FIDE BANS KARJAKIN (FICGS FORUM)

I have not made any political posts on the Forum. 

Quite to the contrary: I have criticized politicizing sports. 

I am shocked by the answers I received from Garvin Gray and Thibault de Vassal. I do not think their comments exemplify a civilized discussion. The problem is that they are not arbitrary chess players but chess organizers. I conclude that rational discussion with those who support politicizing chess is impossible. 

I had already forgotten the FICGS server, but now I have received a notification that someone has commented on my old post. 

Bogoljub Teverovski announces on 09 August 2023:

"A self-ban of karjakin continues"

No hints have been made about what event he is talking about—no references, links, or explanations.

I can only understand that Bogoljub regards the FIDE ban on Karjakin as a Karjakin's SELF-ban. 

Let me add that 1 e2-e4 is the initial move of the Queen's gambit, and 1 Ng1-f3 is the most popular opening in checkers.

I am logging out from the FICGS not to receive any notifications anymore.

MM MATŠ

Nepo (Nepomnjatši) ja Ding Liren mängivad Kasahstanis male maailmameistri matši.

Erakordselt tugev maletaja Carlsen loobus ise maailmameistri tiitlist sõnadega, et tal ei ole enam motivatsiooni. Raha tal muidugi on juba palju.

Carlsen loobus pärast seda, kui tema ehk tugevaimal vastasel Karjakinil keelati osaleda tiitlipretendentide turniiril. Seejuures Carlsen avalikult kaitses Karjakini sõnavabadust, rõhutades siiski, et et ta pole Karjakini seisukohtadega nõus.

FIDE süüdistas Karjakinit Venemaa agressioonisõja toetamises.

Pärast seda hakkas Karjakin seda sõda juba väga avalikult ja väga aktiivselt toetama, ent Lääne eest on tema sõnavõtud blokeeritud. Tal on Telegram äpis oma kanal.

Karjakin õigustas Venemaa invasiooni Ukrainasse sellega, et Ukraina natsionalistid tapsid Donbassi venelasi.

See õigustus ei ole minu arvates pädev, sest juba Ukraina sõja esimestel kuudel hukkus rohkem inimesi kui Donbassi kodusõjas kaheksa aasta jooksul kokku.

Ent enamus Karjakini süüdistusi ukrainlaste poolt sooritatud sõjakuritegudest ja genotsiidist vastavad paraku tõele.

Neid andmeid on osaliselt kinnitanud ka Ukraina enda ajakirjandus ja õigupoolest oli Ukraina ise pannud vangi mõned oma sõjakurjategijad. Ukraina juhtivad tegelased tegid sageli täiesti avalikult üleskutseid genotsiidile. Ja organisatsioon Amnesty International oli tõenditele tuginedes kinnitanud, et Donbassi kodusõjas sooritasid rohkesti sõjakuritegusid mõlemad sõdivad pooled.

Lääne maletajad ja FIDE on aga täielikult ignoreerinud ja eitanud mitte ainult Karjakini järeldusi tema poolt esitatud faktidest, vaid ka tema poolt esitatud fakte.

Teisisõnu on rahvusvahelised maleorganisatsioonid ignoreerinud väga tõsiseid Ukraina poolseid kuritegusid, mis on tõendatud.

Kuna Karjakinil ei lastud tiitlipretendentide turniiril mängida ja kuna maailmameister Carlsen loobus, siis mängivadki nüüd maailmameistri matši Ding Liren ja Nepo.

Esimene on Hiinast.

Teine on Venemaalt, aga mängib FIDE lipu all.

Seejuures eelmises MM matšis sai Nepo Carlsenilt hävitavalt lüüa.

Nii et see kõik on väga pentsik ja ma isegi ütleksin, et perversne.

KARJAKIN, CARLSEN AND VOLTAIRE

The international chess federation FIDE banned outstanding grandmaster Karjakin from participating in FIDE tournaments for 6 months because Karjakin publicly justified the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The world champion Carlsen has taken a stance concerning Karjakin's attitude and also FIDE's ban. Among other things, Carlsen said: 

"Obviously, I don't agree with Karjakin in anything, but is it correct to ban people for opinions we don't tolerate?"

