Russian grandmaster Sergey Karyakin said the transfer of former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk to the Swiss flag in international competitions was a big loss for the Russian team.”The loss is great. I read an interview with the coach of the chess team, where he said that we have a solid bench, but I will disagree with him. I believe that we don’t have a suitable replacement for Kosteniuk”, RIA Novosti quotes him”.Karjakin believes Kosteniuk’s change in sporting citizenship will weaken the Russian team, but it’s difficult for him to assess how much this change will affect the team’s results.
