We have always or almost always been the strongest or very strong in chess. If they awarded the crown, over time they still took it away. So today they made such a move that the centuries-old history of chess did not know and could not imagine. In fact, they changed their citizenship, moving from one continent to a completely different one.
And they did the right thing, because in Europe we were strangled and finally not trampled just because we were not given the opportunity to strangle the President of the International Federation (FIDE), our hereditary chess leader Arkady Dvorkovich. However, a noose has already been placed around their necks that prevents them from attending the chess Olympiads and other team competitions. Some European national federations, such as the German one, even prohibited their players from playing with ours and in individual competitions, on pain of losing scholarships and other financial aid.
This situation involuntarily reminded me of 1936, when chess players of the “wrong nationality” were forbidden to sit at the chessboard. Shameful, I am not afraid to write, the genocide of chess in our days, with few exceptions, has taken over the entire Old Continent, which has lived a lot and learned so little. And with him, with such a Europe, Russian chess was out of the way. Acting like third-rate guinea pigs, dependent on the will of the owner-patron, we don’t fit.
I am tired of waiting, arguing and bowing my head in front of the European sports strips.
How many brilliant heads, and only such heads play chess, we could lose, walk away from the game, see under false flags. And the Russian Chess Federation made a smart move, giving checkmate, but without sending a queen to monstrously unfair Europe. We will play in Asia, where chess is developing, and the two largest countries on the continent, China and India, are gaining prominence. Asian grosses are good to fight. But behind the chessboard and only behind it. I am tired of arguing, bowing my head to the European chess bans, who have gotten into politics without any business, in which they understand little and are trained only to bow to the imaginary rulers of the world.
I was very afraid that at the last moment it would break. And not by Asian colleagues, but only by some of their own, stuck in the last century and not ready for new revolutionary solutions. The thesis “after all, it has always been like this” in an era of unprecedented change must be (this is a pun) forgotten forever.
I would like to believe that in the near future we will be able, as always, to skillfully hold the championships of the Asian continent in our land of chess. To nurture new chess champions in duels with Asian chess players, whose appearance under unlimited European sanctions would be a big question.
Chess was the first sport to take a serious step. Apparently, other sports federations can follow the example of the FSR. Otherwise, the choice remains slim. Waiting until the ardent Russophobes suddenly soften is at least naive. Hoping for help from the International Olympic Committee, which from time to time changes its position and hesitantly resists American pressure? The chances are slim, although the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, are willing to maintain at least a semblance of adherence to the Olympic Charter. Unfortunately, there is very little hope for the major international sports federations, where the Europeans set a strong tone, pushing for absolutely uncompromising sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
So what is to be done? Wait in a calm weather nine-point storm? Lament that entire generations of Russian sports professionals are deprived of the right to express themselves and glorify the country that, having invested a lot of effort and money, raised them for this?
Or, without hesitation and unexpected arguments for and against, gather teams and go to the 2023 Asian Summer Games? Why think if you have received an invitation from the Olympic Council of Asia. Yes, there are complex, sometimes ingenious conditions, certain reservations. But secondly, the members of the Russian national team get the right to compete, which they have been deprived of for several years. And first of all, at least in some types of the Asian Games program, the Russians can meet the qualification standards and officially get the right to go to the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
There would be more chances of reaching the French capital if, instead of endless bickering over whether we need Asia as a big stadium or not, steps were taken to transfer to the sporting jurisdiction of the Asian continent. After all, Russia has the most direct relationship with him.
Our chess players, as befits thinking people, were the first to play the Asian opening. Let’s hope there’s a sequel. Or still sigh and wait for good weather?
