I think FIDE should revise the rules. once a chess player represented a country they should stick on it. just like fiba you cant represent so many country. This is to avoid migration and give the local talents to represent their homeland.

"It remains to be seen whether or not marriage will be good for Karjakin's chess, or prove a distraction!"

I'm distracted. His wife is hot!

@Spektrowski Akiba Rubinstein was not Russian, at least no more than all Polish people born in XIX century.

I is all because he will play for Russia. If he was to play for USA nobody would complaine. Onishchuk plays for USA - is he a traitor?

Well, there was an awful lot of Russian/Soviet players leaving the Russian Empire/Soviet Union and changing their nationalities. The chess.com contributor GM Roman Dzindzichashvili is one of them, for instance. Viktor Korchnoi emigrated to Switzerland, Boris Spassky - to France, Fyodor Bohatirchuk - to Canada... Alexey Shirov now plays for Spain, Genna Sosonko - for Netherlands, Boris Gelfand - for Israel. Alexander Alekhine, Savielly Tartakower, Ossip Bernstein, Akiba Rubinstein, Aron Nimzowitsch - they all were born in the Russian Empire but then 'became' French (Alekhine, Tartakower and Bernstein), Polish (Rubinstein) and Danish (Nimzowitsch). Wilhelm Steinitz at some point assumed American citizenship, Emanuel Lasker was a USSR citizen for a while, Salo Flohr (Czechoslovakia) and Andor Lilienthal (Hungary) also were Soviet citizens (Flohr - from 1940 up to his death in 1983). The chess players do change their citizenships a lot - do all the fine players mentioned above qualify as the "Judas"?

If every person in the world at the age of 13yrs.were made to change citizenship,but the country of choice done by lottery;-could be a utopian planet?

They become both even stronger!

 im just happy for karjakin he go for what he believe for ,he wants to marry then he is , he change his citizenship then he does just the same when you play chess when you think that your move is right according to your perspective, you make a decission after your analysis but the outcome will be known after the game and so as for karjakin life since marrying and deciding your citizenship is outside chess life .

"She is a WGM, just not updated on FIDE.  That's right, you can only "Imagine..."  She would certainly mop the floor with either of us.  The US top player as a 2200 as a second (Nakamura) and is moping the floor with everyone right now."

Do you disagree?  Of course I can only imagine.  I have only the ratings to go on, but I know 300+ points is a big big difference.  Obviously I didnt mean she was a weak player.  But I very much doubt their games would be close.  I stopped short of saying categorically she wasnt a wgm because I only had the website to go on, but my main point was that she certainly is no GM and likely has a long way to go to get there, and 2700+ is a huge step again.  Is she even an IM?  That seems unlikely unless her rating has improved hugely since fide last updated that page. 

She could of course mop the floor with me, probably with her eyes closed and drunk 

I think, my dears, that after this trick, Karjakin will fall, as the chess player. Making a start from the past it is not heavy to understand that the destiny frequently is not favourable to any deserters, traitors and reliefs of citizenship. It was the big error.

@ JollyPlayer

Well that depends on wich country you feel is yours. One my be born or raised in one country but he/she can feel that some other country is his/hers nativ country. It is allways individual. As for the marriage it is too early, as you said 28 is good age for that, until that age i would...:D:D:D:D

The marriage could prove to be an asset perhaps (the other side of the coin).  If you wanted to practice a certain defense or opening, or endgame (you get the idea).  Would it not be great to have a GM to practice with without the time consuming setup of a computer.

There is not a club within driving distance of me.  I am a USCF member, kind of lost in space.  But he can play a GM at anytime.  And I am sure she wants him to get better.  And what will she learn?  Lots.

I think 19 is a bit young to get married no matter the culture, etc.  22-24, that seems a bit better.  Perhaps 28.  But if you are going to get married that young, do so with someone who shares your passion.

I would like to know for certain if he holds dual citizenship, changed, or what.  If we had the "right" to be a citizen of any country we chose, there would be lots of people here from former East Germany, etc. back from the cold war days.  But is it not a right.  

Bobby Fischer died in Iceland after making some frequent anti-semitic remarks and the US vowed to pull his passport and he was to be extradited (from Japan as I recall).  Iceland, where he won the World Championship, offered him citizenship and it stopped the controversy.  He died at age 64 with a dual citizenship.  

I think your country should mean something to you.  But that is my opinion only.

Excuse me, but he's not.  Unless this is breaking news, as recently as last week he was only moving to Russia for training but would continue to play for Ukraine.

why cares about anything other than he is young and talented?  His wife is hot, he is nineteen, yes he might be thinking about other things, can you blame him???

Says the Russian!  lol. 

Nothing wrong with changing citizenships, plus we do not know where his parents come from? 

She is a WGM, just not updated on FIDE.  That's right, you can only "Imagine..."  She would certainly mop the floor with either of us.  The US top player as a 2200 as a second (Nakamura) and is moping the floor with everyone right now.

idosheepallnight - The fide website has her as a WIM, with a rating of 2272, so really speaking he's not even married to a master.  I believe 2300+ is required for an FM title.  I imagine games between them are rarely close. 

People move to the US all the time for better opportunities.  The majority of our GM's are foreign.  No one knows why he left... you can only assume he is doing what is best for him and his new family.  This may be better and more aligned in his pursuits for world champion.  I can't wait to see he and Nakamura go at it again in  Corus A 2010.  (He lost a match to Nakamura in 2004 I believe... since he won A last year, it will be an interesting showdown).

@ kynas

Maybe he sees himself as a Russian by nationality, i don't see who gave you the right to judge about  Karjakin's nationality and loyalty? People change their citizenship every day, it is a human right so it can be changed, one is what he think he is.