“The rain, the clouds, the lack of sun – I feel at home here,” Nikita Vitiugov says. London, the chess grandmaster remarks, feels much like St Petersburg, by way of the climate, a minimum of.
The most effective gamers on this planet, Nikita was as soon as considered one of Russia’s brightest skills.
However after talking out concerning the conflict in Ukraine, he says he cannot danger going again. Now he performs for England and lives in London.
Whereas the period of the Soviet Union and America going to conflict over the chessboard to determine mental dominance is over, and gamers not entice the identical fame and notoriety as chess titans Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer did of their heyday, chess continues to be an enormous deal in Russia.
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Garry Kasparov taking part in towards Vitali Karpov in 1986. Pic: Sven Simon/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Pictures
A variety of well-known Russian chess gamers have denounced the conflict in Ukraine following the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In a rustic the place dissent is harmful, it is a huge assertion. Nikita was amongst them.
‘They contemplate London the capital of hell’
We’re sitting in a restaurant in north London, the place the 37-year-old grandmaster has made his house together with his spouse and younger son over the past yr.
“There was a show on Russian TV about chess players who changed their flags,” Nikita says. He is carrying a black polo neck jumper, together with his lengthy hair pushed again. “They paid special attention to my case.”
Whereas some gamers who left Russia switched to play for nations like Serbia or Spain, Nikita was essentially the most high-profile to undertake the St George’s Cross as his new nationwide flag. He is presently ranked 61st on this planet and quantity two in England.
“In Russian propaganda they consider London to be the capital of hell,” he says with a smile.
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Nikita Vitiugov in motion for England on the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Pic: FIDE/Mark Livshitz
In a manner, it isn’t shocking some in Russia consider Britain this fashion. The UK has been on the forefront of the European effort to offer weapons to Ukraine and is often the topic of the ire of Russian TV pundits.
For the reason that conflict broke out, the Chess Federation of Russia has been sanctioned by the world chess group and Russian gamers are banned from taking part in below their very own flag.
Nikita was residing in Spain and taking part in in Europe when Kremlin tanks rolled over Ukraine’s northern border and stormed in the direction of the capital, Kyiv.
When he awoke the day after the invasion, he knew instinctively that Russia wasn’t his house anymore.
That week, he made his place clear on social media: “You can’t defend yourself on foreign territory. Russians and Ukrainians are brothers, not enemies. Stop the war.”
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Nikita Vitiugov
‘That a part of my life was over’
On the time, Nikita was the nation’s reigning Russian chess champion and had dreamed of profitable gold with the Russian nationwide staff at some point.
He began taking part in chess in Russia aged 5, and established himself as considered one of his nation’s finest gamers. However he knew he needed to go away all that behind.
“It was difficult to accept that part of my life was over,” he says, likening it to a “divorce”.
Some individuals won’t care what nation they play for, Nikita says, however for him it was all the time greater than that – he had been proud to symbolize his nation.
Till a change within the guidelines, switching nations meant both paying an enormous launch price of £41,500 to Russia’s chess federation – a non-starter for Nikita – or spending two years within the wilderness, unable to compete in skilled chess.
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Nikita Vitiugov
With the assistance of English chess officers, Nikita was capable of be part of the English Chess Federation (ECF) and he, his spouse and son have been capable of safe UK residency permits.
Now, he feels at house in London and is grateful for the freedoms it affords him and his household.
“One of the reasons for moving here is that I want the best future possible for my son… [In the UK] you’re free to have your own opinion which is great.”
And with the London Chess Traditional being held this week, Nikita is happy to play in his adopted metropolis.
However whereas it is huge for English chess, the very fact the match is going down at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is an attention-grabbing wrinkle for Nikita, a Tottenham fan.
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Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is internet hosting the London Chess Traditional. File pic: iStock
An opportunity to emulate an idol
The final couple of years have been filled with change, he says. However this match is an opportunity for him to face off towards among the world’s brightest gamers from England and set up himself once more.
I ask Nikita if he attracts parallels between himself and Garry Kasparov, the previous world champion now residing in exile within the US for concern of persecution, who many nonetheless consider is the best participant of all time.
He says he’d desire to be in contrast with Viktor Korchnoi, considered one of his chess idols.
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Chess gamers Anatoly Karpov and Victor Korchnoi in 1978. Pic: AP
Identified – maybe affectionately – as ‘Viktor the Horrible’ in Western media throughout his prime resulting from his prodigious talent, Korchnoi was additionally from St Petersburg (generally known as Leningrad on the time) and defected from the Soviet Union to Switzerland, through the Netherlands, within the Nineteen Seventies.
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Nikita Vitiugov performs ‘blind chess’. Credit score: Andrew Moss/Chess in Faculties and Communities
Nikita’s defection was an instantaneous enhance to the English chess staff, which is ranked fifteenth on this planet.
When he joined final yr he grew to become the nation’s primary participant, although he has lately been overtaken by fellow grandmaster and three-time British champion David Howell.
English chess has been enriched by Nikita’s switch, says Malcolm Pein, director of worldwide chess for the ECF. “Nikita was one of Russia’s top players, his arrival has increased competition for places in the England team. He is also training the next generation.”
Subsequent yr, the British championships beckon – will a Russian be the brand new king of English chess?
