Saudis bar Israelis from chess tournament.
Kingdom prevents 7 players from playing in international event
JERUSALEM — Saudi Arabia is hosting an international chess tournament this week, and the fact female players are permitted to play without sporting the traditional head coverings is a first and a nod to the kingdom’s attempts at modernization and reform.
But these liberal steps appear to extend only so far.
Seven Israeli professional chess players have been prevented from participating in the World Chess Federation tournament after their visas were denied by the kingdom, an indication that even the most sportsmanlike events are still tinged with politics.
The exclusion of these players indicates that recent comments by Israeli political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over warming ties with Sunni Arab states might be overly optimistic.
It also suggests that despite Israel and Saudi Arabia sharing a fear of Iranian attempts to increase its influence in the region, a common enemy, or even the sharing intelligence information does not necessarily mean open friendship.
In a Twitter message, Fatimah Baeshen, a spokeswoman for the Saudi Embassy in the U.S., responded to the “purported politicization” of the event, saying visas had been granted to all citizens, except those from countries with no diplomatic ties to the kingdom.
Baeshen tweeted “Related to the purported politicization of the International Chess Tournament hosted by Riyadh: the Kingdom has allowed the participation of all citizens. The exception is whereby KSA has historically not had diplomatic ties with a specific country-thus has maintained its policy.”
But Lior Aizenberg, spokesman of the Israeli Chess Federation, said the decision to prevent the Israelis from attending was indeed political.
He said that before the tournament, which begins Tuesday, Israelis had been in touch with the Saudi Chess Federation who were, he said, “extremely positive that we would get visas to attend.”
“There needs to be a clear separation between sports and politics,” said Aizenberg. “We want our players to play in all competitions; what is going on in the Arab world does not interest us.”
He said the seven players who had planned to participate were now seeking financial compensation from the World Chess Federation, also known as FIDE.
Promoting the King Salman Rapid and Blitz World Championship 2017 in Riyadh, FIDE said the prize for the event is $2,000,000, with individual prize funds of $750,000. It said that 10 of the world’s top male chess players and 11 of the top female players would participate, along with players from 55 countries.