MONTREAL—Canada’s chess federation has filed a formal complaint over the treatment of a Canadian grandmaster at a signature event just minutes before he was to play one of the biggest matches of his career.

Anton Kovalyov, 25, said in a Facebook post he pulled out of the World Cup in Republic of Georgia last weekend because an organizer complained to him about his shorts and called him a gypsy.

The Chess Federation of Canada has protested against Kovalyov’s treatment to FIDE, the World Chess Federation, as well as to the organizers of the $1.6-million event.

Kovalyov said an organizer berated him about his shorts just minutes before his third-round match.

The Ukrainian-born Montrealer, currently a university student in Texas, had worn the shorts in previous rounds without incident.

“The issue were not the shorts, but how I was treated,” he wrote.

He went on to explain that organizer Zurab Azmaiparashvili was hostile and aggressive and used the “gypsy” slur as an insult. The grandmaster said he was subjected to bullying and racial taunts and decided to leave instead of doing something stupid.

He forfeited his prize money in the process and, in a later Facebook post, said his family was out $3,000 because of his decision.

Azmaiparashvili said after the tournament that Kovalyov had been warned earlier in the day about his shorts and given the option to change into long pants. Azmaiparashvili said he only got involved when Kovalyov refused ahead of the tournament’s third round of games.

“I don’t care how he played previous World Cups,” Azmaiparashvili told ChessBase.com, confirming he did threaten to lodge a formal complaint to FIDE about Kovalyov if the player still refused to comply.

“He don’t like this, and he left, but really I was thinking that he finally understood me and he went to his room to change the pants,” Azmaiparashvili said, adding the two argued about other issues during their altercation as well, including what side of the board Kovalyov was assigned.

The Chess Federation of Canada representative said it is seeking a diplomatic solution, given the Olympiad, a team chess championship, will be put on next year by the same organizers.

“Our player has definitely been wronged and our federation is very angry about it,” said Hal Bond, a member of the group’s executive. “I’m hoping that an apology will be forthcoming from the organizers.”

Kovalyov had a solid shot of making the next round, said the chess federation president, Vlad Drkulec, adding Kovalyov is arguably Canada’s best player right now.

“He’s probably Canada’s best chance for a super grandmaster,” Drkulec said, noting that Kovalyov knocked off a previous world champion from India in an earlier round.

Kovalyov didn’t return a message seeking comment, but did address the shorts issue in his post. He said he didn’t bring any pants with him to the tournament because they no longer fit. If told or asked sooner, he would have bought some.

“But instead I was treated like garbage,” he wrote. “I was too stressed out by the way I was treated and the threats of being punished by FIDE no matter what I do, so I choose to leave before I do anything stupid.”

While there is a dress code in chess, Bond said those rules aren’t spelled out.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“They want the players to appear camera-friendly and photogenic and not dress in a manner that brings the game into disrepute, or dress in a manner that does elevate its status to where we’d like it to be seen,” Bond said. “But the code isn’t well written and some of the codes are vague.”

The outcome is a shame, Drkulec said, because Kovalyov’s run could have been a good-news story for chess, particularly in North America.

“It’s a very frustrating situation and instead of talking about a Disney-like situation where someone’s beating the top players, we’re talking about shorts,” Drkulec said.

With files from Washington Post