What's GM short doing?!

[IM Jack Rudd]

Israel are in a European zone in FIDE. That geographically makes no sense, but it solved the problem in those days of the hostility of the federations in the relevant zone to Israel.

FIFA do the same thing. (And UEFA have a rule whereby they can ban certain pairings on international dispute grounds; they're currently not creating Ukraine v Russia pairings, for example.)

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Soheil, you may not know the long history of all this.
South Africa could not play in FIDE events for some years. The players and teams were boycotted because of the repulsive Apartheid Laws. That only ceased when there was the regime change.
Iran left FIDE because the Khomeini banned the game. Eventually that ban was lifted and Iran returned to FIDE.
Then many Arabic countries or players would not play against Israel. There was an unwritten rule that meant whenever such a pairing came up, the pairings were changed. That came to a head in the Olympiad in Dresden where Israel were paired with Yemen. I, and many others, knew that meant Yemen would forfeit. The pairings controllers were obdurate. Israel duly won 4-0 by default, quite a big advantage. They also had the advantage of a free day. Israel won the bronze medal.
After that the special non-written rule withered away. Except Iran or Iranian players still try to adhere to the old rule. There is, or was, a FIDE Law that countries at war with each other did not have to be paired together in the Olympiad. Iran feels it is at war with Israel, but Israel does not feel it is at war with Iran.

All other members of FIDE agree. Gens Una Sumus. Why should Iran be different from everybody else?

Matthew your solution causes other problems. If one player is removed from the pairings, that means there is an odd number of players. Somebody must get a win bye and this is unfair on all the other players. Yes, you can introduce a filler. But only Britain seems to like that.

I am not unfamiliar with this. Unbanning chess in Iran is celebrated every year.
I doubt Israel threatens Arab countries anymore. It repeatedly threatens and (allegedly) makes terrors inside Iran, the latest being Dr. Fakhrizadeh, which you probably heard of, plus some other meddllings. In fact, late Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani (a major politician of Iran (if not the greatest, before his death) says in his memoir that Israel tried to invade Iran in early 1980's.
And some people are being executed for the charge of spying for Israel intelligence Musad. So the two countries ARE at war. This is not an easy matter for chess officials.

[NickFaulks]

If Israeli players refused to play against Iranians that would also be unacceptable. But they don't.

[Ian Thompson]

And some people are being executed for the charge of spying for Israel intelligence Musad. So the two countries ARE at war.

I don't think spying constitutes being at war. It's normal activity to try to gain economic and political advantage. For example, the USA spying on Germany and Germany spying on the US. No wars have broken out between them for 75 years that I'm aware of.

What about Britain and Iran? The 'British spy' Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still detained in Iran.

[MJMcCready]

Espionage is just a game, a bit like hide and seek.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

And some people are being executed for the charge of spying for Israel intelligence Musad. So the two countries ARE at war.

I don't think spying constitutes being at war. It's normal activity to try to gain economic and political advantage. For example, the USA spying on Germany and Germany spying on the US. No wars have broken out between them for 75 years that I'm aware of.

What about Britain and Iran? The 'British spy' Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is still detained in Iran.

I didn't say it equals being at war.
I just said that any relation with Israel is punished severely (most probably with execution) under a judge decree. A Jewish mall owner was executed for selling items to Israel.
I counted some other things that constitutes war.

[Roger de Coverly]

I just said that any relation with Israel is punished severely

FIDE's problem is that notwithstanding the denials of the Iranian federation that attitude extends to Iranian players paired with ISR players outside of Iran.

The test will come when next there's a pairing between an IRI player and a ISR one. Will the IRI player refuse to play? If so will they be censured, ignored or praised by the Iranian Federation and other Iranian organisations? What if they do play?

