Chess fans around the world are looking forward to the Toronto Candidates tournament in April, which will decide on who will challenge Ding Liren of China to be the World Chess Champion. But with less than a month left until the event is set to start, several players have yet to receive a visa to travel to Canada.

On Monday, chess' international federation FIDE said it was "totally focused on resolving visa issues" and sticking to its plans to host the competition in Toronto. 

But the statement only came after FIDE's CEO had raised the possibility of relocating it if any of the qualifiers did not receive permission to travel in time for the April 4 start. Spain was floated as a potential replacement venue over the weekend.

Eight of the world's top male and female players, including a record number from India and three from Russia, have qualified for a pair of tournaments. The winner will earn the right to challenge the reigning "classical" (long time-control games) world chess champions, Ding Liren in the men's tournament and Ju Wenjun, who also hails from China, in the female competition.

FIDE says no players are getting replaced

The world chess federation issued its first public appeal last Friday, saying only that several players had heard nothing back on their visa applications, without mentioning their names or nationalities. 

"Regrettably, players from various countries worldwide, who submitted their visa applications [a] few months ago, have not yet received any updates on their status. With only a month remaining till the FIDE Candidates Tournament, there are grave concerns about the timely arrival of the players to Toronto," FIDE said. 

The body's CEO Emil Sutovsky later said that even though reserve and replacement mechanisms do in theory exist in case a qualifier cannot compete, FIDE did not intend to use them for arguably the second most significant tournament in chess.

"Candidates is Candidates. It's a culmination of a two-year cycle," Sutovsky wrote online, tagging Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller. "It's an event followed by millions. Only eight men and eight women — and we won't replace even one due to visa problems. It will be misfortunate if FIDE has to relocate it. And the main loser will be Canada." 

But on Monday, Sutovsky sought a more conciliatory tone, saying FIDE was working to fix the visa issues and planning to go ahead with the Toronto competition. Tickets have already gone on sale.

Sutovsky shared video of an event held at a chess pub in the city on Sunday evening to draw lots for deciding the matchups for the first round of the 2024 Candidates and Women's Candidates tournaments.

Why might there be visa issues? 

The apparent delay in arranging visas coincides with tense ties between NATO member Canada and Russia amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but also comes amid a Canadian dispute with India over alleged Indian government involvement in the death of a Sikh separatist in Canada. 

Russian player Ian Nepomniachtchi won the last Candidates tournament but lost the world championship match to Ding, and has qualified again for 2024. Similarly, Russian Kateryna Lagno, who won last year, and her compatriot Aleksandra Goryachkina both made the cut for the Women's Candidates.

Tensions between NATO members and Russia are high amid the war in Ukraine; recent Canadian sanctions included measures against the president of the Russian chess federation, Andrey Filatov.

FIDE's leadership traditionally has close ties to Russia, especially its president, Arkady Dvorkovich, who was Russian deputy prime minister when current President Vladimir Putin was prime minister.

However, it has taken steps in line with many other sports in response to the invasion of Ukraine, such as requiring that Russians participate under a neutral flag. However, the measures stop short of the wide-ranging exclusions for Russian teams and competitors seen in other sports, like football.

Also, Canada and India have had strained ties in recent months, and a record five Indian players have qualified for the pair of competitions as a strong new generation of talent emerges in the world's most populous country. 

Vidit Gujrathi and teenagers Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (more commonly known as Pragg) and Dommaraju Gukesh (Gukesh D) have all qualified for the men's competition. Pragg's elder sister Vaishali Rameshbabu and Humpy Koneru have both qualified for the women's event. 

Canada is currently investigating the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia, and has said it suspects Indian government agents of involvement in the shooting. India responded with visa restrictions when the investigation was announced and told Canadian media last month that it would not be cooperating with the investigation unless it was provided with "relevant and specific" evidence first. 

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Edited by: Darko Janjevic