Gallicrow: OK, I found some more about the incident from a post that Tim Wall made on facebook on the 4th May, 2022:(https://www.facebook.com/groups/183...)
Something interesting happened at the latest 4NCL this weekend. (Apart from the dramatic play: impressive play by Alexei Shirov, the victory of Wood Green Youth over Wood Green's first team, the win by Jovanka Houska over Ravi Haria, and the (very) odd triangular match.)
I say 'interesting', but I actually mean strange.
Roger Emerson, the brains (and a lot of the money) behind Guildford's 4NCL success over the last umpteen years, effectively boycotted his game vs. GM Alexander Cherniaev in what appears to have been some kind of protest about the war in Ukraine.
Alex is one of those Russian players who, in compliance with recent decisions by FIDE, the European Chess Union and the ECF, has changed his chess nationality to 'FIDE', and he is well known for spending a considerable amount of time playing in the UK, where he has many friends in the chess community. Alex told me at the weekend that he was hoping to further transfer his chess nationality to England in the near future. When I asked him about his views on the war in Ukraine, he was forthright in his opposition to Putin's aggression, and scathing about what he sees as the corruption within the Russian Chess Federation. (Alex knows I am from a journalistic background, so I imagine his comments were for anyone to hear.)
So, why did Roger Emerson boycott the game (after 1 d4 f5 Roger allowed his time to run out, I am told, thus technically avoiding a penalty for his team for a no-show default)? According to Wood Green manager Lawrence Cooper, it's because Alex has 'played recently in Russia'. This protest, if that's what it is, thus seems to be taking the actions targeted against individual Russian players to a new level. I personally do find it a bit disappointing that Roger would not take Alex's change of chess nationality (or views on the war in Ukraine) into account.
Does it mean that a ban on anyone who has played chess in Russia since February 24, 2022, can be expected, in a similar way to the condemnation of chess players (like Alekhine) who played in Nazi-occupied territory in WW2?
In March, I originally opposed the ECF's recommendation that Russian and Belarussian players change their chess nationality to disassociate themselves from Putin's regime to play in local league and tournament chess in the UK.
But now I am not opposed to that, as I believe the level of barbarity seen in Ukraine by Putin's forces means we all have a moral responsibility to take sides in one way or another.
Kibitzing
