Moving to Asia will be a good experience for Russian chess players

Participation in competitions under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) will give Russian grandmasters positive motivation and good experience. This is the opinion of TASS on Tuesday, the participant of the match for the world chess crown in 2016, Russian Sergey Karjakin. In April 2022, the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation (FSHR) unanimously voted to become a member of the ACF after the decision of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) on the non-admission of Russians to team tournaments.

At the moment, Russian chess players can compete under the FIDE flag as individual athletes.

"Taking into account the anti-Russian policy, we are not allowed to play in European competitions, so the transition to Asia is quite logical. There is a very serious competition there and the chess school is very well developed, it will not be easy for us. On the other hand, it will give positive motivation and good experience to our athletes," Karjakin said.

The ACF General Assembly will be held in Abu Dhabi from February 26 to March 3. One of the issues on the agenda is the discussion of the request of the FSHR on the transition from the European Chess Union to the ACF.