JERUSALEM (JTA) — For the second straight year, Saudi Arabia won’t let Israeli chess players in for a world tournament. This year the Arab country will be penalized.

The World Blitz & Rapid Championships has been relocated to Russia after the Israelis were refused visas. The same thing  happened to seven Israelis who were to participate in the tournament in December 2017 in Riyadh.

Israeli chess grandmaster Ilya Smirin and former Israeli Chess Federation spokesman Lior Aizenberg, a pro-Israeli activist, wrote last month to the international chess governing body, the International Federation of Chess, or FIDE, seeking assurances that it would not allow host countries to discriminate against Israelis who want to compete.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Their letter was sent with the assistance of the Lawfare Project, a nonprofit Jewish civil and human rights organization.

It said that the Israeli players’ “inability to participate in this tournament was due to FIDE’s failure to secure entry visas to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the Israeli nationals and, correspondingly, its failure to guarantee their equal treatment and to protect them against discrimination on the basis of their nationality.”

On Sunday, FIDE said it would move the tournament, scheduled for Dec. 25-31, citing Saudi Arabia’s discriminatory visa policy.

Israeli athletes have frequently had trouble getting visas to enter Arab countries hosting tournaments.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount