My favorite chess player in the World right now: Sara Khadem, representing Iran in the World Rapid & Blitz in Kazakhstan ❤️❤️❤️ — Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) December 27, 2022photo @LennartOotes https://t.co/prsQMuCJrw #RapidBlitz #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/qbeTo3lyr5Back in the chess world, Iranian players provoked quite a stir at this year's most prestigious championships for speed chess in Almaty, Kazakhstan.Photographs of Khadem and WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (of Iranian descent but who resides in the U.S.) flooded social media on Monday and throughout the week as the event went on, with many tweets expressing support.Bravo to Sara Khadem and Atousa Pourkashiyan, two top-level Iranian female players, not wearing their hijabs at the World Rapid/Blitz Championships!!A recent example, through no fault of his own, Israeli GM Boris Gelfand picked up three free points this last week without his Iranian opponents making a single move: a free point against both IM Bardiya Daneshvar and GM Pouya Idani in the rapid event and another point against GM Amin Tabatabaei in the blitz event.Former Iranian GM Alireza Firouzja, the youngest player to break the 2800-rating mark and world number-two at the age of 18, moved in 2019 and officially began playing for France last year."