Russia’s Sergey Karjakin banned from chess for supporting invasion of Ukraine

The Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin has been banned from competition for six months because of his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said on Monday.

Karjakin, who challenged Magnus Carlsen for the world title in 2016, has defended his country’s actions on social media in recent weeks, drawing intense criticism from the chess world.

“Sergey Karjakin is found guilty of breach of article 2.2.10 of the FIDE code of ethics, and is sanctioned to a worldwide ban of six months from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition, taking effect from the date of this decision, 21 March 2022,” the governing body said.

“The statements by Sergey Karjakin on the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine have led to a considerable number of reactions on social media and elsewhere, to a large extent negative towards the opinions expressed.”

Karjakin, who was born in Crimea, represented Ukraine until 2009 and the 32-year-old said on Telegram that he was being targeted because of his support for the Vladimir Putin.

“An expected, but no less shameful decision by FIDE,” said Karjakin. “All sports selections have been trampled, the basic principle that sport is out of politics has been trampled. Most importantly, first of all I am a patriot of my country and only second of all I am an athlete. If I thought back to the situation when I supported the president of Russia, the people and the army I would have done the same thing! I don’t regret anything.”

Another Russian grandmaster, Sergei Shipov, was not sanctioned for his pro-Russia comments because the FIDE ruled they were of a “slightly different and less provocative character than the ones made by Karjakin”.

The ban puts