A Malvinas chess tournament generated controversy between Argentina and England

The British Chancellery was pronounced on Monday in support of the Local Chess Federation (ECF) in the person of Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, to qualify as "unacceptable" and to qualify as "clandestine" the event of this sport organized by Argentina in the end of March in the Malvinas Islands, which he considered "a" diplomatic provocation "for invading the area he administers.

The fact has had a great impact in the last few hours also in the British press, to the point that the prestigious newspaper The Times has treated the subject with an important development under the title "The new game of Argentina", after having learned that the FEC and the Falkland Islands Legislature had formally protested to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) "for the diplomatic provocation" of Argentina after playing a "clandestine" tournament Puerto Argentino (Port Stanley for the English).

In this respect,The FEC has warned that it is "the chess administrator of the British Overseas Territories who is not a full FIDE member"and that, therefore, what has happened is "unacceptable".

Barry Elsbi and Mark Pollard, two members of the Falklands legislature, have spoken in recent hours to describe the realization of this tournament as "deeply worrying?", And warned Argentina that "You should not mix politics and chess".

The controversy began when we wanted to validate the Argentine Chess Federation (FADA) this tournament in the international ranking (ELO), which provoked British anger, including even the publication of some photos of previous Argentine events against the United Kingdom.

The same British press questioned the fact that, in the promotion of the tournament, the name of Puerto Argentino had been used to define the place where it had been developed in place of Stanley Port, and even that the defense specialist of the The Times newspaper Lucy Fisher, described this sporting contest as "secret".

FADA celebrated on the islands Malvinas la Copa "Islas del Sur" organized by the federation itself and the Martelli Chess Circle, both chaired by Mario Petrucci, who attended the event and which was won by Daniel Ujhelly and the second Marcelo Debernardi.

There was also a meeting between two veterans of the Argentine army, Colonel Major José Jiménez Corbalán and the British Navy Lieutenant Marc Villiers Towsend, who fought 37 years ago at the Battle of Mount Harriet, winning the first triumph of 2.5 to 1.5, after four games

"The FADA has a status and the Malvinas Islands belong to Argentina, so we will appeal the decision of the FIDE not to consider this tournament as valid and, in fact, we will repeat it. next year at the same place ", said Petrucci tonight during an interview with Telam.

"This question, I have already spoken with the Argentine Foreign Ministry and it is normal that his authorities have not pronounced on this, since there was no incident that deserves ", concluded the highest national chess manager.