War and peace on the chessboard | thearticle

In an earlier column I predicted unforeseeable twists and turns in the microcosm of chess politics. The chess governing body, FIDÉ, has already voted to rebuke Russia for its egregious

invasion of Ukraine. The unanimous decision to ban Russians from competing under their own flag, and deprive the country of the Chess Olympiad, originally scheduled for Moscow this summer,

is unprecedented. Thus Ian Nepomniachtchi, the recent victor of the world championship qualifying  tournament , was obliged to compete under the FIDÉ flag, not the Russian one. Recent

decisions have sidelined Russia from the game it had previously dominated — but who led the chess world in repudiating Russia? It was none other than the former Russian Deputy Prime

Minister, and, since 2018, President of FID É , Arkady Dvorkovich. This year ’ s Chess Olympiad and Congress, where new elections for chess officials will be held, have now both been

switched to Chennai, India. In an interview with the US magazine _Mother Jones,_ Dvorkovich originally voiced his opposition to the war, becoming one of the very few former senior Kremlin

officials to openly criticise the invasion. He said: “ Wars are the worst things one might face in life…including this war.”   Dvorkovich, who served at the Kremlin for 10 years, thereby

joined scores of chess leaders in decrying Vladimir Putin ’ s aggression.  “ My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians. Wars do not just kill priceless lives. Wars kill hopes and aspirations,

freeze or destroy relationships and connections.”   Then,  in an apparent volte face, after threats and criticism from pro-Putin officials, whom he had previously been  honourable  enough 

to defy, Dvorkovich changed his tune.  The _Times_ subsequently quoted him (speaking to the Skolkova_ _Foundation, a Moscow tech centre) suggesting, “…that the war against Ukraine was a

campaign against  Fascism ”, echoing the claim Moscow made as a pretext for invasion. Dvorkovich continued : “I, like all post-war children, was brought up on patriotism…and hatred of

Nazism. I am sincerely proud of the courage of our soldiers, who at all times defended their homeland and freedom.” The paradoxes are numerous and bewildering. As I pointed out in another

recent column, Britain ’ s Nigel Short has been hounded out of his FIDÉ Vice Presidency. Meanwhile, the wily Dvorkovich has assured his re-election in the vote to take place in India, by the

Machiavellian device of selecting the Indian former world champion Vishy Anand as his running mate. Yet simultaneously the former world title challenger (now Russian but formerly

Ukrainian), Sergei Karjakin, though decorated by Putin for his loyalty, remains punished by that selfsame FIDÉ, over which Dvorkovich presides, for his support of the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin’s war was deftly anticipated by Tacitus: _ “ _ _ Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant _ _ . _ “ (To ravage, to slaughter,

to usurp under false titles, this they call empire; and wherever they make a desert, they call it peace.) Chess is in the blood of Russia. Tolstoy, that quintessentially Russian genius,

referred consistently to chess in _War and Peace, _ Part Ten, Chapter 25 :__ _ “ _ I don ’ t understand what is meant by ‘ a skilful commander, ’ replied Prince Andrew ironically. ‘A skilful

commander?’ replied Pierre. ‘Why, one who foresees all contingencies… and foresees intentions.’ ‘But that ’ s impossible ,’ said Prince Andrew as if it were a matter settled long ago.

Pierre looked at him in surprise. ‘And yet they say that war is like a game of chess?’ he remarked. ‘Yes,’ replied Prince Andrew, ‘but with this little difference, that in chess you may

think over each move as long as you please and are not limited for time, and with this difference too, that a knight is always stronger than a pawn, and two pawns are always stronger than

one, while in war a battalion is sometimes stronger than a division and sometimes weaker than a company. The relative strength of bodies of troops can never be known to anyone. Believe me,’

  he went on, ‘if things depended on arrangements made by the staff, I should be there making arrangements, but instead of that I have the honour to serve here in the regiment with these

gentlemen, and I consider that on us tomorrow ’ s battle will depend and not on those others…. Success never depends, and never will depend, on position or equipment, or even on numbers, and

least of all on position.’ ‘But on what then?’ ‘On the feeling that is in me and in him,’ he pointed to Timokhin ‘and in every soldier.’” “ A good player who loses at chess is genuinely

convinced that he has lost because of a mistake, and he looks for this mistake in the beginning of his game, but forgets that there were also mistakes at every step in the course of the

game, that none of his moves was perfect. The mistake he pays attention to is conspicuous only because his opponent took advantage of it.”__ One might dispute Tolstoy ’ s insights into the

nature of chess, but there is little doubt that he had pondered deeply about the matter.  Tolstoy , too, was punished for his devotion to chess, having missed guard duty during the Crimean

War while being engrossed in a game.   Karjakin, meanwhile, has fought back with an open letter to the global chess community, which will doubtless result in further castigation from the

last remaining global sporting federation still run by a Russian . Only when the bogus special operation in Ukraine been defeated can reason and sanity return to the microcosm of chess.   In

his latest diatribe, Karjakin absurdly accuses the Russian Chess Federation itself of being run from Israel. He continues with a rant against the many grandmasters who have come out openly

against the invasion. Nepomniachtchi himself is Jewish and could perhaps have sailed under the Israeli flag for his most recent triumph in the world qualifier, which now gives him a second

tilt against Magnus Carlsen , the World Champion . In contrast, FIDÉ’s suspension of Karjakin for his pro-Putin stance removed any prospect of Karjakin participating in the current world

championship cycle.  Back to Tolstoy: a game follows in which the great author wins against his British biographer who, with his wife Louise, were also respectively the first translators of

his philosophical and fictional canon. Leo Tolstoy vs. Aylmer Maude As I pointed out in an earlier column this year, forty-four of Russia ’ s leading chess grandmasters, including Ian

Nepomniachtchi, have written an open letter to President Putin, denouncing his war against Ukraine. These bold paragons of the chess community are thereby risking not just their personal

freedom, but their lives. _War and Peace_ also anticipates the long-standing rivalry at the highest level between these former two protagonists:__ Sergey Karjakin vs. Magnus Carlsen

According to chessgames.com the two have so far played 95 games, with Carlsen triumphant in 33 of them, Karjakin in 15, with 47 draws. _ Raymond Keene’s latest book “Fifty Shades of Ray:

Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, is now available from  _ Blackwell’s _ . _ A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication

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