– What important, fundamental decisions were made at the Congress, besides the direct election of the President of the FSR?
– Our officials were re-elected – Supervisory Board, vice-chairmen: Anatoly Karpov left, Sergey Smagin became one of the vice-chairmen. Anatoly Karpov remained in the team, becoming honorary chairman of the FSR and will continue to work to promote chess in our country.
— Your election opponent, Sergei Karyakin, spoke quite harshly both about the Federation and about many of its members. How did you take this and did it affect your personal attitude towards Sergey?
– The Federation operates in accordance with the Statutes. There are officials – the president, the Supervisory Board, vice-presidents. And the Federation can do nothing by bypassing the Charter or the Justice Department will shut us down. Therefore, any speculation that the Federation is holding petitions, lookouts is impossible as we have a legal activity that clearly defines our actions.
There are people with a personal point of view, but we alone have over 400,000 ranked chess players. Who thinks what and where it goes – the Federation will certainly not follow it.
As for the leading chess players, most of them did not have enough information to draw conclusions and make decisions. I respect Sergey’s opinion and think he’s a great guy to take an active civic position.
– Please tell us about the elections themselves. Was there any excitement about the fact that there was competition?
– The elections were alternative, competitive and sharp. There were different opinions and discussions. Our chess community trusted me and I became president of the FSR for the third time. Thanks to Sergey Karyakin: If it were not for this competition, the congress probably would not have received so much attention.
– In light of Karjakin’s active participation in social activities and social issues, how do you assess his future as an athlete? Do you think there is a chance to reach the previous level?
“He has a great talent. And if he bury this talent, as a human being and as a coach, I will be very upset. He has time and if he concentrates on it, he can bring medals, awards and crowns to the country. He wants to try himself in various capacities, but it seems to me that his sports career has not yet begun. And combining different types of activities is extremely difficult.
– External conditions force many athletes to make difficult decisions and change their sports citizenship. Has this become a problem for the Russian Chess Federation?
– In principle, I am opposed to the change of sport or non-sport citizenship. But I don’t know under what conditions people can be. And it’s hard for me to judge on that.
This is a personal matter, but to my knowledge, no member of the Russian national team has changed their citizenship and made such an offer.
Now they all go to the World Championship of Speed and Lightning in Kazakhstan, where they will try to win the championship, bring medals to the country and please chess fans. I think they’re great at this. We have a daughter who changed her nationality but got married – so these are personal circumstances. On the contrary, there are chess players who come to us – it’s a standard process in the sport. It just got worse today. But the athletes we need in the national team continue to be Russian citizens. And it’s hard for us to guess which of the 430,000+ chess players did what.
— The Federation plans to develop several internal projects supported by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) led by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. What is the current level of interaction between FSR and FIDE under Arkady Dvorkovich?
– In good working order. I would like to point out that FIDE is one of the few sports federations that allow our athletes and children to participate in European and world championships. Yes, they play under the FIDE banner, but they still entertain and play chess fans in our country.
– Russian sports continue to be banned internationally, our athletes are prohibited from participating in most of the official international competitions in various sports. At the same time, many federations oppose the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and still allow the Russians to compete. When do you think this situation can change in favor of Russian sports?
Everyone should do their job, we are doing our job.
Our task is to enter the Asya family first. Then – to raise the question of how exactly to participate in competitions with the coat of arms, anthem and flag.
This is the path we are on. The main thing today is that above all, children, veterans, disabled chess players should not be discriminated against. Next – the interests of the national team. We will return everything, perform under the flag.
– In conclusion, a question on a completely different topic. I know you follow the events of the World Cup even if the Russian players are not involved. Can you share your expectations for the final?
The French are world champions and Messi deserves to win. I’m in favor of the performance I plan to watch. And I hope it lasts as long as possible. Let there be penalty shootouts so that there is no instant result. To make it look beautiful.