Leading chess players of Russia appeal to Putin for peace and ceasefire

by ChessBase
3/3/2022 – In an appeal to Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, a large number of prominent Russian chess players call for a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine. "It is unbearably painful for us to see the catastrophe that is happening these days to our peoples." The courageous appeal appeared on the Russian sports site "Championat".
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Russia's leading chess players have made an official appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin

"We oppose military action on the territory of Ukraine and call for an early ceasefire and a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomatic negotiations. It pains us unbearably to see the catastrophe that is happening to our peoples these days.

We have always stood for Russia in individual and, with particular pride, in team competitions. We are sure that chess, just like sport in general, should unite people. The most difficult and prestigious international tournaments were held in our country at the highest level even at the height of the pandemic.

Chess teaches responsibility for one's actions; every step matters, and a mistake can lead to a fatal point of no return. And if it has always been about sport, now it is about people's lives, basic rights and freedoms, human dignity, the present and future of our countries that are at stake.

In these tragic days, our thoughts are with all the people caught in the middle of this terrible conflict. We share the pain with our Ukrainian colleagues and call for peace.

The Ukrainian chess team is the reigning European champion and one of the best teams in the world alongside ours. We have played dozens of matches and hundreds of games. We have always put competitive sport above politics, and Ukrainians reciprocate in our favour. We ask you to give teams, players and common people from both countries a chance for mutual respect.

We are for peace. Stop the war!"

The appeal was signed by:

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Daniil Dubov, Pyotr Svidler, Andrey Esipenko, Maxim Matlakov, Kirill Alekseenko, Alexander Motylev, Mikhail Kobalia, Evgeny Naer, Pavel Tregubov, Alexander Khalifman, Polina Shuvalova, Igor Lysyi, Dmitry Kryakvin, Vladimir Barsky, Mark Glukhovsky , Maxim Notkin, Maxim Chigaev, Anastasia Chigaeva, Olga Badelko, Pavel Ponkratov, Alexander Shimanov, Daniil Yuffa, Konstantin Mesropov, Svetlana Ershova, Evgeny Egorov, Anna Volkova, Eteri Kublashvili, Yana Sidorchuk, Anna Burtasova, Denis Grigoriev, Ilya Gorodetsky, Oleg Pervakov.

Link

Source: championat.com...

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Green22 Green22 3/4/2022 06:06
Vladimir Putin is completely unhinged he needs to be "gone and dealt with" he reign of terror is going to lead lead to a nuclear war with no winners. He's killing now innocent woman and children.
Keshava Keshava 3/4/2022 05:50
@Michael Jones, that did happen but I don't agree with that approach. The Soviets we're guilty of human rights violations and un-just invasions but that didn't stop the West from competing against them in sports nor from cold-warriors Nixon and Kissinger from encouraging Bobby Fischer to compete with them in international chess competition. Any other approach lessens the sports themselves and punishes athletes who are usually innocent. Imagine if Western countries never completed in chess with Soviet countries. Chess would not have developed as much as it did and Fischer would have never became the best of his time.
dlemper dlemper 3/4/2022 05:12
I'm surprised and disappointed that Kramnik did not sign. His mother was Ukrainian and he lives comfortably in Geneva. Perhaps too comfortably to understand the suffering of the Ukrainians. I had been one of his fans.
Isledoc Isledoc 3/4/2022 05:09
I would be nice to hear from Kramnik and Anand or are they toeing the party line.
Quanber Quanber 3/4/2022 04:14
The Russian chess players who condemn the invasion of Ukraine deserve the utmost respect. They contributed significantly in giving other Russians the courage to speak out.

Respect only increases when you look at the systematic way in which Putin expresses criticism. How all persons with criticism are abused, or disappear altogether, and how he misinforms the Russian people about everything concerning the war, from motive to loss figures.

Unfortunately, it does not work. If West and East Germany had not been united in 1990, Putin would still be an agent in East Germany with the primary task of financing terrorist acts in West Germany, as many members of the RAF (Rote Arme Fraction) have testified. He has continued this policy as leader in Chechnya, Ukraine. He arranges terrorist acts and then accuses those he wants to kill for being behind it. There is only one solution to the disaster and it is on its way.
Robwijn Robwijn 3/4/2022 02:46
Chess players know, they should not reply to IMAGINED threats. You will lose. In Russia, they tell people Ukrain was threatening. Oh. Why then, are al victims, Russian and Ukrian, dying in Ukrain? So it seems quite clear: Who is the agressor! And in the end he is going to lose, because of living in a fantasy world.
parselmouth parselmouth 3/4/2022 02:25
It's a beautiful appeal. Makes me proud to watch them play chess too.
Michael Jones Michael Jones 3/4/2022 02:13
@Keshava: sport separate from geopolitical considerations? You do know that South Africa was banned from international sport, including chess, due to the racist political system of apartheid? And that, more recently, the Australian cricket team cancelled a scheduled match against Afghanistan because the Taliban regime prevented their women's team from playing - to name just two instances when a country was actually banned; of course, there are many more cases of sport being entwined with politics in other respects.
flachspieler flachspieler 3/4/2022 01:57
On the site
https://trv-science.ru/2022/02/mathematicians-against-war/

there is a declaration of 351 Russian mathematicians against the war.
According to German magazine Spiegel (Thursday 21:07 h) trv-science.ru
shall also have a longer list of 6,900 Russian scientists against the war -
unfortunately I do not find it.