Tarjei Svensen, 

Carlsen on Karjakin: “These types of attitudes can't be accepted”, 

Chess24, 5 April 2022

As a philosopher, I strongly support Carlsen's attitude.

Voltaire was one of those philosophers who defended freedom of speech. Often, the following sentence is attributed to Voltaire:

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

This quotation is in good accordance with Voltaire's views. Unfortunately, it was not Voltaire who said so. It was someone else. — It was Evelyn Beatrice Hall in the 1906 book The Friends of Voltaire by S. G. Tallentyre which was the pseudonym of historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall. See, for example: 

Quoteinvestigator, "Voltaire". 

Thus, some of Carlsen's attitudes are similar to Voltaire's attitudes. 

CARLSEN KARJAKINI MÄNGUKEELUST

Carlseni arvates pole Karjakinil Ukraina sõja küsimuses õigus, ent sellest hoolimata polnud õige ka FIDE otsus keelata Karjakinil võistlustel osalemine sel põhjusel, et Karjakin väljendas oma vaateid Ukraina sõja kohta. 

Tarjei Svensen 

Carlsen on Karjakin: “These types of attitudes can't be accepted” 

Chess24, 5 April 2022 

Filosoofina ma tugevalt toetan Carlseni hoiakut. 

Carlseni hoiak on sarnane filosoof Voltaire'i hoiakule. Sõnavabadus tuleb jätta ka neile, kelle arvamus meile ei meeldi.

JUSTIFYING THE UNJUSTIFIED WAR

Chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin received a six-month ban from the international competitions, and his appeal was dismissed. When the international chess federation FIDE initiated the case, it accused Karjakin of supporting the unjustified war:

“FIDE Council condemns any public statement from any member of the chess community which supports unjustified military action…”

(The concepts of “justified war” or “just war” can be found in the encyclopaedias.)

However, Karjakin not only approved that war but also presented some arguments to convince us that this war was justified.

In sum, Karjakin’s fault seems to be the following:

He tried to justify the unjustified war.

If a sportsperson tries to justify the unjustified war, it results in 6 months ban from international competitions.

But what if a sportsperson presents strong arguments to justify the unjustified war? Whether the punishment should also be more serious? For example, it results in a 6-year ban from international competitions.

But what if a sportsperson succeeds in justifying that war?

He presented compelling arguments to justify the unjustified war.

Probably, that sportsperson should be jailed for 170-years. Because it is impossible to justify the unjustified war, and if someone succeeds in doing the impossible, it should be regarded as the greatest crime.

KARJAKIN's APPEAL DISMISSED

"Sergey Karjakin's Appeal Dismissed", FIDE, 06 May 2022 

Thus, Karjakin still cannot play in the candidates' tournament because he publicly approved the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Karjakin, in turn, writes (in Russian on his Telegram channel "Карякин. Zа спорт!") as a response that he is proud that his grandfather was a great soldier, and he complains that there are Nazis in Ukraine.

Karjakin criticises Kasparov.

Kasparov demands that Russian chess players who want to play in international tournaments should publicly disapprove Russian invasion of Ukraine.

https://t.me/karjakinchess/351

https://t.me/karjakinchess/361

POOLIK PROPAGANDAARTIKKEL KARJAKINIST

Meelis Naudi, "Venemaa maleäss Putini toetamisest: elus on hetki, mil ei saa vait olla" DELFI, 02. aprill 2022

Esmapilgul näib see olevat ajakirjanduslikult julge artikkel, mis tsiteerib läänes põlu alla sattunud malesuurmeistrit Sergei Karjakin.

Ent see artikkel siiski ei vasta hästi ajakirjanduse headele tavadele, küll aga vastab pigem propagandasõja õpikutarkustele. Karjakinit on küll tsiteeritud, ent faktitaust on esitatud sellisel viisil, mis peaks kohemaid Karjakini mõttekäike kompromiteerima. Faktitaust on poolik ja vigane.

