defend the capital. Other chess players in Ukraine are involved in intervention and fundraising activities for the benefit of those affected by the war.
A picturesque episode related to Ukrainian chess during the war took place in April, when a Norwegian team played an online friendly match with the Ukrainian national team. At table 1 for Ukraine played the grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, against the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen. Ivanchuck, a very popular player in Ukraine and not only, obtained a promising position, but eventually lost the game for lack of time. The match ended, and Ivanchuk remained at the table to analyze what specific moves had led him to defeat.
In the meantime, however, the air-raid siren went on: the Russians were bombing Kyiv again. The organizers tried to convince Ivanchuk to go to a shelter, but it was in vain, he remained at the table and kept calculating the game options. Eventually, everybody left, leaving Ivanchuk alone, with the chessboard and the alarm sirens. Fortunately, no bombs fell on the game room, and Ivanchuck was able to carry out his analysis to the end without any incident.
Many Ukrainian chess players stand strongly against the Russian chess players and call on the International Chess Federation not to allow Russians to play even under the FIDE flag. They say Russian chess players win prizes in tournaments, while Ukrainians are forced to give up chess to defend their families and the country. Another argument is that the sums earned by the Russians are taxed; Russian chess players end up financing “Putin's war”. So far, FIDE has not complied with this request.
An old rivalry
Chess has a venerable tradition when it comes to political quarrels. Of great notoriety is the Cold War period, when the USSR and the United States disputed their hegemony in chess, culminating in the World Cup match between Spassky and Fischer in Reykjavik in 1972. Less well known is the chess rivalry within the Soviet Union. Ukrainian, Armenian, Latvian or Azerbaijani chess players were true heroes for those at home when they won against the Russians. When Petrosian defeated Botvinnik and became world champion, the Armenians organized a collection in the public square for him. The Estonian Paul Keres, the Latvian Mikhail Tal or the Azerbaijani Garry Kasparov too became national symbols after defeating Russian chess players.
The collapse of the USSR brought out in the open a competition hitherto hidden between the republics that had formed the Soviet Union. So, it is not surprising that after 1991, when everyone started playing “on their own”, a fierce competition on the chessboard broke out between Russia and Ukraine or Armenia. In Ukraine, in 2004, it was a national holiday when the team led by Ivanchuk, but in which Karjakin also played, won the Olympics for the first time, defeating Russia. Since then, the Ukrainians have repeated the experience and in 2010, on the Russians’ very home turf, Armenia also won the Olympic gold twice, while Russia has not been champion since 2002 (if we do not consider the “virtual Olympics” played during the pandemic).
Recent events, which have led to restrictions on the participation of Russian chess players in international competitions and the departure of strong players from the country, are not likely to increase Russia's performance in the coming years.
From this point of view, of sporting rivalry, the war took the chess competition between Russia and Ukraine to the next level. Political and military decisions have influenced the organization of tournaments and the activity of the International Chess Federation, but also the relations between professional players. The top Russian chess players had to make difficult decisions, and many of them chose not to hide their antipathy to the Kremlin's decision to attack Ukraine. Their match with the Russian authorities is in full swing, but many no longer seem willing to accept a draw.
