The Champions League final has been moved from St Petersburg to Paris and the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi cancelled. It was obvious that the Chess Olympiad, to take place in Moscow in July and August, could not continue as planned. Last week, this was confirmed by Fide, the international federation, and it is reported that the Indian federation has put forward a bid worth
$10 million to host the event.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has repercussions for chess that go well beyond the Olympiad. Fide Council released a significant statement at the weekend expressing condemnation of Russian military action and resolving to terminate sponsorship agreements with ‘any Belarusian and Russian sanctioned and/or state-controlled companies’. In addition, no official events will take place in Russia or Belarus.

This won’t be the last nettle for Fide to grasp in the months ahead. But Director General Emil Sutovsky described Russian companies’ support as ‘an important but relatively minor part of our budget – contrary to what it was several years ago’. Last week the top three commercial partners listed on Fide’s website were all major Russian commodity producers: Gazprom, PhosAgro and Nornickel. Following Fide’s statement, Gazprom is off the list, but the latter two remain.

The announcement could not be taken for granted. The president of Fide, Arkady Dvorkovich, is closely associated with the Russian government, having been deputy prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev from 2012 until 2018. His first four year term as Fide president will end this year.

Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, now 70, is a member of the Russian Duma, whose voting has placed him on the list of individuals to be sanctioned by the EU. Sergey Karjakin, the 2016 challenger for the world championship, may meet with a less formal sanction. The Russian player’s vocal support of his government is nothing new, but his callous cheerleading on Twitter last week drew such opprobrium that he has undoubtedly jeopardised future foreign invitations.

Still, it is heartening that so many prominent Russian players have publicly denounced the war, including Ian Nepomniachtchi, who made his own feelings clear right at the start on Twitter (in Russian): ‘History has seen many Black Thursdays. But today is blacker than the others. #saynotowar.’

Chess has an illustrious tradition in Ukraine too. The national team took the gold medals at last year’s European Team Championships in Slovenia. Chess players from that event are now defending their country. Kirill Shevchenko, one of their most talented young players, has successfully appealed to the American Hikaru Nakamura to hold a streaming event online in support of Ukraine. In a captioned photo online, their team coach, Oleksandr Sulypa is armed and calmly defiant.

This wonderful old game has become known as the ‘Ukrainian Immortal’.

Korchmar – Poliak

Ukrainian Championship, 1931

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 d6 4 d4 Bd7 5 Nc3 Nf6 6 O-O Nxd4 7 Bxd7+ Qxd7 8 Nxd4 exd4 9 Qxd4 Be7 10 Rd1 O-O 11 e5 Ne8 12 Bf4 a5 13 Rd3 Ra6 14 Re1 Qf5 15 Nd5 Bd8 16 exd6 Nxd6 Now the fun begins, and White wins by force. 17 Rg3 f6 18 Bh6 Rf7 (see diagram) 19 Nb4! axb4 20 Qxd6! A wonderful twist on the back-rank mate idea. If 20…Rxd6 21 Re8+ Rf8 22 Rxg7+ and mate follows. Qd7 21 Qd5! Mindblowing, and by far the strongest move. The queen is still immune, and the pin on the Rf7 threatens Rxg7+ Kf8 No better is 21…g6 22 Rge3! 22 Rxg7 Qxd5 23 Rg8+ Black resigns, on account of 23…Kxg8 24 Re8+