Chess federation fuming over treatment of Canadian grandmaster at World Cup
MONTREAL — Canada’s chess federation says it has filed a formal complaint over the treatment of a Canadian grandmaster at a signature event just minutes before he was to play one of the biggest matches of his career.
Anton Kovalyov, 25, said in a Facebook post he pulled out of the World Cup in Georgia on the weekend because an organizer complained to him about his shorts and called him a Gypsy.
The Chess Federation of Canada has protested Kovalyov’s treatment to FIDE — the World Chess Organization — as well as to the organizers of the $1.6-million event.
Kovalyov said an organizer berated him about his shorts just minutes before his third-round match.