"The desire to spite Russia at all times has evolved into a pathological state. It is not good for chess movement and somewhat unpleasant to the players," said Ilyumzhinov.
On December 11, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in an interview to the Vesti Nedeli TV show accessed the criticism of the former World Champion Garry Kasparov against the Russian GM Sergey Karjakin.
"Kasparov wasn’t just on friendly terms with Magnus Carlsen and disapproved Karjakin. You should remember that he officially coached Carlsen few years ago. We held the World Chess Olympiad in Azerbaijan this year. Kasparov helped the training of American chess team," reminded the head of FIDE.
