A new lethal blow to chess, which was already affected by the anal balls scandal, the alleged sexual abuse of 8 women, including minors, and the attempted poisoning of a rival.
The scandal of the alleged anal beads as a method of cheating in chess caused rivers of ink to flow for months. If chess wanted to make noise and return to the forefront of the media, there is no doubt that with the Carlsen vs. Niemann conflict it achieved it. Never before had the sport of kings been talked about and followed so much as after the scandal that ended with million-dollar lawsuits.
Now, Chess is once again being affected by serious allegations of sexual abuse of which a Spanish player has been the victim.
Harassment of more than 15 players
Latvian chess champion Strebkovs has been found guilty of sexually harassing at least 15 female players, some of whom were minors. One of them, Anna Cramling Bellón, a Spaniard and naturalised Swede, has broken her silence to give details of the scandal that has once again put chess on the ropes.
Bellón is currently at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Together with her mother and three teammates, she represents Sweden at the major event. Her father, Juan Manuel Bellón López, a Spanish grandmaster, is the captain of the women’s team. But it is not her game but her recent statements on a chess podcast that are making headlines around the world. The 22-year-old has revealed that she was one of Strebkov’s victims of abuse in recent years. The Latvian has just been suspended for five years by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) following an internal investigation.
The chess master had sent letters containing pornographic content or had used condoms to the players. Some of the recipients were minors, some as young as 14, says Fide in its report to which it has had access. Image.
“It’s disgusting, it’s crazy”he said on the podcast “Sjakksnakk”, commenting on the case for the first time. “The worst thing was that he pretended to be someone else when he sent the letters.” This made it harder to recognise him and then also made it difficult for the authorities to catch him. “I opened the letter and thought it was from a friend. It’s disgusting, it’s crazy. It’s sick. I was completely horrified and thought: Why am I receiving something like this?”the chess player explained.
The time of the letters was about four or five years ago. According to the association, Strebkovs repeatedly harassed players with obscene messages over a period of more than ten years. There are also rumors that he obtained his International Master title through questionable means. “Fide does not tolerate any form of harassment or abuse within the chess community, especially when minors are involved,” the association’s president, Arkady Dvorkovich, said last month when announcing the sanction.
“It’s too little”
A too soft punishment for Cramling Bellón: “He should have received at least 30 to 40 years. Five years is too little. I don’t understand what’s going on,” said the young woman, who has millions of fans on YouTube and Twitch, on the podcast: “This man had the addresses of all these people and he sent these young women something so disgusting. It’s terrible.”.