Vitiugov Transfers From Russia To Become England's New Number One

GM Nikita Vitiugov, the Russian Champion in 2021 and current world number 25, became the most significant transfer from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, as his switch to England was officially confirmed by FIDE last week.

Vitiugov, who hails from St. Petersburg, is now England's highest-ranked player with a rating of 2719, 43 points ahead of GM David Howell at 2676, making him eligible for participation in the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest.

"He is a welcome addition to the team and his knowledge and experience is something we look forward to him sharing with our up-and-coming players," IM Malcolm Pein from the English Chess Federation told Chess.com.

"Welcome on board," the English Chess Federation tweeted this week.

Welcome on board to GM Nikita Vitiugov! https://t.co/pONzWMUXY5

— ECF (@ecfchess) August 30, 2023

Vitiugov became Russian champion in 2021 and has coached GM Peter Svidler during two Candidates tournaments and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi for his two FIDE World Championship matches. He also won the World Team Chess Championships with Russia twice and the European Club Cup three times. He won other prestigious tournaments, such as Gibraltar Masters (2013), Grenke Open (2017), and Prague Masters (2019). Vitiugov has also published two books on the French Defence.

The 36-year-old has been among the many Russian grandmasters speaking out against the invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with Chess.com, he made anti-war statements and tweeted:

"I will make my position clear—you cannot defend yourself on someone else's territory. Russians and Ukrainians are brothers, not enemies. Stop the war."

Vitiugov decided to remain in Costa Blanca, Spain, with his wife and newborn son after the war broke out and hasn't returned since. He spoke with a Spanish newspaper last year and talked about how he hasn't been able to think about chess. Returning to Russia was not an option, he said.

"I could never have imagined that. You realise that the country of your birth has started a war. It's unbearable. And I believe a lot of Russians feel the same," he said.

According to The Guardian, Vitiugov has rented a flat in East England and is making arrangements for his family to join him there.

Vitiugov's move is a significant loss for Russian chess, as the vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, Sergey Smagin, admitted to state news agency RIA.

"Vitiugov took advantage of the FIDE rules, which are in force until August 31. This was a compromise. Of course, this is a loss for Russian chess. On the other hand, Vitiugov himself will have the opportunity to compete in all tournaments. As far as I know, there is now some kind of chess boom in Great Britain. At the same time time we are talking about an experienced grandmaster, whose best results are already behind him. At the moment, he is more concentrated on coaching, helping, in particular, Ian Nepomniachtchi," Smagin said.

GM Sergey Karjakin, the increasingly controversial former World Championship challenger who was banned for six months for his pro-war statements, called the loss of Vitiugov "very serious" in an interview with RIA.

"A lot of guys have left. We need to pay attention to this problem, because at some point we will not have members of the national team left and we will have to compete as a second team. This reduces our overall chess potential in the country. The loss of Nikita Vitiugov is very serious."

Another significant move from Russia is GM Sanan Sjugirov, current world number 34, who became Hungary's new number one ahead of GM Peter Leko on August 23. The former World U-10 and U-14 Champion was a 2600 player for years but broke the 2700 barrier for the first time in 2022 and is currently rated 2705. That makes him the second-highest-ranked Russian to change federations.

The 30-year-old's transfer is downplayed by the Russian Chess Federation.

"When a chess player of this level leaves, it is a loss. Not fatal, but a loss. This is not the first chess player who, for personal reasons, changed the sports jurisdiction. We must accept this as a fact. Any departure is resonant. We have many strong chess players who have already accepted this decision. But I don’t think that Sjugirov will be able to become one of the 20 strongest grandmasters in the world in the near future, taking into account the competition from Asian chess players,” Smagin said.

Another noteworthy move from Russia is 26-year-old GM Maksim Chigaev, who became Spain's new number seven when he changed federations on August 17.

Chess.com has previously covered some of Russia's top grandmasters changing federations and fleeing the country since the invasion of Ukraine. The list is getting longer:

• GM Sanan Sjugirov - switched to Hungary on August 23
• GM Maksim Chigaev - switched to Spain on August 17
• GM Anton Demchenko - switched to Slovenia on July 28
• GM Vladimir Fedoseev - switched to Slovenia on July 27
• GM Kiril Alekseenko - switched to Austria on July 7
• GM Alexander Motylev - switched to Romania on June 14
• GM Alexey Sarana - switched to Serbia on April 21
• GM Alexandr Predke - switched to Serbia on March 3
• GM Alexandra Kosteniuk - switched to Switzerland on March 3

More Russians are likely to find new federations in the future, but Karjakin says 21-year-old GM Andrey Esipenko will not be one of them, claiming Esipenko has a clause in his new contract with the Russian Chess Federation that prohibits him from changing federations.

"We can say that this is the only chess player who will not change his citizenship in the near future. According to my information, his contract with the Russian Chess Federation even states that Esipenko does not have the right to change it. As for the rest of the guys, I won’t be surprised if others also change their citizenship. I’d rather be surprised if this doesn’t happen,” Karjakin said to Russia's state news agency.

Esipenko, along with GM Dmitry Andreikin and Svidler are now the top Russians to play under the FIDE flag. Their three highest-rated players, such as former world championship challenger Nepomniachtchi, GM Alexander Grischuk, and GM Daniil Dubov, in addition to Karjakin, remain with the Russian flag on FIDE's website.