When the twin Candidates tournaments start at the end of this month in a luxury resort in Cyprus, India’s Koneru Humpy might not be playing in it despite qualifying for the eight-player event. That’s because the veteran doesn’t want to risk competing in a country which is not too far away from nations like Lebanon and Israel, which are actively involved in the ongoing war in the Middle East.
“I am not sure (if I will play at the Candidates). It depends upon the situation. Right now, I am a bit concerned about safety with the drone attacks and warships deployed (in the Mediterranean Sea) coming into the picture. And very recently, there has been bombing happening between Israel and Lebanon because of Hezbollah. So I am a bit hesitant to travel because of this. If the situation continues like this, I am really doubtful of my participation,” Humpy tells The Indian Express.
The host country of the Candidates, Cyprus, is located in the Mediterranean Sea, near countries such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. While Cyprus is not in the zone informally called the “theatre of war” in the ongoing conflict between Israel and USA on one side and Iran on the other, the island nation is not far from Israel and Lebanon, who are on opposite sides of the war. At the start of the conflict, a drone had hit a UK airbase in Cyprus.
Humpy is the first of the 16 qualified contenders across the twin Candidates tournaments to have voiced concerns about playing in Cyprus. From India, Divya Deshmukh and R Vaishali will also be competing in the Women’s Candidates, while R Praggnanandhaa will be playing in the Candidates.
Humpy says that, as someone who has travelled extensively to play in tournaments across the world, an accident or a calamity might happen at any time. But in this case, there is a definite risk factor.
“At the end of the day, you should be in a position to play the game in a peaceful and good atmosphere. Not surrounded by bomb or missile sirens. I think that should not be the stage for a world-class tournament. You don’t need to be desperate to hold events in such environments,” she says before adding, “Definitely, there is tension on the island. Of course, the whole event might go on without any further escalation. Nobody knows what will happen, right? But we do know that there is a risk. My point was that when there is a 10 or 20 per cent risk in playing in Cyprus, what was the necessity to hold the event in that place? When the war started, they already got a sign about what was going on. Intentionally, you should not walk into (a dangerous situation). If you know there might be some chances, you will just try to avoid it.”
Humpy understands that the drone attack at the RAF base might be a one-off incident, but she is hesitant to roll the dice in the middle of a war where countries can get trigger-happy. She says that currently she is training for the prestigious tournament as usual and even has flight tickets booked for Cyprus via Frankfurt (since the war in the Middle East has badly affected transit hubs like Dubai and Doha). Reports from international media organisations have noted how the popular vacation spot for Europeans is bleeding tourists since the drone strike at the British airbase. The RAF Akrotiri base, where the drone hit on March 1, is about 85 kilometres to the east of Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort, which will host the Candidates tournament.
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FIDE, on its part, has said that the event will go on as planned and that they are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.
As per FIDE regulations, any player who signs the contract to compete in the Candidates and then pulls out “without providing a satisfactory reason” may be imposed a fine of up to 10,000 euros (approximately Rs 10 lakh). While Humpy does not want to get into conversations about fines, she said that she had made her hesitation clear to FIDE, the global governing body of chess, early on, when the drone had struck the air force base.
“I was initially very happy when I got to know that it’s going to be held in Cyprus when it was announced in November. Because I haven’t been there before, I know it’s a very beautiful place. But the situation is different now. Because of the Israel-Hezbollah bombing a few days ago, many flights to Cyprus got cancelled. You don’t know how things will turn around. It’s a pity that FIDE is sticking to the tournament schedule,” added Humpy.
“As of today we have decided that Divya will play in the Candidates. But we don’t know what could happen in the future. The situation is changing everyday. If something changes, we’ll review the decision (to play),” Divya’s father Jitendra tells The Indian Express.
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Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali’s father Rameshbabu said that since both kids were at training camps he wasn’t sure what they would decide.
