“In relation to yesterday’s decision of the secondary FIDE disciplinary committee. No illegal military occupation is justified or legitimatized or penalized by sports (national or international) federations through ridiculous monetary fines. The right to life, your place, your home, your family has no face value.,” says Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou.

Parallel to the ongoing FIDE Ethics case against Russia, there is an ongoing flag battle, known as the Kyrgyzstan resolution. A reaction came from the English Chess Federation via a page 4 article in The Telegraph, in an article written by the renowned journalist Leon Watson.

Mr. Watson starts the article with, “Russia has been accused of opening up an unlikely new front of its war against Ukraine – the world elite international chess”

While the case that Mr. Tsorbatzoglou comments about and the issue pointed out by Mr. Watson seem unrelated at first glance, there is a hot link in the making. Babur Tolbaev, President of the Kyrgyzstan Chess Federation and initiator of the resolution to restore the full membership rights of Russia, is among the candidates for FIDE Ethics commission chairman.