On Wednesday it became known that the Russian chess player Alexander Motylev, who coached Sergey Karjakin, left for Romania . Now he will perform together with a talent from Ukraine, who studied with Karjakin at the same school. Sport understands why the grandmaster changed sports citizenship.
«He was a good coach»
Motylev was the champion of Russia in 2001, in 2014 he was the winner of the European Classical Chess Championship, and in 2021 he won the European Rapid Championship. But a native of Sverdlovsk, perhaps, is better known for his success in the coaching field. After all, in different years he worked with the XIV world champion Vladimir Kramnik, one of the strongest Russian chess players Peter Svidler and a participant in the match for the title of world champion in 2016 Sergey Karyakin.
In addition, for a long time Motylev was a member of the coaching staff of the Russian national team and made a significant contribution to the achievements of the national team.
True, after the beginning of the NWO, the paths of Karyakin and Motylev diverged radically. After all, Sergei immediately publicly supported the government's decision, for which he was ostracized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). And Alexander ended up in a group of grandmasters and chess functionaries who in a collective letter condemned the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. As Karjakin said, the decision to radically break off relations belongs to his former coach.
«
“This is his personal decision, he has the right to his certain civic position,” Karyakin emphasized. “But I would like to emphasize that we have not been working with him for a long time, and after the SVO began, we stopped communicating at all. He initiated the termination communication with me. In addition, he signed a letter against a special military operation. This is his choice, his position, his decision. «
According to the grandmaster, Motylev's departure will be a loss for the national chess school. «He was a good coach, he had a lot of strong students, but, again, we can't get into the head and understand what people have there. It happens, unfortunately,» said Karyakin, a native of Simferopol.
br>
At the same time, the XII world champion and honorary president of the Russian Chess Federation (RCF) Anatoly Karpov considers the choice of the ex-Russian unexpected. One of the most titled chess players in the world noted: «I'm surprised, usually people move to a stronger country. I don't know what conditions Motylev was offered in Romania. This decision is strange for me.»
Kramatorsk school and flywheel Kosteniuk
It must be admitted that chess is on the rise in Romania now. Recently, this sport has been supervised by one of the financial magnates. And the conditions offered to the «new Romanians» are very tempting, which has already ensured the transfer of the 27-year-old Hungarian Richard Rapport, who is one of the most promising grandmasters in the world, under the auspices of the country. By the way, he occupies the 10th place in the FIDE rating, and in April of this year he was the second of the Chinese Ding Liren in the victorious match for the world title with the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Recently, 20-year-old talented Ukrainian grandmaster Kirill Shevchenko moved to the Romanian national team, who, like Karjakin, is a graduate of the famous chess school in Kramatorsk. In addition, one of the strongest Romanian grandmasters in history, 46-year-old Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, returned home from Germany. So Motylev now has very good prospects in the field of coaching.
In the face of uncertainty about the upcoming team tournaments, it is no longer surprising to hear reports that some Russian chess players have changed their allegiance. The flywheel was launched by the popular grandmaster and XII world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, who has Swiss citizenship. Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, the world champion under the age of 20, moved to Poland, who this year brought the bronze medal of the European Championship to the new country. Sarana, who won the title of European champion this year, and 29-year-old Alexander Predke. Daniil Yuffa, now 26, has been playing for Spain since 2021. All of them can be called representatives of the new wave of the national chess school, now bringing success to other states.
Whom can Russian chess fans count on? Fourth place in the FIDE ranking is occupied by Nepomniachtchi, who has already played two matches for the world title. But will he be able, after two failures in a row, to find the strength and emotions for the third campaign for the crown? Karjakin is in 11th position, but he categorically refuses to play in a neutral status without the Russian flag. And on the 18th line is Alexander Grischuk.
Perhaps, the hopes of the Russians can be connected with these grandmasters in the first place. True, Karjakin, who was disqualified by FIDE for six months for open support of the CBO and deprived of the chance to play in the Candidates Tournament in 2022, does not agree to a conciliatory decision. And now it is unlikely to play in the next competition of contenders for the world crown. As for women, Russians Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lahno have already won tickets to the Candidates Tournament next year. at least he did it consistently. And how his career will turn out in Romania, so far one can only guess.