Sergey Karjakin is currently playing his first event after he received a 6 months ban from participating in FIDE events. Karjakin competes in a closed round-robin event in a field of four participants who in higher or lesser extent supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a short interview for the Russian News Agency TASS, Karjakin commented on the upcoming Ukraine vs Russia FIDE elections battle which will take place in Chennai, India, during the 44th Chess Olympiad. “If a Ukrainian is president of FIDE, we’ll simply all be left penniless. Russians will definitely not participate in any tournaments and that will be the end of it. Then we will definitely have to create something new. But this such an apocalyptic scenario, of course” said Karjakin.
This is not the first time that Sergey Karjakin proposes creating Russian-based chess international institutions. At the time chess.com closed its platform for Russian players, Karjakin announced he is developing his own chess platform which aims to hold online competitions and will have artificial intelligence to detect cheating. “I hope that a full-fledged Russian chess portal will be released this year, and we will not depend on Western platforms” wrote Karjakin on his Telegram channel.
After cheering the Russian aggression against Ukraine soil, Karjakin was granted the medal “For Merit to the Fatherland”. Sergey Karjakin showed his proudness to get the Russian award of the second level saying: “Thanks a lot! I serve Russia!” on his official Telegram account. All Karjakin’s case news can be found here