Ingo Althoefer.
MH64squares MH64squares 3/4/2022 01:31
Any Russian who wants to continue to participate in international chess can defect, like Germans of good conscience defected in the 30's and 40's. This is murder on a large scale and "overreach" does not apply. And Keshava you are making a straw man argument if you bring up Soviet, Russian, and Chinese Olympic participation with me, they should both have been banned a long time ago for their human rights abuses. And compared to the level of illegal war and murder we are seeing, how you even care about something as trivial as "chess development"?
fixpont fixpont 3/4/2022 01:21
@MH64squares: "I think it's time for all national chess federations from nations who voted to condemn the invasion in the recent UN vote to ban the participation of Russian masters who do not also comdemn the invasion. And if they are allowed to play in the candidates and one of them wins, I hope Carlesn refuses the match."

this is overreach, they should not be punished individually but they should play under the FIDE flag instead of the Russian (like now because of the doping scandal), im not a fan of punishing ordinary citizens for their leader's stupidity, this letter is a nice gesture but should not be mandatory under any circumstances
Keshava Keshava 3/3/2022 11:37
@MH64squares, was it also a mistake for the Western countries to have Olympic and other sports competitions against players of the Soviet Union because it was known that there were great violations of human rights in the Soviet Union during that time? Chess developed greatly because the world kept is separate from these other considerations. Besides, it is usually not the athletes or chess players making those kinds of decisions.
hansj hansj 3/3/2022 11:34
Well done!
MH64squares MH64squares 3/3/2022 11:21
Just because mistakes were made in 1936 does not mean we should repeat them now. Also, in 1936 the invasions had not yet occurred, unlike 2022. Sports will never be, and should never be, independent of murderous violations of international law, however much you want to euphemize what has happened as "geo-political considerations"
Keshava Keshava 3/3/2022 11:17
Sports should be completely separate from all geo-political considerations. When the Olympics were held in 1936 in Nazi Germany great athletes like the American Jesse Owens did not refuse to compete against German athletes who would not renounce Hitler and Nazism.
Raphael Comprone Raphael Comprone 3/3/2022 11:08
These Russian players deserve a lot of respect for supporting the freedom of the Ukrainian people and for promoting world peace. The world doesn't need more wars. Let's not forget that in Russia, it is not easy to speak out against Vladimir Putin.
MH64squares MH64squares 3/3/2022 10:46
A lot of prominent names missing from that list. Kramnik, Artemiev, Grischuk, Tomashevsky, Vitiugov, Andreikin, Karjakin, many others. I just read that Anna Netrebko has lost her position at the NY Metropolitan opera for failing to renounce Putin and for posing with a flag used by Russian separatists in Ukraine. I think it's time for all national chess federations from nations who voted to condemn the invasion in the recent UN vote to ban the participation of Russian masters who do not also comdemn the invasion. And if they are allowed to play in the candidates and one of them wins, I hope Carlesn refuses the match.
Leavenfish Leavenfish 3/3/2022 10:25
"I expect" is a phrase often used in place of 'I don't know, but want (for one reason or another) to throw in my 2 cents'. The key words being: I don't know.

So...well, lets just leave it at that while agreeing that all this death and destruction and over-throwing of a democratically elected government by a KGB guy who says: don't get in my way, I have NUCLEAR WEAPONS... is not warranted.
chessgod0 chessgod0 3/3/2022 10:02
@mstefa

I quite agree. In the West, we really only have access to the views of the Ukrainian government, US and NATO countries. I imagine the full picture is quite a bit more complicated than is frequently portrayed to us.
chessgod0 chessgod0 3/3/2022 09:53
@fixpont

Not that telling, after all it's well known that Karyakin supports Putin and the Russian war effort.
mstefa mstefa 3/3/2022 09:52
I think if we asked Russians from Ukraine about the situation in Ukraine ( before the war) we'd hear lots of unexpected things..
mstefa mstefa 3/3/2022 09:51
@fixpoint : what does it tell you?
Zdrak Zdrak 3/3/2022 09:50
Karjakin is a Putinist, this was well known years ago.
fixpont fixpont 3/3/2022 09:08
it is telling that the Ukrainian-born Karjakin's name is missing form the letter
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