Chess grandmaster Amin Tabatabaei has only been playing for FC Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga for a few weeks. Now he caused a scandal at an international tournament in which he represented his home country Iran.
Great excitement about Bayern Munich’s chess player Amin Tabatabaei: The 21-year-old refused in the first round at the Sunway International Chess Festival in Barcelona, where he did not play for his new club but for his home country Iran, against Netanel Levi playing Israel. Levi won the game without a fight.
“How long do you want to tolerate that?” Paul Meyer-Dunker, President of the Berlin Chess Federation, asked the international chess association FIDE indignantly. “Will the hatred of our Israeli colleagues and the oppression of our Iranian colleagues ever have any consequences for the Chess Federation of Iran?” he asked on Twitter.
Because the Iranian regime does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, it bans its athletes from competing against Israelis. Iranians who defy the ban face penalties.
Tabatabaei felt this himself in 2019 when he – apparently without knowing his opponent’s nationality – competed against an Israeli athlete. He then had to apologize and was sanctioned by the Iranian Ministry of Sports, he was not allowed to take part in the Rapid and Blitz Chess World Championships.
Polgár concerned: “How can FIDE help these players?”
It is not clear whether the fear of further sanctions is the reason for Tabatabaei’s recent non-appearance. However, top chess player Zsuzsa Polgár suspected that the Iranian was being pressured into not playing the game against Levi.
“Very unlucky! I feel so sorry for Grandmaster Amin Tabatabaei! He had no choice. How can FIDE help these players?” the 53-year-old tweeted after the incidents in Barcelona.