Karjakin, bail out of Ukraine

We had finally learnt that there is no actual offer from the Russian Chess Federation. It is Karjakin's sole decision to transfer to Russia after all, in search of good coaches. Sergei just bail out of Ukraine to save his chess career, so it appears. A hundred years from now people will remember Sergei Karjakin as "A Russian World Chess Champion of Ukranian decent." Excerpt of this interview of Sergei Karjakin is from Peter Doggers chess blog, ChessVibes.

“I am going to play for Russia and I am going to live in Russia, most likely. This decision was made because I didn’t have enough support inside the country, in Ukraine. And I also need to train with good coaches and there are a few good coaches in Russia, for example Yuri Dokhoian, who worked with Garry Kasparov and now in this tournament he is working with me. So it’s mostly because of the coaches.”

OK, I had a little bit support from the private sponsors, but I almost didn’t have any support from the Federation. It’s not like in Russia, where you have very big support from the Federation.”

Vassily Ivanchuk:
“I think this is his personal decision. OK, if he thinks he will have more opportunities in the Russian Chess Federation, why not?” To the question if he was surprised, Ivanchuk answered: “I didn’t think about it, but it’s completely his personal decision.”

Pavel Eljanov:
“I think it’s a very good chance for Sergey to improve his skills, because he’s a very talented player. I think he’s one of the most talented prodigies in the world. I think that with this great support of the Russian Chess Federation he has great chances to become World Champion in the future.”