"Venemaa maletajale tõi karistuse tema avalik pöördumine pärast Venemaa tungimist Ukrainasse. Karjakin teatas veebruari lõpus sotsiaalmeedias: 'Avaldan teile, meie juht [Putin], oma täielikku toetust Venemaa huvide ja rahva kaitsmisel, samuti ohtude kõrvaldamisel ja rahu kehtestamisel. Loodan, et meie vapper armee täidab kiiresti kõik talle pandud ülesanded.'"

FIDE avaldatud dokumentatsioonis pole tsiteeritud ega viidatud, millised Karjakini sõnavõtud konkreetselt "malemängu mainet" kahjustasid. Tõepärane on oletada, et üheks mõjuvaks põhjuseks, miks FIDE reageeris juba paar päeva pärast Ukraina sõja algust, kaevates Karjakini FIDE Eetikakomiteesse, oligi just Karjakini avalik kiri Putinile. — Ent see on ainul oletus, et see oli põhjuseks. Kui ajakirjanik teatab, et see oligi põhjus, siis millised on ajakirjaniku allikad? Ta ei viita sellele, kust ta seda teada sai, et just kiri Putinile oli määravaks asjaoluks.

Kahjuks ei esita see artikkel ka viidet ega linki Karjakini kirja täispikkuses originaalile.

"Karjakin on sündinud Krimmi piirkonnas, mille Venemaa vallutas Ukrainalt 2014. aastal."

Siin jätab ajakirjanik lugejale võimaluse oma alateadvuses vigaseid assotsiatsioone tekitada seoses küsimusega, millal Sergei Karjakin sai Venemaa maletajaks. Krimmi annekteerimisega pole sellel aga mitte mingisugust pistmist. Karjakini vanemad asusid Venemaale elama ja tööle juba enne 2014, võttes Sergei kaasa. Aastaks 2014 oli Sergei Karjakin minu mälu järgi juba Venemaal elav Venemaa kodanik.

Karjakinit tsiteeritakse:

"Elus on hetki, mil sa ei saa vait olla. Ütleme nii, et keegi solvab su naist, kas sa segad vahele? Iga normaalne inimene teeb seda."

Sedasi tekitatakse lugejale assotsiatsioon, justnagu oleks Karjakin Venemaa invasiooni toetaja mingitel naeruväärsetel emotsionaalsetel või isiklikel põhjustel.

Seejärel tsiteeritakse Venemaa maletajat Daniil Dubov:

"Ma jälgin tema [Karjakin] sotsiaalmeedia kanalit. See on väga naljakas. Kui ma oleksin teadlane, siis ma arvan, et Karjakin oleks väga huvitav uurimisteema."

Siin on ajakirjanik teinud seda pattu, et ta on avaldanud hinnangulise kommentaari allikale, millele ta ei viita ja mida ta ei tsiteeri. Seda allikat — Karjakini Twitteri kontot — halvustatakse.

Kogu artiklis on hoolikalt jäetud mainimata, et Karjakin usub, et Ukraina sooritas alates 2014 inimsusevastaseid kuritegusid, samuti sõjakuritegusid ja genotsiidi Donbassis. Näiteks 2014 põletati Odessas ametiühingute majas elusalt sisse sadakond venelast, kes protesteerisid riigipöörde vastu Kiievis. Karjakin kirjutab sellest oma Twitteri kontol.

Alates 2014, on Donbassis hukkunud umbes 15 000 inimest, neist paljud tsiviilid, naised ja lapsed. Karjakin kirjutab sellest oma Twitteri kontol.

Karjakin esitab oma Twitteri kontol tõendeid, mis peaksid veenma, et Ukraina on Donbassis sooritanud sõjakuritegusid ja teostanud genotsiidi. Lääne maletajailt, kes Karjakinit sõja toetamises süüdistavad, küsib Karjakin, kas need suurmeistrid toetavad Donbassi tsiviilide tapmist ja sõjakuritegude varjamist? Karjakin tunneb mitmeid Donbassi elanikke isiklikult ja on nendega kirjavahetuses.

Venemaa invasiooni Ukrainasse õigustas Putin muuhulgas vajadusega lõpetada Ukraina sõjategevus Donbassis, mis rikkus Minski rahu. Kuigi lääs seda sõjategevust ajakirjanduses eitab, on tugevad tõendid selle kohta ometi olemas OSCE Ukraina missiooni raportites. Samuti on Venemaa oma invasiooni eesmärgina nimetatud genotsiidi ärahoidmist Donbassis.

