23 March 2022

The Karjakin Affair

I added the FIDE announcement about GM Karjakin's ban to my page 2022 Candidates Tournament (m-w.com). Why is this important to the Candidates event, scheduled to start in June? From Karjakin Banned For 6 Months, Misses Out On Candidates (chess.com; Peter Doggers):-
The FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) has banned GM Sergey Karjakin for six months from participating as a player in any FIDE rated chess competition. The 32-year-old Russian grandmaster, who is a fierce supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was punished for his recent statements on social media and will be missing out on this year's FIDE Candidates Tournament.

A related Chess.com analysis of the third, last leg of the ongoing 2022 Grand Prix (m-w.com), explains the details. From The Final 3: Who Will Qualify For The Candidates 2022? (chess.com; Nathaniel Green):-

Now we come to the other huge news of the past several days, Karjakin's six-month ban by FIDE. The Candidates rules dictate that Karjakin's spot goes to the highest-rated player on the May 2022 rating list (not an average over several months) who has played at least 30 rated classical games in the previous 12 months (since the June 2021 list).

This is doubly important because several players participating in the Grand Prix have the opportunity to raise their own ratings during the event. A number of scenarios are possible.

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