Ukraine and world chess: whose side is Dvorkovich on?
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The world ’ s top chess authorities have already voted to rebuke Russia for its egregious invasion of Ukraine. The unanimous decision by the International Chess Federation (FIDÉ) to ban Russians from competing under their own flag, and deprive the country of the Chess Olympiad, originally scheduled for Moscow this summer, is extraordinary. This is not just because it sidelines Russia from the game it had previously dominated, but because of who led the chess world in repudiating Russia. It was none other than the former Russian Deputy Prime Minister, since 2018 President of FIDÉ, Arkady Dvorkovich. This year ’ s Chess Olympiad and Congress, where new elections for chess officials will be held, have now both been switched to Chennai, India.
In an interview with the US magazine Mother Jones, Dvorkovich originally voiced his opposition to the war, becoming one of the very few former senior Kremlin officials to openly criticise the invasion. He said: “Wars are the worst things one might face in life…including this war.”
Dvorkovich, who served at the Kremlin for 10 years, joins scores of chess leaders in decrying Vladimir Putin ’ s aggression. “My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians. Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections.”
Then, in an apparent volte face, after threats and criticism from pro-Putin officials, whom he had previously been honourable enough to defy, Dvorkovich changed his tune. The Times subsequently quoted him (speaking to the Skolkova Foundation, a Moscow tech centre) suggesting, “…that the war against Ukraine was a campaign against Fascism ”, echoing the claim Moscow made as a pretext for invasion. He continued, “…I, like all post-war children, was brought up on patriotism…and hatred of Nazism. I am sincerely proud of the courage of our soldiers, who at all times defended their homeland and freedom”.
Universal revulsion against his revised comments has resulted in a surge of demands for his removal as FIDÉ President, since such comments, as we have seen, are evidently incompatible with the precepts of his position as global leader for international chess.
Sergey Karjakin, alarmingly a former Ukrainian, and now one of Russia ’ s top Grandmasters, has, for example, been suspended from playing in FIDE ’ s top international tournaments for making pro war statements. It should be said that not all top Russian chess players feel the same , with over 40 signing an open letter to Putin to end the war.
On learning of this I immediately wrote as follows to Nigel Short, England ’ s Vice President on the FIDE board:
“ Death sentence, professionally, in the chess world. You must now stand as President. Ukraine will campaign massively for you and you will win! I suggest you announce ASAP. Destiny has called. Your time has come and I mean it. Ukraine loves Boris and you can be the Boris incarnation in the chess world.”
As I have explained before in these columns, Nigel Short progressed from being a talented pre teenager, with meteoric brilliance, to indisputably rank as the greatest British chess player in the modern history of the game. He has reached a world ranking of number three and has been the inspirational leader of the grandmaster-packed English team, spearheading them to three Olympic silver medals, behind only the hitherto dominant Russians.
The highlight of Nigel Short’s career was his victorious challenge in April 1992, to the living chess legend, Anatoly Karpov, in the semi-final of the World Chess Championship Qualifying Competition. Having taken advantage of Bobby Fischer ’ s refusal to defend his title, Karpov had, of course, wielded the world sceptre for a decade (1975-1985), until he was deposed by Garry Kasparov.
Defeating Karpov elevated Short to the pinnacle of world chess, a position he reinforced in January 1993 by his victory over the formidably talented Dutch Grandmaster, Jan Timman, in the final of the World Championship Qualifying Competition; a result which enabled Nigel to challenge Garry Kasparov himself in a match for the World Championship Title. Sponsored by The Times newspaper, this challenge took place in 1993 and resulted in honourable defeat for Short. It should, though, be remembered that no native-born British player had ever come that close to world domination, since the Victorian polymath, Shakespeare scholar and educationalist, Howard Staunton had demolished all the leading players of Paris and Berlin in three glorious years between 1843 and 1846.
Leveraging his reputation as a super Grandmaster to enter chess politics, Nigel Short , in 2018 , made adroit use of his status to seek election as President of FID É . Disgracefully, the English Chess Federation failed to support him and, sadly, even obstructed his campaign. Nevertheless, Nigel emerged from the electoral process with the glittering prize of FID É Vice President as his reward. At that time, Short and Dvorkovich were close allies, both united in their determination to cleanse the Augean Stables of corrupt previous administrations, which had run FIDE for their own benefit for an astonishing thirty six years.
Now there comes a further bizarre twist to the story. Anders Aslund reported on Twitter that the Russian authorities were preparing a criminal case against their own former Deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich. Having been under arrest (presumably house arrest) in Russia, Dvorkovich had reportedly escaped to Dubai with his family. If so, perhaps he should be given the benefit of the doubt as to whether Nigel Short should replace him as FIDÉ President. But there is a snag; in my day one needed the official support of one ’ s own federation to stand for Fide office. Would this be forthcoming from the pro- Putin Russian chess federation? Watch this space for further twists and turns in the hyper-complex world of world chess politics.
Raymond Keene ’ s latest book “ Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, last week reached number 11 spot on the Amazon world ranking of chess books. It is now also available from Blackwell ’ s
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