Ukraine’s chess players withdraw from Women’s Grand Prix in India due to russia’s participation

The strongest Ukrainian chess players, sisters Anna and Maria Muzychuk, refused to compete at the third stage of the Grand Prix in New Delhi, India.

Rubryka reports, referring to the official website of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The Federation didn't announce the reason for the absence of the Muzychuk sisters. Instead, it promptly looked for replacements for Ukrainian chess players. Instead of them, Georgian Nino Batsiashvili and Indian Vaishali Rameshbabu will compete in New Delhi.

At the same time, the coach of the current world champion, Carlsen, reacted to the removal of Anna and Maria Muzychuk. Peter Heine Nielsen connected the refusal of Ukrainian women with the admission of two russian women during the russian aggression against Ukraine.

"The victim should not be the ones to retreat," he said.

It is reported that the Ukrainian grandmasters will miss the Indian stage of the FIDE Grand Prix.

Most likely, the titular sisters-chess players took this step because of the participation of two russian women in the competition — natives of Lviv, Kateryna Lagno and Oleksandra Horyachkina.

Earlier, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine called on all sports federations to refuse participation in tournaments where athletes from russia and belarus would be allowed to compete. The tennis federation publicly rejected the idea of such a boycott. Instead, several others are already boycotting the competition.