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As far as I know, WADA banned Russian players to play under Russian flag in the world championships (I don't really know much details). And in this chesscom article, it is stated that:

This ban forbids Russian athletes and event organizers to display publicly the flag of the Russian Federation, the name “Russia”, (in any language or format), or any national emblem or national symbol of the Russian Federation, including on their clothes, equipment, or other personal items, at any event under the denomination "World Championship".

However, Nepomniachtchi played with a federation flag (CFR) in WCC 2021, and now Russian players are playing with a federation flag in the World Rapid Chess Championship. Isn't this included in the ban according to the chesscom article?

I researched a bit but couldn't make something out of it. Here are some useful links:

  • There is a link of a document I found from CAS website but it is too complicated and its English is not easy for me as a non-native.
  • And there is a related news in WADA website.
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    It's the name of the country, like the French Republic or the United Mexican States, un.org/en/about-us/member-states/russian-federation, washington.mid.ru/en
    – xngtng
    Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 13:56
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    "CFR" is not banned. The original attempt at a neutral flag which used the full words instead of the abbreviation, was rejected.
    – Arlen
    Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 19:25
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    Why does WADA affect chess? Seems unrelated.
    – odinchess.com
    Commented Dec 30, 2021 at 7:20

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Russia is not the Russian Chess Federation and vice versa. Whatever the "Russian Federation" is it is not the "Russian Chess Federation".

The same is true of the "Russian Olympic Committee". It is not the same thing as Russia or the "Russian Federation". In the Olympics Russian athletes competed under the flag of the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee).

This was pointed out by Chess24:

FIDE was forced into a last-minute scramble today to switch Russian title challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi’s flag before play began at the World Championship, chess24 can exclusively reveal.

...

The ban drew worldwide attention when it was enforced at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year. An agreement was struck that Russian athletes could compete under the banner of the Russian Olympic Committee — but were only allowed to display the acronym “ROC”.

Russian chess players followed suit last month at the Women's World Team Chess Championship in Sitges, Spain, and used the used the acronym “CFR”. The Russian team went on to win the event.

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    For the record, the "Russian Federation" referenced in OP's WADA quote is (almost certainly) just the formal name for the country of Russia.
    – Kevin
    Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 6:56
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    Whatever the "Russian Federation" is: That is the actual name of the country, while Russia is just the abbreviation. Just like Germany is actually the Federal Republic of Germany and America is sometimes used as shorthand for the USA.
    – Polygnome
    Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 9:57

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