Russia moves chess federation to Asia
"For the first time in history, a chess power moved from one continental federation to another," said Russian Chess Federation (CFR) President Andrey Filatov after the meeting. "The overwhelming number of votes shows the ACF's confidence in us, as well as the efforts of the CFR. I am eagerly waiting for Russia to participate in Asian chess tournaments, and hold Asian tournaments in Russia."
According to 50-year-old Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen, chess became the first sport to accept Russia moving its federation from Europe to Asia. This helps CFR fight bans from FIDE, because of the conflict in Ukraine.
Of the 36 delegations attending the Asian chess conference in Abu Dhabi on February 28, 29 delegations voted for and accepted CFR to join the ACF, one against and six left it blank. Also present at the conference were World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Arkady Dvorkovich and ACF President Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan.
CFR's transfer of federation will take place May 1, 2023.
Vice-President of the European Chess Union (ECU) Malcolm Pein said: "It's a shame that Russia moved the federation to Asia just to avoid a European ban. Chess has always been a reflection of geopolitics, and obviously Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking support from the East. This is understandable, but still shameful."
The ECU announced that Russian players who have registered for the European Championships in Serbia from March 2 will still be able to compete. If they achieve high results, they are still eligible to play in the chess World Cup. There is also no law that prohibits these players from participating in the Asian Championships taking place in Kazakhstan at an unspecified time this year.
According to the FIDE ranking of March 2023, Russia is ranked third in the world with the average standard Elo of the Top 10 players reaching 2,688, behind the US and India. When Russia completes the transition, ACF will include three members of the Top 4 in the world, namely India, Russia and China.
In the history of 24 times the European team tournament, Russia as well as the Soviet Union have won a total of 14 times in the men's group. The Russian men's players have also won the European individual championships in 10 of the last 13 times of the tournament.
