Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival head wants ‘leniency’ after Iran ban player for Israeli match
EXCLUSIVE: Stuart Conquest tells Olive Press ‘unfortunate oversight’ led to pairing
By Joe Duggan (Reporter) – 28 Feb, 2017 @ 15:27
TRADEWISE Gibraltar Chess Festival Stuart Conquest has told the Olive Press he hopes for ‘leniency’ after two young Iranian players were banned.
Conquest spoke out after siblings Dorsa Derakhshani, 18, and Borna, 15, were axed by their national chess federation following January’s tournament on the Rock.
Dorsa was banned for not wearing an appropriate head-scarf, and her brother was banned after playing an Israeli opponent.
Conquest said he had written to the president of the Iranian Chess Federation but had received no response.
“Dorsa, has played other chess events outside Iran without wearing a hijab,” he said.
“In her case it’s certainly not a new situation. (What is new is that her federation now threatens to punish her.)
“Borna, asked our chief arbiter not to be paired against Israeli opponents only after completing his first game.
“It was just an unfortunate oversight – this was a computer pairing, and normally would have been “blocked”, as were all subsequent Iran v Israel matches, but this was the first round, and the arbiters had not realised the error.”
He added: “Of course we hope for the maximum leniency, but we have heard nothing more from official sources.”
Grand master Dorsa played in the La Caleta event without the Islamic head scarf that became compulsory in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Borna lost in the first round to Israeli Alexander Huzman.
Conquest pointed out that Borna had played in a tournament in Graz last week and Dorsa had played without a hijab in events outside Iran.
Iran refuses to recognise Israel and bans its athletes for competing against Israelis.
The Iranian Chess Federation head Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh said: “As a first step, these two will be denied entry to all tournaments taking place in Iran, and they will no longer be allowed the opportunity to be present on the national team.”
He added ‘our national interests have priority over everything’ saying those who defied Iran’s ‘deals and principles’ would be shown no ‘leniency’.
what if, in the last final round only the players from Israel and Iran are the leaders? are they both going to be floated and play a players with lower score or the Iranian will be forced to play with the Israeli? too bad, politics ahead of sports competition. what’s chess motto again? just asking.
By hosting the Women’s World Chess Championship the Iranian Chess Federation is trying to create the impression that they don’t mind women having more power provided they show modesty with a view to repressing promiscuity but I think the whole thing is just a psychological trick, the real reason for wanting the modesty from a male perspective is 99% about restricting all forms of female power as much as political correctness allows and if they can hold a tournament which is mainly just boosting the power of foreign women then they hope that the actual increase in power of women in Iran is going to be minimal.