Kokkuvõttes kerkib selline küsimus: kui FIDE keelas ära Karjakini, sest Karjakin toetas Venemaa sõda Ukrainas, mille eesmärgiks Karjakini arvates on tsiviilide tapmise lõpetamine, kas FIDE ei peaks sel juhul ära keelama ka need male suurmeistrid, kes avalikult väidavad, et mingit sõda, sõjakuritegusid ega genotsiidi pole Donbassis toimunudki?

Sama hästi võiks FIDE otsustada, et maletajale Daniil Dubov tuleb anda eluaegne võistluskeel Donbassi ühishaudade olemasolu eitamise eest ja kannatanute mälestuse mõnitamise eest, mis kõik kokku kahjustab malemängu mainet.

DELFI artikkel Karjakinist on igatahes räpane propagandaartikkel. Veel üks selline.

Ja FIDE on malemängu mainet kahjustanud kõige enam sellega, et FIDE on võtnud endale Jumala või rahvusvahelise õiguse eksperdi positsiooni ja on hakanud otsustama, milline sõda on õigustatud ja milline mitte, kes on sooritanud sõjakuritegusid ja kes mitte, kes teostas genotsiidi ning kes mitte.

Kas Venemaa sõda Ukrainas aga on õigustatud? — See on hoopis teine teema. Karjakin usub, et see sõda on õigustatud vajadusega ära hoida genotsiidi Donbassis. Kremlil on selle sõja õigustamiseks mitmeid teisigi argumente.

Minu küsimusele, kas 15 000 laipa Donbassis 8 aasta jooksul õigustab Venemaa praegust sõda Kiievi all, milles on juba kuu ajaga hukkunud kümneid tuhandeid inimesi, pole Karjakin vastanud. Ta kas ei pääse Venemaal oma Twitterile enam ligi või on tal Twitteris niipalju kommentaare, et ta ei jõua neid lugeda või siis talle lihtsalt ei meeldinud minu küsimus.

Mis puutub Donbassi jõledustesse aastatel 2014–2022, siis nende suhtes on Venemaa praegune sõda Ukraina vastu minu arvates ebaproportsianaalselt võimas vastus, mille käigus saab surma kümneid kordi rohkem inimesi kui seda Donbassis seni on juhtunud.

FIDE SHOULD BAN KASPAROV

Instead of Karjakin, FIDE should have banned Kasparov

On 24 March 2022, Garry Kasparov has published an article "Breaking Point" in his political journal "Kasparov.ru".
https://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=623CD605B0359

If FIDE was able to interpret the FIDE's Code of Ethics in such a way as to ban Karjakin for 6 months, then, they should give a lifetime ban to Kasparov.

Suppose that a man who does not understand chess, or even does not know the rules of chess, makes propaganda that some opening variation is winning for White. He does not provide any analyses of the position and even reports the position incorrectly. He argues that White has an attack and is always silent about the fact that Black has the extra rook. He is talking only about one corner of the chessboard.

The picture is exactly the same when the chess player Kasparov is talking about politics. Kasparov does not provide any analyses. He merely makes propaganda. He mentions only those facts that are suitable for his propaganda. His facts are indeed dubious.

On what ground thinks Kasparov that Russia is blackmailing the world with its nuclear weapons? Let him quote Putin exactly together with exact references to the original source. We would like to check whether Kasparov has taken something out of context, whether he presents his interpretation of Putin's talk as the real text. Let him also explain in what sense and why he thinks that Russia is blackmailing more than the US, referring to one's nuclear weapons.

Kasparov:

"Today, Putin is using nuclear blackmail... Only next time it will take place on the territory of Poland or Estonia."

On what grounds asserts Kasparov, that Putin would blackmail with the nuclear weapon such countries that do not have nuclear weapons on their territory? And in what sense can Putin blackmail on that territory?

Kasparov:

"Arguments sound absolutely meaningless - 'we cannot allow a third world war' when it is already underway."

