"Where the sponsor is, there and Homeland?": the Russian world champion is reasonable beyond his years

Eighteen-year-old Russian grandmaster Volodar Murzin, who won the Rapid World Championship in New York at the end of December, said he refused to move to the United States, despite the available offers, and explained why.

"I was invited and am now being invited to study in the USA. And I would probably have accepted this offer if it hadn't been for my sponsor, who helped me to reach a high level and kept it for Russia. So with such support, it just doesn't make sense for me to look for something else.

In general, the situation with the departures of players is, of course, deplorable. You can simply open the list of the top 10 chess players in Russia. Yes, half of them are no longer active players. They just have a rating, but they don't play. And there are almost no new ones," the Championship portal quotes the words of the young talent.

One gets the impression that if Volodar's sponsor, for example, was from Detroit, then Murzin, without a doubt, would already be defending the sporting honor of the USA at prestigious tournaments.

And it is no coincidence that 88 chess players left Russia in 2022, and 72 in seven months of 2023. People are leaving in search of a flag and sponsors, parting with their Homeland in the name of the opportunity to perform at various championships and earn kefir with a delicious bun.

And it was not from a good life that the president of the Russian Chess Federation, Andrei Filatov, went to extreme measures:

"The FSHR has decided to appeal to all major Russian sponsors who help chess players and their teams to include a mandatory clause in the contracts, according to which the chess player is obliged to return all sponsorship money in case of a change of sports citizenship.

The FSHR has drawn conclusions and has already introduced a similar practice after a number of chess players changed their citizenship after 2022.

This step is necessary in the current realities, although it causes a painful reaction from many coaches who are attached to talented chess players and try to manipulate them."

It turns out that while the weather vane turned to the side "we are performing in any status, suffering humiliation in the name of a future return with a flag, anthem and coat of arms, it is not known when," the sports people revives the skis and flees over the hill.

In turn, State Duma deputy Dmitry Svishchev reacted to the decision of the English rugby club "Gloucester" to ban Russian Kirill Gotovtsev from playing in uniform with the flag of the Russian Federation. Moreover, all team players wear similar stripes with national flags:

"I consider such actions of the English club discriminatory. There was no need to remove the Russian flag from the uniform because of a few idiots in social networks. In addition, many fans stood up for our athlete. In this case, the team could refuse to use all the flags on the form altogether, it would be much more appropriate. I also doubt that Kirill himself agreed with these discriminatory requirements. It looks more like either he was forced to do this, or they specifically wrote so in a press release. Russophobia has not gone away, our athletes are suffering again for nothing. I am truly sorry that this is still happening."

Everyone is sorry, Dmitry Alexandrovich. But while parliamentarians and officials are lamenting, and the Russian sports minister claims that "we are allies with WADA," the press service of the English rugby club "Gloucester" reports on social networks:

"After further internal discussion and with Kirill's permission, the club decided to continue to recognize those who have their country's stripes on Gloucester jerseys — as it has been since 2015. Kirill's national flag will not appear on his T-shirt in accordance with the sanctions imposed. We understand the connotations of the flag in question and apologize for any offense this may have caused."

That's how we live. With an incomprehensible connotation, blurred perspectives, in alliance with the scoundrels from WADA and sadness in my soul for those glorious times when it was not necessary to seal the inscription RUSSIA on suitcases with black tape.