Magnus Carlsen advises against reinstating Russian chess federation at award acceptance speech

Having received the FIDE award for the greatest chess player in the last 100 years from the hands of Arkady Dvorkovich, former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and current president of FIDE, Magnus Carlsen honoured Garry Kasparov’s legacy by advising FIDE against the lifting of sanctions against the Russian and Belarussian chess federations, which FIDE is allegedly considering at the upcoming General Assembly.

“Feels kind of strange to be receiving this award while I’m still an active player. Right now, (I’m) more concerned about Norway’s match against Vietnam. I am of course happy to get this award but in my personal opinion, I still think that Garry Kasparov has had a better career than I have,” Carlsen said upon receiving the award in Budapest on Thursday.

“I understand why I got this award but I still think that he was more deserving. I would say, at least in Garry’s honor, that I’m sure he would take the opportunity to advise against reinstating the Russian and Belarusian chess federation. So that is what I would do as well,” he added.

The outspoken Kasparov has been living in exile from Russia and was recently declared as a terrorist in his home country. He has also been jailed in the past in Russia for taking part in a protest rally against the establishment.

Reacting to Carlsen’s speech on his X account, the Russian chess grandmaster wrote, “In more ways than one, I could hardly wish for a better successor than Magnus. It isn’t required to have great character to be a great chess player, so it is doubly impressive for him to achieve both.”

Carlsen’s coach Peter Heine Nielsen also applauded Magnus’ stance by tweeting: “Nice tribute by Magnus Carlsen to Kasparov, not only to the chess-player, but also to the political activist!”

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At the upcoming FIDE general assembly on September 22, all the voting members will decide on revoking the ban on Russia and Belarus after Kyrgyzstan proposed a vote to overturn the ban on Russian teams at FIDE events.

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