Visa approvals a relief for chess chief

But Toronto event still at risk if elite players can’t attend

When Vladimir Drkulec went to sleep early Monday morning, he was still anxious over whether the world’s most prestigious chess tournament would happen next month in Toronto.

The Candidates Tournament 2024, scheduled to take place in Toronto from April 3 to April 22 to determine who plays for the World Chess Championship, was and still is at risk of being cancelled due to a delay in some elite players’ visas being issued.

But Drkulec, president of the Chess Federation of Canada, said he learned Monday morning that more than 30 applications were approved and he’s now feeling much more optimistic that it will go ahead, with 10 more approvals needed.

“I went to sleep at 2 a.m. and thought we were heading toward a disaster,” Drkulec said. “I woke up this morning … and the initial news was good. But then I got more emails and the news was even better.”

The flood of approvals comes after the International Chess Federation issued an urgent appeal to the Canadian government to expedite the visas on Friday, citing “grave concerns” about players arriving in time to Toronto. Drkulec’s organization has also been reaching out to MPs and ministers for weeks, he said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said they could not comment on individual cases due to privacy but said processing times can vary based on numerous factors, including whether an application is complete, how quickly applicants respond to requests for biometrics and other information, as well as the complexity of an application.

The organizers were looking at moving the tournament to Spain at the last minute if the visas weren’t approved, which would hurt Canada’s reputation, Drkulec said.

“If it had to be cancelled in Toronto, Canada would never get an event of this type of significance … Our reputation would have been in tatters,” he said.

In total, 16 players — eight men and eight women — are set to play in the tournament. Drkulec said he couldn’t identify the nationalities of the affected players.

Emil Sutovsky, CEO of the International Chess Federation, previously told the Star players from Russia, India and two other countries were still awaiting visas. The tournament also includes two players from the United States, two from China, and one each from France, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Ukraine.