The FSR called some of the chess players who changed their citizenship “downed pilots”
Executive Director of the Russian Chess Federation (RFC) Alexander Tkachev commented on the change of citizenship by domestic athletes. His words are reported by TASS.
“While this “window” provided by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was working, 65 people, including 15 grandmasters, took advantage of the right to freely transfer to another federation. Moreover, only five of them, let’s say, had any weight. These are Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nikita Vitiugov, Kirill Alekseenko, Vladimir Fedoseev and Alexey Sarana,” Tkachev said. He called the other part of the chess players “downed pilots” and completely unknown.
After the FCR’s transit to the Asian Chess Federation, FIDE allowed Russians to join European teams without restrictions. At the same time, a player who applied for membership in any other European federation from March 1 to August 31, 2023, was exempt from transfer and compensation payments.
FIDE has allowed Russian and Belarusian chess players to compete in international competitions under a neutral flag until January 1, 2024. After this period, the athletes will be given back the right to compete under the flag of their country unless a different decision is made before then.
Source: Lenta
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