Famous Ukrainian world champion and Olympic medalist was not allowed out of Ukraine for the World Chess Cup in Baku

Ukrainian grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk, world rapid chess champion (2016) and four-time Olympic medalist (1988, 1990, 2004 and 2010), failed to leave Ukraine for the World Cup in Baku. The 54-year-old Lviv resident received a wild card from the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to participate in this major competition, fide.com reported.

According to the current legislation, he failed to obtain a special permission from the Ministry of Youth and Sports to leave the country for sporting purposes, as he is under 60 years old. An official request from the organizers of the World Championship, the Azerbaijan Chess Federation, was also rejected.

To change this situation, some of the world's best grandmasters signed an open letter to the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Vadym Huttsait. Among the signatories are Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Boris Gelfand.

"We ask the chess community to support this proposal by sharing the letter and we hope that the majority of grandmasters from different countries will express their support for Ivanchuk," fide.com said.

The FIDE World Cup will be held in the capital of Azerbaijan from July 30 to August 24. 206 athletes will take part in the open knockout tournament, while 103 chess players will take part in the women's tournament. The prize fund of both tournaments will amount to the largest sum for chess competitions, which is 2.5 million dollars.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, Vasyl Ivanchuk's party became a prototype for one of the final episodes of Netflix's mini-series "The Queen's Gambit."

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