FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, in an interview to Aleksey Dospekhov for Kommersant, No. 68, April 15, p. 8, said he has no regrets about holding the Candidates Tournament amid a pandemic and would do so again if he could, as everything was subject to strict medical monitoring, with no reason to fear that the event might not have been safely concluded. He also denied any divergence between FIDE and the Russian Ministry of Sports, which had issued a decree banning all international sports events in the Russian Federation. “A Candidates Tournament is not a mass event”, Dvorkovich says, “as there were only eight participants”. It was known to everyone that the Tournament could have been suspended at any time due to reasons of force majeure. Dvorkovich admits having taken his decision “after just a few seconds of thinking” when he learned that international air traffic would be banned — by government decree — from the next day. The fear that many, if not most, could not return to their homes around the world was apparently enough for him. If, inevitably, the date of the “Act Two” can range from one, two, to several months, at least the venue (Yekaterinburg) and the sponsor (“SIMA-LAND”) are confirmed. “Of course”, Dvorkovich says, “if others should be interested — we’re ready and available to consider their offer”. Such a hypothesis is not as improbable as it sounds, especially since Expo 2020 Dubai — which is to host the World Chess Championship match in December 2020 — seems now likely to be postponed until 2021. Photo: Yury Martyanov/Kommersant.
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