Best chess player of Ukraine moved to Russia but not become Russian citizen
MIGnews.com.ua
21.07.2009
The winner of chess competition in Spain Serhiy Kariakyn refuted mass-media reports on giving up Ukrainian citizenship and acquiring the Russian citizenship.
The reports about removal to the Russian Federation and change of nationality that appeared in mass media in spring do not correspond to reality. The young chess player claimed this in an interview with Krymskoe vremya newspaper.
“To date I am a citizen of Ukraine. Moreover, I am not going to change the nationality. I love my motherland”, Kariakyn claimed.
According to the grand master, he never gave any interviews about the change of nationality, Novyi region reports. “Probably, somebody wanted me to stop be Ukrainian”, he noted.
Kariakyn has to train with the Russian grand master Yuri Dokhoyan in Moscow who worked with Garry Kasparov because there is no strong coach in Crimea.
Source: http://mignews.com.ua
It’s difficult to judge. The thing is he will be playing under the Russian flag. However, because of rules in chess, this doesn’t require for him to be a Russian citizen.
The cynical view would be to wonder what he would do had the chess rules were anything like the rules in European football. Would he prefer to love his motherland or have any chance at having the support he thinks he can get from the Russian federation?
Anyway, personally I couldn’t care less. I’d rather see nice games than know that someone’s accomplishments are limited due to circumstances beyond their control.
Better dead than red.
Who says he is going to play under Russian flag?
He didn’t yet apply for changing federation:
http://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2009
The list seems to be up to date, since the last notification is from July 3rd.
So he will be playing under Ukrainian flag a little longer.
If he wants the money and support from the Russian federation, he will have to play under the Russian flag. It’s as simple as that. As far as I understand, the change isn’t due until 2010.
Again, it’s up to him. I’m generally of the opinion that it’s their personal accomplishments, not the country’s. However, he wants the money of Russian taxpayers. The Russian taxpayers are entitled to get something in return.
If he wants to be all patriotic, let him seek assistance elsewhere. Personally, I will not cheer for him any less.
Well, if he wants to play for Russia in the next olympiad then he should transfer imediatelly. 10 months need to pass, before he is eligible to compete.
As he stated, he is not playing for Russia. He has a better chance of winning Olympiad gold on Ukraine’s team anyway.
Can Dokhoyan train a non russian player?
I’ve read that his deal with the russian chess federation is that he can train only russian players.
Is it true?
Not only can Dokhoyan not train anyone outside Russian Federation…. Karjakin himself announced the federation switch during a tournament in which Dokhoyan was his second. This whole news posts makes no sense at all.
But how can Dokhoyan be Karjakin’s second if he can’t train anyone outside the Russian federation?
Yes, he announced that he will be changing the federation, but he didn’t officially apply for it yet. So it is not so clear that he will, maybe things have changed.
Either way, he will be playing for Ukraine a while longer.