Israeli chess players have reportedly been excluded from next month’s World Amateur Chess Championships in Malaysia, despite assurances from the sport’s international governing body that it would try to facilitate their participation.
Two Israeli competitors who registered for the tournament, scheduled to take place in Klang from November 4 to 13, are missing from the published list of entrants.
One of them, Lior Aizenberg, alleged that he was excluded for being an Israeli national even after registering using a foreign passport.
Aizenberg, a pro-Israel activist who runs the Chess4All club in Savyon, central Israel, criticised the decision and called on the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to remove Malaysia’s hosting rights.
“The Malaysian authorities are simply unwilling to allow Israelis to represent Israel at a World Championship. As far as they are concerned, Israel does not exist,” he said.
“After 78 years of statehood, and especially following October 7, we as Israelis cannot allow such a situation to stand.”
FIDE's official announcement on the World Amateur Chess Championship stated that "all FIDE member federations and all eligible players are invited to participate".
Aizenberg said he had initially contacted a tournament organiser with what he described as an “innocent question” about whether he could participate.
He told Israeli news outlet Walla that he was immediately informed that Israeli citizens could not enter because of Malaysia’s immigration policy. The message was subsequently deleted and replaced with a promise that organisers would get back to him, he claimed.
The Israeli Chess Federation had previously reported that FIDE promised to make “the maximum effort to help get visas for Israeli players interested in participating in the championship”.
Aizenberg argued that allowing a competition to proceed without Israeli participation undermines its claim to be a world championship.
“If the tournament proceeds in Malaysia despite the ban, the word "world" must be stripped from its official title. It cannot be considered a true world championship if representatives from Israel are barred from participating.”
“A place that does not accept Israelis or players from any other country should not be allowed to host a world championship” he added.
In 2019, FIDE stated that it opposed discriminatory treatment based on nationality and that its competitions should only be held in countries where representatives of all federations could generally obtain access.
FIDE is yet to issue a public response to the latest allegations.
In January 2019, the International Paralympic Committee withdrew the country’s right to host the World Para Swimming Championships after the Malaysian government failed to guarantee that Israeli athletes would be allowed to compete.
Andrew Parsons, the IPC president at the time, said: “All World Championships must be open to all eligible athletes and nations to compete safely and free from discrimination.
“When a host country excludes athletes from a particular nation, for political reasons, then we have absolutely no alternative but to look for a new Championships host.”
The competition was subsequently moved.
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