[Roger Lancaster]

It's an unfortunate reality that individuals are punished, often unfairly, as a result of actions or policies of their governments. In that regard, although I can sympathise with them, the situation of Iranian athletes - including chess players - is far from unique. Reference has already been made to apartheid-era South Africa which prevented athletes such as Zola Budd, who temporarily transferred her allegiance to Great Britain as a result, from competing internationally. Travel restrictions, imposed on many East Europeans deemed politically unsound under Soviet domination, obviously affected the opportunities of those chess players [and others] then subject to travel bans. Today, to pick but a single example, I rather suspect opportunities for Uyghur chess players to play against either Iranians or Israelis to be somewhat limited.

[Gerard Killoran]

Stewart wrote:

Iran feels it is at war with Israel, but Israel does not feel it is at war with Iran.

However the following might indicate why Iran feels the way they do.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/02/poli ... index.html
Washington (CNN)A senior US administration official said Israel was behind the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist but declined to give details about whether the Trump administration knew about the attack before it was carried out or provided support.

and

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 11626.html
Colin Powell leaked emails: Israel has '200 nukes all pointed at Iran', former US secretary of state says

[NickFaulks]

Colin Powell leaked emails: Israel has '200 nukes all pointed at Iran', former US secretary of state says

I would imagine that Russia and the US have more than 200 nukes pointed at each other. They still manage to play chess.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

I just said that any relation with Israel is punished severely

FIDE's problem is that notwithstanding the denials of the Iranian federation that attitude extends to Iranian players paired with ISR players outside of Iran.

The test will come when next there's a pairing between an IRI player and a ISR one. Will the IRI player refuse to play? If so will they be censured, ignored or praised by the Iranian Federation and other Iranian organisations? What if they do play?

Praised. As opposing Israel is a core principle of Iranian regime.
But almost all players would play an Israeli opponent if given the chance

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Colin Powell leaked emails: Israel has '200 nukes all pointed at Iran', former US secretary of state says

I would imagine that Russia and the US have more than 200 nukes pointed at each other. They still manage to play chess.

I described earlier why contacting Israelis is a red live for Iranian regime. Remember the case of Borna Derakhshani? I told you. People have been executed on the charge of cooperating with Israel. So it's no easy matter.
And Israel IS at war. It attacks Iranian forces in Syria and makes terrorist attacks, reportedly.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Why do you insist on this subject?
The two countries are at war. That's it.

And secondly, not all Iranians will play Israelis. I mean, most Iranians play only inside Iran.

[Roger Lancaster]

Colin Powell leaked emails: Israel has '200 nukes all pointed at Iran', former US secretary of state says

I would imagine that Russia and the US have more than 200 nukes pointed at each other. They still manage to play chess.

I described earlier why contacting Israelis is a red live for Iranian regime. Remember the case of Borna Derakhshani? I told you. People have been executed on the charge of cooperating with Israel. So it's no easy matter.
And Israel IS at war. It attacks Iranian forces in Syria and makes terrorist attacks, reportedly.

Soheil - Whatever foreigners think of the Iranian theocracy, I don't believe there's any significant antipathy towards the Iranian people - so, for example, people here are happy to converse with you although, if I'm honest, I'm a little concerned that these frank discussions don't result in your having difficulties with the Iranian authorities. Also, any reasonably well-informed person knows that contact with Israelis is very risky for Iranians. There doesn't seem to be a quick 'fix' to the problem although it's possible that, as and when an increasing number of countries [eg Bahrain, Emirates] in the Middle East open up diplomatic and other relations with Israel, the Iranian theocracy will find itself increasingly isolated in its approach.

[Roger de Coverly]

The two countries are at war. That's it.

Why didn't the Iranian chess federation make a submission to that effect to FIDE instead of attempting to deny the existence of a state sponsored boycott?

The bottom line for Iranian chess players looks to be that either they don't play abroad, insist on the exclusion of ISR players as a condition of their participation, or play under FIDE or another flag.

England or the UK has so far benefited at least to the extent of one leading junior and one internationally renowned arbiter. France may have got themselves a world title challenger.