Today, on the 6th of May 2022, the appeal chamber of the FIDE ethics and Disciplinary Commission announced its decision to throw out the appeal of Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin.
Earlier, The Russian Chess Pro Who had been under heavy criticism on all social media fronts for his support for Putin’s INVASION OF Ukraine was banned from all FIDE tournaments for six months, by the EDC on the 21st of March 2022. The FIDE Ethics and disciplinary commission (EDC), composed of Mr. Johan Sigeman, the chairman with Ms. Yolander Persaud and Mr. Ravindra Dongre as members, came up with a unanimous decision that the respondent was guilty of contravening FIDE code of ethics act.2.2.10. code that stands firm against any potential of bringing disrepute to the game of chess and FIDE and in this particular case any statement supporting unjustified military action by any state against another state.
The commission started an inquiry into the said case on the 28th of February due to a letter of referral received from the FIDE council concerning the violation of the FIDE Code of ethics, regarding the public statements made by Sergey on his social media handle. During the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world number three, Sergey karjakin has made various tweets on the blue little bird app openly drumming the beats of support for the Putin-led administration’s invasion of Ukraine, a country he use to wear it flag proudly. Petitions were forwarded to EDC from various quarters which were investigated by the committee that came up with the decision to ban him from all tournaments for six months.
The Russian Grandmaster appealed the decision of the disciplinary committee but the appeal committee team composing of the chairman, Mr. Francois styrdom, Mr. David Hater, and Mr. Khaled Arfa as its members dismissed the appeal filed by the appellant thus sustaining the initial ban of six months of no play on GM karjakin.
FIDE on its Twitter account announced that the player is already informed of the EDC decision and he has the right to further appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within twenty-one calendar days following the communication of this decision. While the decision is being appealed at CAS, the six months ban still holds until CAS states otherwise.
However, this decision of the EDC has stirred mixed reactions from various persons on Twitter since the day of its first pronouncement; March 21st, 2022, but has taken another gear as some individuals believed FIDE is mingling politics with chess, while some believe it is a right decision the chess governing body had made to treat karjakin as a leper and some say “he was only an individual airing his opinion”
