Grandmaster Razib boycotts Israel game

Bangladeshi Grandmaster Enamul Hossain Rajib has declared through social media that he would be boycotting Bangladesh's 10th round game of the Chess Olympiad against Israel today.

The GM made the declaration through a Facebook post late last night, after the pairing of the round was fixed between the two countries. The 10th round match will get underway at 7:00pm Bangladesh time, with the event taking place in Budapest.

"Russia and Belarus did not get to participate as a team in the 2024 Hungary Chess Olympiad and the 2022 Chennai Chess Olympiad. Then how can Israel participate in the current situation? Tomorrow we have a game against them. I am boycotting," read Razib's Facebook post, accompanied by hashtags #BoycottIsrael and #StandWithJustice.

Although Bangladesh does not have any diplomatic ties with Israel, there are instances, especially in chess, albeit very rare, of the sports persons of the two countries facing off against each other.

However, there is widespread resentment in Bangladesh against Israeli policy following the Hamas attack on an Israeli concert on October 7 last year. The Israeli retaliation has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people in Gaza and other occupied territories.

After the pairing was made last night, Bangladesh had submitted the names of IM Fahad Rahman, FM Manon Reza Neer, GM Enamul Hossain Razib and FM Tahsin Tajwar Zia. And there is no option to replace Razib now with Niaz Murshed, who was rested for this round.

Syed Shahabuddin Shamim, the general secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation who is with the team in Budapest, told The Daily Star that they were still trying to convince Razib to play.

Otherwise, they would be left with three players and the individual player or the federation may come under sanction in case of a voluntary walkover.