Ukrainian grandmaster Ivanchuk not allowed to participate in World Cup in Baku, open letter sent to Gutzeit - Intl Chess Federation
Ukrainian grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk received a "wild card" from the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to participate in the FIDE World Cup, which starts on July 29 in Baku, but did not receive permission to leave the country, FIDE reported on Twitter on Saturday.
"Ukrainian GM Vasyl Ivanchuk received a wild card from FIDE to participate in the FIDE World Cup that starts on July 29 in Baku. Vasyl Ivanchuk resides in Lviv, Ukraine. According to current legislation, he needs permission from the Ministry of Youth and Sports to leave the country for sports purposes as he is under the age of 60 (he is currently 54 years old). Such permission was not granted. The official request from the organizers of the World Cup, the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, was also declined," the federation said.
In this regard, some of the world's leading grandmasters signed an open letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit. "We are asking the chess community to support this motion by sharing the letter and hope that more Grandmasters will voice their support for GM Ivanchuk," FIDE said.