MOSCOW, Aug 22, Oleg Bogatov. The situation with the initial ban Ukrainian chess player Vasily Ivanchuk to leave the country for the World Cup in Baku is somewhat exaggerated, some official wanted to make a resonant newsbreak, Russian chess player Ian Nepomniachtchi said in an interview.
Initially, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine did not issue a permit for 54-year-old Ivanchuk to leave the country, which is necessary for anyone under 60 years old. The World Cup started in Baku on July 29 and is a qualifying competition for the Candidates Tournament for the title of world champion. Ivanchuk reached the 1/8 final stage, where he lost to the former world champion title holder Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who later made it to the final stage of the tournament.
«»This is a somewhat inflated story,» Nepomniachtchi said, commenting on the situation with the ban on leaving the country. «Besides Ivanchuk, other Ukrainian chess players were supposed to play in Baku. But it often happens that the left hand does not know what the right one is doing «Maybe some official decided to do something resonant again or create some kind of newsbreak. The main thing is that in the end Vasily Mikhailovich got to Baku and performed worthily, losing only to Carlsen.»
«In Baku, I did not communicate with him, because each of us had something to do. I am not free to assess his degree of patriotism, but I think that Vasily Mikhailovich, like many athletes, loves his homeland,» the grandmaster added.
Read the full interview with Ian Nepomniachtchi at rsport.ria.ru.