Grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk is not allowed out of Ukraine for the World Chess Cup

Photo: Vasyl Ivanchuk

Grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk was denied permission to leave Ukraine for the Chess World Cup. This was announced by the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Ukrainian grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk received a wild card from FIDE to participate in the FIDE World Cup, which starts on July 29 in Baku. Vasyl Ivanchuk lives in Lviv, Ukraine.

According to current legislation, he needs the permission of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to leave the country for sports purposes, since he is younger than 60 (he is now 54). No such permission was granted. An official request from the organizers of the World Championship, the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, was also rejected.

To remedy this situation, some of the world's leading grandmasters signed an open letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit.

We ask the chess community to support this proposal by sharing the letter, and we hope that more grandmasters will express their support for Grandmaster Ivanchuk.

< p>The letter was signed by ex-world champion Magnus Carlsen, current world number two Hikaru Nakamura and 15th world champion Viswanathan Anand. BAGNET reminds Vasyl Ivanchuk – 2002 world vice-champion and 2004 European champion. Won the world championship in blitz in 2007 and rapid chess in 2016.

Prepared by Serhiy Daga