Athletistic / Chess. The start of 2024 was almost immediately marked by a major scandal in the world of sport. Interestingly, a scandal broke out in one of the most conservative and “peaceful” sports: chess.
On December 27, 2023, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published a news story that few people paid attention to at the time. According to the Spaniards, during the match of the first round of the group stage of the World Rapid Chess Championship in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), the best grandmaster of Poland, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, refused to shake hands with Russian Denis Khismatullin before departure. of their match. At that time, this event had practically no significance and this news went completely unnoticed in the main Russian media. However, after the New Year, everything changed dramatically. The fault lies with Polish journalists who decided to dig up an already forgotten episode and said that Duda did this because Khismatullin, together with his close friend Sergei Karyakin, is an active supporter of the Northern Military District and often visits the combat zone, deliver humanitarian aid.
Duda was the first to take his place at the chessboard, and Khismatullin came to the table a little later with his hand outstretched. At that moment, the Pole demonstrated with a gesture his refusal to perform the chess ritual and did not shake his opponent’s hand.
Unfortunately for the Pole, the online broadcast of the party had already been launched at that time and Duda could have been sanctioned. According to FIDE regulations, the Pole could be disqualified from the entire tournament for violating the rules of “fair play”. Moreover, there was already a precedent, since earlier the Russian grandmaster Mikhail Kobalia assured that FIDE had sent a warning to the Ukrainian Kirill Shevchenko, who clearly refused to shake his hand at the European Championship. However, Duda will get away with it: the fact is that Denis Khismatullin refused to file a complaint against his rival.
Photo source: tolparchess.ru
— If you ask me my opinion on Duda’s action, I do not agree with him, but I respect the opponent’s right to do so. He thus expressed his disagreement with my position and with my activities outside the chessboard.
Furthermore, I would like to appeal to the media, asking them not to disperse or politicize this situation, not to insult the Pole and not to insult the Polish nation as a whole. If I have the opportunity to play with Duda again, I will shake his hand again before the match.
I am not going to write a statement to the FIDE Ethics Commission demanding that Duda be disqualified. Believe me, I was not upset, I was not offended and I certainly did not suffer any moral damage after his act.“, Khismatullin will say later.
The match between Khismatullin and Duda ended in a draw. Interestingly, at the same world championship in Samarkand, Duda faced another Russian, Igor Lysy, as well as Belarusian Vladislav Kovalev. During these matches, the Pole did not refuse a handshake and was not seen making sarcastic comments about them. It is also worth noting that Denis Khismatullin’s next opponent in Samarkand was the legendary Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian had previously allowed himself to make politicized statements about Russia, but this time Carlsen did not mix sport and politics and welcomed the Russian.
After the media stirred up the scandal, the most popular online chess site – Chess.com – prohibits Khismatullin from participating in prize tournaments, as well as any other social activities on their website. However, this is unlikely to be any sort of revelation. After all, previously a site belonging to the American company Aficionado did the same with Sergei Karyakin. The site administration spoke out in favor of Ukraine, and also organized a number of fundraisers for the needs of this country. In April 2022, the site replaced the Russian player’s flag with a link to an article about Chess.com’s position on the CBO. After that, on April 24, 2022, Roskomnadzor, at the request of Sergei Karyakin, who condemned the site for mixing sports and politics, blocked the resource on Russian territory.
Photo source: FSR
Most likely, the activity of the Polish media was triggered due to Denis Khismatullin’s friendship with Sergei Karyakin. Denis is his long-time coach and his second. After the vice-world champion was excluded from participation in FIDE tournaments for political activities, Khismatullin publicly supported his friend on several occasions. But the biggest problem for the Poles was the fact that Karjakin was among the first to join the “Putin team”, becoming the politician’s confidant before the presidential elections in the Russian Federation, scheduled for March 2024 .
Unfortunately, modern sport has become highly politicized. This is a very disastrous process for world sport, but it is seemingly impossible to do otherwise at this time. And there is no point in scolding the Polish media or being surprised by their hype around Duda’s act. First, they respect the rules of journalism and stir up an already hot topic. Second, the last two years have clearly shown who is the enemy and who is the friend.
Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
