Exclusive | Russia, once chess's home, now home-breaker: 'We can't play'

NEW DELHI: Long before Russia emerged from the shadow of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the land was already a chess powerhouse.

The clubrooms in Moscow and the grand tournament halls in St. Petersburg turned chess into something far greater than a mere pastime; the Soviet school of chess, as many enthusiasts can recall, was so meticulous and so deeply strategic that an aspiring player would board ships from faraway lands just to witness it firsthand, almost as if the game was woven into the very air they breathed. Players would learn Russian to decode the endless pages of chess theory and arm themselves with new strategies.

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A home to so many legends in the game of 64 squares, from Mikhail Botvinnik, Boris Spassky and Garry Kasparov to Vladimir Kramnik, is witnessing a slow erosion of its proud chess heritage.

With President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of ending the aggression in Ukraine, the aftershocks are being felt far beyond the battlefield, with neighbouring Belarus also bearing the brunt.

“After the war started in Ukraine, we don’t have many possibilities to play. I mean, like a team, as a team we can’t play. So it’s also many players are changing federation,” Belarus No. 1 Denis Lazavik tells TimesofIndia.com during an exclusive interview from Minsk.


Back in 2022, following the IOC’s suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes, FIDE, the global governing body for chess, followed suit, suspending their national teams from official tournaments while allowing individual players to compete under the FIDE flag.

That suspension, initially temporary, has now been extended to January 2026.

In Russia alone, the ongoing conflict has prompted hundreds of chess players to change their sporting nationality. Among them are former Women’s World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia to Switzerland) and top Grandmasters such as Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia to Slovenia), Kirill Alekseenko (Russia to Austria), Nikita Vitiugov (Russia to England), Alexandr Predke (Russia to Serbia), and Sanan Sjugirov (Russia to Hungary).

For someone like 18-year-old Lazavik, this has created a painful paradox: to play, they must sometimes abandon the very flag they grew up under.

“I haven’t thought about it (changing federation). But if it gets worse, of course, I might change. But now I feel kind of okay here. I have some support, and I don’t think that it will be useful to change now,” adds Lazavik, who was invited to the Global Chess League Contenders this year.

Born in Minsk, Lazavik kick-started his chess journey at the age of seven. A father, who was not a professional player but an avid enthusiast, helped him learn the basics and up his level on the board. Chess sections in school soon became his playground, and by age eight, he was already outpacing peers, collecting trophies and medals.

“I won more or less everything until maybe 12 or 13,” he recalls. “Even without regular training, I was just kind of talented enough to win.”

Belarus may not boast the chess culture of Russia, but it has nurtured its share of gifted minds.

“Chess is not so popular actually here in Belarus, but it’s not as if there is completely nothing. We have some support, and we have some good players,” Lazavik shares.

Being the No. 1 player in the country, though, is a challenge in itself. There’s hardly anyone left to play against at home, which means Denis must travel abroad to find stronger opponents and earn valuable rating points.

"When I was a kid, it was kind of hard for my parents financially because Belarus is not a rich country. Travelling to Europe or especially the US for tournaments was difficult," the teenage Grandmaster reveals, admitting that visa troubles at times turn his days into nightmares.

"But now, the federation supports me, and I’ve already won some prizes. So it’s not such a big issue anymore, I can afford to spend on tournaments myself."

Lazavik dreams of climbing to a 2700 rating, perhaps one day competing for the World Championship.

“I think I can earn lots of ratings and improve maybe until like 2700. Step by step, I will improve my game, and then we’ll see,” the 2605-rated player says with a smile. “I just feel that I haven't achieved my maximum potential. Right now, I just feel that I’m playing better than my level.”

Where smiles are scarce, one can only pretend to be living in normalcy. Yet, Lazavik wants to look beyond his plight, beyond the board: “Of course, it’s bad here, but there are many people who feel worse… in Ukraine, in Russia. So, it’s not really, really bad in terms of chess.”