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Karjakin banned, Russia will appeal

The FIDE Ethics Commission bans Sergey Karjakin for six months from any FIDE rated events with immediate effect for his pro-war, anti-Ukrainian statements on social media. Since it costs the Russian challenger of 2016 his place in the Candidates Tournament, the Chess Federation of Russia announced an appeal. Whereas the ECU has suspended the federations of Russia and Belarus, FIDE only banned teams from both countries. If the appeal is rejected, the open place in the Candidates Tournament goes to the highest rated player on 1 May 2022 with at least thirty rated games since June 2021, a regulation that turned out biased against players from Asia and the US where hardly tournaments have taken place during the pandemic.