Saudi Arabia has been hit with an onslaught of negative news lately, punctuated by emaciated children in the Yemen war and the killing of a prominent journalist, possibly on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Now the prince is facing a public-relations setback in another arena: chess.

The international chess governing body has stripped Saudi Arabia of hosting rights to a prominent tournament, just a few weeks before it was to be held in the country for the second consecutive year. A cryptic announcement by the chess body, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs, said the event, the World Rapid and Blitz Championships, would be held in Russia instead.

The announcement, made in a Twitter posting, did not explain the reason for the sudden change. But a nonprofit legal advocacy group that represents Israeli chess players, who were banned by the Saudis from attending the tournament in 2017, said Monday that the decision came after it had pressured the association, known as FIDE, to act.

In a statement, the advocacy group, the Lawfare Project, said the chess group had failed to enforce policies that reject “discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of gender.” A host country in chess competition must grant access “to representatives of all federations,” according to association rules quoted by the Lawfare Project.