Eurasia on the Edge

12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is careful to dissociate himself from the Chess Federation of Russia’s resolution to shift from the European Chess Union to the Asian Chess Federation, but it’s not what one might think of as a geographical prejudice. He simply argues, with a maximalism not absolute, that Russia, because of its particular position on the map, should belong to both the continents. “We’ve been in the European Union since joining the FIDE (International Chess Federation) — this happened immediately after the war. And for some reason everyone forgot that most of our country’s territory is located on the Asian continent. I think that we should have remained in the European Union and joined the Asian Federation. There is no ban on it anywhere”, Karpov said to a RIA Novosti correspondent.

俄罗斯国际象棋联合会 (Chess Federation of Russia)

Today, Tuesday, February 28, 2023, in the presence of FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and Chess Federation of Russia President Andrey Vasilievich Filatov (both pictured above), the Continental Assembly of the Asian Chess Federation held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has voted by large majority in favour of the Chess Federation of Russia’s joining the Asian Chess Federation, thus marking an epochal shift in the history of the royal game. The passage will take effect on May 1, 2023. In thanking the delegates for their trust, Filatov said: “I hope for further fruitful cooperation and participation of Russian teams in the continental championship and for holding of Asian competitions in Russia, which has many times successfully held tournaments at the highest level and has all the associated infrastructure”. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili/Chess Federation of Russia.