Athletistic/Chess. The first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s international affairs commission, Vladimir Dzhabarov, commented on the news that reigning world chess champion Magnus Carlsen has refused a match for the crown with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won the Candidates Tournament.

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“At one point, when Robert Fischer, as World Chess Champion, refused to play a match with Candidates Tournament winner Anatoly Karpov, FIDE stripped him of his World Championship title and declared our grandmaster the new chess king.

According to this logic, Magnus Carlsen should be stripped of the chess crown and Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi should be declared the new world champion. Isn’t it fair?” Dzhabarov wrote on his Telegram channel.

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