Fide decision to make about Russia

UPDATE: Fide has cancelled this year's Olympiad in Russia. From the Fide website today:

//FIDE Council has decided that the 44th Chess Olympiad, including the competition for players with disabilities, as well as the FIDE Congress, will not take place in Russia. We will do our utmost to find another organizer for the Olympiad and, in due time, provide information on the location and dates of FIDE Congress 2022.//

Moderators, please don't lock. This is a legitimate topic about urgent decisions Fide has to make regarding chess events due to be played in Russia, starting with the Olympiad this summer. Chess does not exist in a bubble, after all. 

Leonard Barden, reporting on this week's Airthings Masters, wrote this:

//Away from the board, Nepomniachtchi published a tweet which said: “History has seen many Black Thursdays, but today is blacker than the others.” It was signed with the hashtag #saynotowar.

Previously the most politically outspoken Russian grandmaster has been the 2016 world title challenger, Sergey Karjakin, who switched allegiance from Ukraine to Russia and is well known as a Vladimir Putin sympathiser.

War in Ukraine poses an immediate problem for Fide, the global chess body. The biennial 150-nation team Olympiad, which was postponed from 2020 due to Covid, is due to be staged in Moscow in July-August this year. The Fide president, Arkady Dvorkovich, used to be deputy prime minister of Russia under Dmitry Medvedev, and the Russian chess federation ias scheduled to send out formal invitations to participate as early as this weekend.

Uefa can switch the Champions League final away from Moscow, but the Olympiad lasts several weeks and it seems unrealistic to find a new host at short notice. Meanwhile, some posts on the English Chess Forum are already calling for a boycott.

Late on Thursday afternoon Fide issued a statement expressing “grave concern”. An extraordinary meeting of the Fide Council will review all planned Fide official chess competitions and events in Russia, and will take decisions after consulting member federations.

Several players and commentators, among them Carlsen’s chief aide Peter Heine Nielsen, have called for Fide to act more decisively, move the Olympiad away from Moscow, and show unity and solidarity with Ukraine. //

Link:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/feb/25/chess-carlsen-overcomes-covid-as-russias-no-1-shares-anti-war-message

Well said. I also hope this thread is not locked.

We need to see where Chess.com stand on this.  Ignoring it is not an option.

The UEFA Cup final has already been moved from St Petersburg to Paris. So the football authorities have responded quickly. A Formula One event in Russia has also just been cancelled.

To say that sport (and chess) is outside or above politics is rather naive. A big event is a publicity coup for a country. So let's hope Fide also does the right thing in support of civilised values. 

As someone who admires russian culture but isnt actually russian, I would like to say that I dont support the governments actions, but I dont believe players(who are not open supporters of putin) should be punished

It's not about punishing players. It's about not supporting a government which has flagrantly and egregiously broken international law. 

In any case, top chess players are used to travelling all over the world to play. So a change of venue for the Olympiad would not be a hardship for them. 

I agree with your second point. Your first point, I also agree with, but I believe that chess players who are open supporters of the current actions should be sanctioned, while others who are not should be allowed to play. Now PSA for the thread: Lets keep this civil, so we dont get locked

to host champion league final despite covid sounds like a scary idea

Hope fide makes the right call...

I doubt that making chess players pass a test of their views will work. Better to just move the venue and let all eligible competitors play. 

But as Leonard Barden says, the main problem is that the Olympiad is a  very long event and therefore difficult to relocate at relatively short notice. So the alternative is for national federations to boycott the event in Russia.

I think Fide as an international organisation needs to boycott this event, as mentioned above anything else sanctions current actions and taints fide by association. Chess like the rest of life can't exist in a bubble. When even Russian world champion challengers come out against currant actions from the host country anything else would be seen as weak.

By the way well done to Ian Nepomniachtchi and others for speaking out, Putin isn't known for taking criticism well, it's good to see such integrity and courage from the world challenger and others. 

@Ginarook. 

Yes, you're right. And Fide doesn't exactly have the best reputation going into this. Skullduggery and backroom deals are more its style. 

Still, the delegates might actually get their act together on this one and rise above fudge and veniality. Let's hope so. 

Boycotting is a good idea, I think, it doesnt take a extremely large amount of effort, and it has a good effect to cost ratio

to say that it is unrealistic to move the olympiad away from moscow is untrue. it is annoying to organizers but it is not unrealistic. hundreds of potential venues exist and nearly half a year remains. calling it unrealistic is showing weakness and an unwillingness to deal with annoyances that might cause people discomfort. do it. move the olympiad. it is the right thing to do.

@OpenSquirrel

//By the way well done to Ian Nepomniachtchi and others for speaking out, //

Well said. He is in the country and is therefore exposed to criticism and the wrath of the administration. It's brave of him. 

Purely from a economic standpoint, its possible to move within half a year. Bureaucratic? im not sure, sometimes people take too long to decide, I do agree moving is the best option, but boycotting is a easier one.

if european football can change with the nightmare of finding football pitches fide can change when all you need to play chess is a large playing hall and some hotels. it is lazy of these old men to not want to be bothered

Oh, they've decided already. This is from the Fide website just now:

//FIDE Council has decided that the 44th Chess Olympiad, including the competition for players with disabilities, as well as the FIDE Congress, will not take place in Russia. We will do our utmost to find another organizer for the Olympiad and, in due time, provide information on the location and dates of FIDE Congress 2022.//

Well well, they did the right thing after all. 

That is good, they are taking action.

Yeah, they've got time move it if they hurry.  It's not May or June right now, it's late Feb.  They just need to do things with a sense of urgency and not be lazy and goof off.