Over the past few days, we have been overwhelmed by indignant news following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Many Russian athletes have also spoken out strongly against the war. But Sergei Karjakin, one of the best chess players in the world, makes a different sound.
Sergei Karjakin became a grandmaster of chess at the age of 12, the youngest in history at the time. He is best known for his duel for the world title against Magnus Carlsen in 2016. Karjakin looked on his way to the title, but eventually lost in the tiebreaks.
Despite that defeat, Karjakin was afterwards received as a hero of the fatherland by President Vladimir Putin. Until 2009, however, he represented Ukraine, because he was born in Simferopol, a city in Crimea.
When Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, Karjakin applauded it, which resulted in a lot of opposition from his Russian colleagues. But that’s nothing compared to the current controversy.
We saw the first burst of Karjakin’s patriotism a few months ago, when he almost bluntly called his compatriot Daniil Dubov a traitor, because he had assisted Carlsen in his title match against Jan Nepomniashchi.
Karjakin lashes out on Twitter, FIDE punishes Russia and Belarus
But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the “Minister of Defense” (Karjakin’s nickname) took to Twitter even more to attack.
From his holiday resort in Dubai, he added fuel to the fire by telling an anecdote from a local taxi driver who expressed his support for Russia. “We are not as stupid as Ukraine,” said the man, after which Karjakin added a few tears of laughing icons.
What followed was an almost endless stream of tweets from Karjakin, some of which he has already deleted. The chess player repeats Putin’s rhetoric and sees the raid as a liberation operation. According to Karjakin, the ethnic Russians in Ukraine (like himself) have been persecuted and sometimes killed by the current regime in recent years.
At the International Chess Federation FIDE they can’t help but laugh. Karjakin will have to answer to the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee for his statements. He risks suspension.
FIDE (by the way with the Russian Arkady Dvorkovich as chairman) also decided that Russia and Belarus are no longer allowed to organize official chess tournaments. At the other tournaments, Russian and Belarusian flags are banned, as are their national anthems.
A selection of Karjakin’s tweets
