In the world of chess politics, the map has been redrawn. Russia is now officially in Asia, and no longer in Europe. The move was formalised at the end of February, when the Asian Chess Federation voted to admit the Russian Chess Federation by an overwhelming margin. Russia’s pivot to Asia was in the pipeline for some time, since the European Chess Union (ECU) suspended the federations of Russia and Belarus just a couple of weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. The international federation Fide followed suit soon after, so those teams were absent from the Fide Olympiad in Chennai last year.
In Europe, the impact was lessened by the fact that the ECU’s biennial European Team Championship, is not due until November 2023 in Montenegro. (Russian clubs were excluded from the European Club Cup in October 2022.) Meanwhile, Russian players have been allowed to compete as individuals in ECU events, provided they do so under the Fide flag. That compromise recognises that many of Russia’s players are no fans of their government, and some have been openly critical. Since the war began, there has been a steady trickle of Russian players switching federation, including the former women’s world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who announced earlier in March that her transfer to represent Switzerland is complete.
Until now, some players may have been dissuaded by the chunky transfer fees mandated by Fide, which are payable from the new to the old federation, to prevent horse-trading or impulse switching. For an elite player, that fee runs up to €50,000. But when Fide gave the nod to Russia’s switch to Asia, they also declared that individual Russians would be free to adopt a new federation without delay, and those fees would be waived. It’s a fair bet that the exodus is not yet complete.
The European Individual Championship took place in Vrnjacka Banja in Serbia earlier this month. The field included dozens of players from Russia and Belarus, all competing under the Fide flag. One of them won the gold: Alexey Sarana from Russia, who was quoted in March 2022 saying, ‘I have no sympathy for this war – all the reasons are absolutely terrible.’ With him on the podium were 20-year-old Kirill Shevchenko, from Ukraine but now representing Romania, and 17-year-old Daniel Dardha from Belgium.
A game from the tournament winner. Black has grabbed a pawn on a2, counting on the defence of the f7-pawn to hold up. Sarana’s response exposed a flaw in this plan.
Alexey Sarana-Burak Firat
European Individual Championship, Serbia 2023
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 O-O 6 Be3 c5 7 d5 e6 8 Nf3 exd5 9 cxd5 b5 10 e5 dxe5 11 Bxc5 Re8 12 Bxb5 Nbd7 13 Be3 Ng4 14 Qd2 e4 15 Nd4 Nde5 16 O-O Nxe3 17 fxe3 Bd7 18 Rac1 Bxb5 19 Ncxb5 Nd3 20 Rc2 Bxd4 21 Nxd4 Qxd5 22 Rc7 Ne5 23 Qc3 Qxa2 (See diagram)
24 b3! Cutting off the queen from the kingside. White threatens Nd4-c6, undermining the defence of f7. Perhaps Black intended 24…Rad8 here, lining up Rd8-d2 in response. Unfortunately, that move falls foul of White’s second threat: 25 Ra1! simply traps the queen on a2. Qa6 24…Qa3 is no better: 25 Nc6 Qd6 26 Nxe5 Qxe5 27 Qxe5 Rxe5 28 Rfxf7 and the rook rampage along the seventh rank will cost Black at least a couple of pawns. 25 Nc6 Qd3 26 Ne7+ Rxe7 27 Qxd3 exd3 28 Rxe7 The knight has no anchor, so the pair of rooks mop up easily. Nc6 29 Rexf7 Re8 30 Rd7 Nb4 31 Ra1 a6 32 Ra4 a5 33 Rxa5 Black resigns
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