RUSSIAN/Soviet domina tion of chess is history.
A Russian squad failed to earn medals for the first time in the World Team Championship and managed only a disappointing tie for fourth place, with the US and Hungary, last month in Ningbo, China.
“It’s a genuine disgrace,” said former world champion Anatoly Karpov.
Karpov had a lot to do with the domination that Russian and Soviet players enjoyed in international team events, which originated more than 60 years ago.
But with the breakup of the Soviet Union, there’s too much competition. Fourteen of the world’s top 20 players today are graduates of “Soviet school” training — but 10 of them now play for non-Russian teams.
“Our team didn’t win a single game against the former Soviet republics — Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine!” veteran trainer Yury Razuvaev said of what he called the Ningbo “disaster.”
Not surprisingly, Armenia and Ukraine won the gold and bronze medals, with the silver going to China.
Ironically, Sergey Karjakin, a Ukrainian who switched allegiances to Russia two years, turned out to be the weakest link on his new team, with a 2-4 score.