Covertly, Kasparov makes war propaganda here. If the West would follow Kasparov's suggestions, the Ukraine war would extend to the whole of Europe, perhaps to the US as well. While in the Ukraine war, during one month, perhaps less than 100 000 people have been killed, following Kasparov's hysteria would lead to tens of millions of people killed.

Kasparov's mistake is exactly the same as Karjakin's mistake. Karjakin also refers to the killed Donbas people, to Ukrainian Nazis, and Karjakin also warns that if Ukraine's extreme nationalists will not be stopped, the whole of Europe would be in danger.

Karjakin's justification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is dubious, however. During 8 years since 2014, in Donbas, 15 000 people were killed. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, more than 15 000 people were killed during the first two weeks of the war.

Both Karjakin and Kasparov do not understand that people are not chess pawns. In real-life, any exchanges of pawns are unwelcome, since every such exchange means two killed people.

FIDE, however, has banned Karjakin for making war propaganda. But it is Kasparov who should be banned first and forever.

---

Approximate translation of Kasparov's article:

I cannot say with certainty that Putin will not use nuclear weapons. But we must answer the question: can concessions to Putin reduce this risk? Any concession to the dictator increases his impudence. Today, Putin is using nuclear blackmail as his last card in this game. And if this blackmail works, and it still works, then it means that he will use this card all the time. Only next time it will take place on the territory of Poland or Estonia. And then the West will face a dilemma: either dissolve itself and end the historical path of Western civilization, yielding to a gopnik with nuclear weapons, or enter into a military clash that will take place in much worse conditions than now.

Arguments sound absolutely meaningless - "we cannot allow a third world war" when it is already underway. But we continue to hear them from all sides. However, we must not forget that these statements come from people who have given wrong advice over the years about how to build relations with Putin. These are people who in business would have been fired long ago. They compromised themselves with absolutely incorrect assessments of the geopolitical situation, but now they continue to give advice on how to proceed.

I recently tweeted about the RAND Corporation. This is one of the leading research centers in the US, which deals with military issues and advises the US government. In January of this year, they released a large detailed article that explained why Ukraine should not be supplied with weapons. The article said that the Ukrainian army would fall apart in a few days, this army had no chance to resist Putin, and the supply of weapons to it was money down the drain. I ask the question: are these people still advisers to the American administration? Do they still advise the White House? Did they apologize in any way for their mistake?

We have come to a point where everything must change. The whole world, the systems of relationships will change, but in order to save this world, we need to understand that in a war with Putin there can be no draw, unlike chess. Either he wins or we win. The victory of Ukraine will mean the collapse of the Putin regime. And this is the fundamental idea that must be brought to the consciousness of Western society in the hope that it will be able to influence its cowardly and corrupt politicians.

THE INTERNATIONAL CHESS FEDERATION FIDE IS DEAD

FIDE started its activities after the Second World War and organized the most corrupt world chess championship of all time, "The Hague-Moscow 1948", in which the Soviet chess player Botvinnik became the world champion. 

Botvinnik was abnormally resultative against Keres, the representative of Estonia, occupied by the Soviet Union. 

By now, however, FIDE has gone beyond what is reasonable.

On March 2, 2022, the FIDE Council issued a statement on the war in Ukraine:

The Official Statement of FIDE Council

• FIDE states that Russian and Belarusian flags may not be used in FIDE competitions.
• FIDE terminates all sponsorship agreements with the state of Russia or Belarus or with state-controlled companies.
• FIDE will discuss the issue of "supporting unjustified military action" statements by grandmaster Sergei Karjakin in the FIDE Ethics Committee. — This committee has just decided that Karjakin will not be able to play in the FIDE competitions for 6 months, so he will not be able to play in the World Championship tournament where he was eligible to play.
• FIDE does not organize any chess competitions or events in Russia and Belarus. (This place in the FIDE statement is particularly absurd because it refers to the safety of chess players, but instead, the war is going on in Ukraine, and there are serious security problems in Ukraine at the moment.)

The problem is the justifications provided by FIDE.

We can first read about human rights in the text of the FIDE statement.

