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full screen Parallel to the congress, the Chess Olympiad is taking place in Budapest. Photo: Denes Erdos/AP/TT
After a long and sometimes chaotic debate, the countries in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) have voted no to invite Russia and Belarus into the federation again.
The countries were excluded in connection with Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Kyrgyzstan had moved before the current congress in Hungary to invite the countries again.
Sweden, the other Nordic countries, and several of the countries in Europe were strongly against the proposal.
– The content has created concern as it was not possible to know how big the forces were to drop or soften the sanctions. Now we know that they were small and from already “known” countries, says Håkan Jalling, chairman of the Swedish Chess Federation, to TT.
On the last day, Fide launched a type of compromise where the sanctions remain, but where children and disabled people from Russia will be allowed to participate in competitions. That proposal received 66 votes, thus winning the vote. 21 countries voted to admit Russia and Belarus – including Iran, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.