Redrawing the map

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.