— On what basis does the chess federation FIDE decide that Russia and Belarus have violated human rights in the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Starting a war is not a violation of human rights. However, concerning human rights violations during the war, on what basis does the chess organization decide that the Russians and not the Ukrainians are violating human rights in this war? On what basis do chess organizers decide that war crimes in this war are committed by one party and not the other?

Next, on what basis does the chess organization FIDE assume that human rights were not violated in Ukraine before the war? Who gave the chess judges the mandate to decide that the Ukrainians did not commit war crimes and genocide in Donbas — as Russia claims they did?

The FIDE statement then states that FIDE is against wars and condemns the use of military force to resolve political conflicts:

"FIDE stands united against wars as well as condemns any use of military means to resolve political conflicts."

— If FIDE does condemn the use of military force to resolve political conflicts, FIDE should also have condemned Ukraine's violations of the Minsk peace in Donbas. According to reports from the OSCE Mission to Ukraine, the situation on the dividing line with the Donbas separatists worsened in early 2022, with minesweepers fired as many as a thousand times a day, with most hits in the separatist areas.

If FIDE is indeed against the wars, why has FIDE not made similar statements against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, for example? The war in Iraq has been going on for 19 years. The United States has still not completely stopped occupying Iraq. Millions of people have been killed in that war, while the war in Ukraine has only lasted a month, and the death toll is apparently below 100,000.

Regarding Karjakini's question, FIDE also uses the argument of unjustified military action:

"FIDE Council condemns any public statement from any member of the chess community which supports unjustified military action..."

— On what basis do the chess judges decide which war is justified and which is not?

I, too, believe that Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine is not morally or legally justified.

For example, suppose Russia's accusation that Ukraine carried out genocide in Donbas is justified. However, it seems complicated to justify the decision to attack Kyiv, which is far from Donbas, to defend the civilian population of Donbas. At first glance, it would seem more natural for Russia to deploy its troops only to the separatist regions of Donbas for this purpose.

The paragraph above is just a fraction of the possible debate on whether or not Russia's war in Ukraine is justified. This fragment alone shows that the issue is complex. Different parties here have different understandings of the facts and cause-and-effect relationships. New facts may emerge that we do not yet know. It is also necessary to be familiar with the Geneva Convention and other articles of international law to take part in the debate. Finally, Russia has more excuses, such as the need to defend itself against NATO invasion. Whatever the right verdict, it is evident that chess judges cannot competently make this decision!

However, what is certain now is that Russia has at least mitigating circumstances — while the United States did not even have any mitigating circumstances when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.

So we know now that there were no chemical weapons in Iraq, and the talk of these weapons of mass destruction was a fiction to justify a war. We also realize that Iraq posed no military threat to the American motherland, America, because America is on the other side of the globe, and Iraq did not have intercontinental missiles or nuclear bombs.

FIDE's condemnation of "supporting an unjustified war" may well prove to be a ban on proving that the war is in fact justified; in such a variant, it would simply prove to be a dogma that war is unjustified, a dogma that must not be doubted.

However, if FIDE were indeed against unjustified wars and support for such wars, FIDE should have condemned the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Unfortunately, after a long search on the FIDE website, I would say that FIDE has never even discussed these topics.

When the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq broke out, most people in Europe and the United States supported these wars, either openly or tacitly. It was only thanks to the work of Julian Assange and Wikileaks that Western audiences learned that the West had committed war crimes in these wars. However, FIDE has not responded in any way to the fact that some chess players have publicly agreed to these wars.

In conclusion, I find the FIDE statement and decisions extremely hypocritical. Although FIDE makes anti-war declarations, it only defends Ukraine and attacks only Russia. The wars launched by the United States have not been criticized or responded to by FIDE.

Therefore, I simply do not believe that the real purpose of FIDE is to prevent wars, condemn them, protect human rights, prevent war propaganda, prevent war crimes, and so on.

In fact, the FIDE decision is an example of the politicization of sport and, moreover, of the biased politicization of sport. FIDE has chosen a side in the war and turned itself into a weapon in the hands of one side against the other.

As a result, I no longer participate in FIDE tournaments, and I no longer recognize an organization like FIDE.

I am also considering interrupting my correspondence chess tournaments in the ICCF, which is officially under FIDE. However, the ICCF has not yet taken such abrupt decisions as FIDE.