Iran chess champ expelled for refusing Israel game
(AFP) – 3 hours ago
BASTIA, France — Organisers of an international chess tournament in Corsica said on Tuesday they had expelled Iranian Grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem Maghami for refusing to take on an Israeli player.
Scheduled to face Ehud Sachar in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters in the French island’s city of Bastia, Maghami told organisers he would not play the Israeli for political reasons.
The tournament’s organiser and head of the Corsican Chess League, Leo Battesti, said there had then been no choice but to expel Maghami.
“Politics has no place in competition at this level. I was forced to expel Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, who unfortunately refused to change his mind. I had no other choice,” he said.
More than 800 players from 30 countries gathered in Corsica for the tournament, including about 40 Grandmasters and International Masters, including the current World Chess Champion, India’s Viswanathan Anand.
The fourth round continues until Saturday.
In February, Maghami beat Israeli title holder Alik Gershon to take the Guinness record for simultaneous chess games after facing more than 600 players for over 25 hours.
Iran and Israel are bitter enemies, with Tehran refusing to recognise the existence of the Jewish state and calling regularly for its destruction.
Source: http://www.google.com
It was a valid expulsion.
My previous comment disappeared…
I was simply suggesting that the Iranian GM should have been expelled from the tournament as well as given a forfeit for the refused game.
The motto of FIDE requires everyone to play without regard to politics.
My apologies – my complaint about my comment disappearing was incorrect – it was on another (similar) thread.
mea culpa
This should act as a model guideline for FIDE and his excellency Kirsan who allowed Libya to host the FIDE KO world cup at Tripoli without allowing Israeli passport holders VISA. Without taking any credit from Kazimdizhanov, I will tell that this had the effect ultimate result-read absense of Gelfand.
Whether Kirsan has confirmed the death og Cl. Gaddafi?
This should act as a model guideline for FIDE and his excellency Kirsan who allowed Libya to host the FIDE KO world cup at Tripoli without allowing Israeli passport holders VISA. Without taking any credit from Kazimdizhanov, I will tell that this had the effect ultimate result-read absense of Gelfand.
Whether Kirsan has confirmed the death of Col. Gaddafi?
Absolutely the appropriate action. Iranians must play Israelis just as Azerbaijanis must play Armenians, etc. Politics has no place in sports, even though it too often does.
This refusal is certainly absurd. Dispensable to point out the effect of consequently building up such incoherent arguments when finally almost no one would play anyone, let’s only say no one would play Iranian players just because they are Iranian players and therefore from a country which politics might be regarded as non acceptable? The absurdity is more than obvious. Gens una sumus! No? Forgotten? A pity. Nonetheless it doesn’t seem to be that clear how to deal with such absurdity since there are no certain rules. From my point of view a rated 0-1 would have done. How can someone be forced to play? There could be various reasons why someone doesn’t want to play (the opponent could have had a negative impact on ones life before, the opponent might be a computer aso. or now an inability to overcome personal inner conflicts ..). I believe there are no serious means which could follow reliable rules for such cases and therefore the consequences should only have an impact on this single event. A rated 0-1 would perfectly counter the refusal and display its absurdity. To do more about it would exaggerate in a similar way as the act itself.