Chess: On the day Sara Khadem met Spanish Prime Minister, an arrest warrant was issued against her in Iran

Khadem, ranked 17th in the world (among women), refused to wear a hijab as she competed in the world rapid and blitz championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan from December 26-30.

She finished tied 31st in the rapid competition and 19th in blitz, in which players must make their moves even faster.

Fearing trouble for her action, Khadem defected to Spain where she now lives in exile with her husband and one-year-old son.

The hijab, which is mandatory under Iran’s strict Islamic dress code, has become the focus of protests against the Iranian government.

Khadem not wearing the hijab was seen as being in solidarity with demonstrations that brought unrest in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died in custody in September after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly.

Khadem is not the first Iranian women’s Grandmaster to defect to another country. In fact, all the other four active Iranian women’s Grandmasters have also defected to other countries. Dorsa Derakhshani defected in 2017. Atousa Pourkashiyan, like Derakhshani, plays for the USA. Ghazal Hakimifard has moved to Switzerland while Mitra Hejazipour plays for France.

Khadem has been outspoken in the past. In 2019, when Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja protested and defected to France, upset at being forced to lose by default against Israeli rivals — the Iran government had a policy of its players not playing with Israeli opponents — Khadem had supported Firouzja and warned that if the decision wasn’t overturned, more players would follow Firouzja and find asylum somewhere else.

Married to popular Iranian film director Ardeshir Ahmadi, who was once imprisoned in Iran for three months, apparently because of documentaries he had made, Khadem, anticipating trouble if she goes back to Iran, headed to a Spanish city with her husband and her 11-month-old baby.

She has been able to stay in Spain because of the golden visa rule, which allows anyone who buys a property valued at half a million euros (£442,000; $536,000) to gain residency.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez invited Sara Khadem to meet him. The day — January 25 — turned out to be bittersweet.

“It was on that day that I was issued with arrest orders at home. So I had mixed feelings: I was appreciated in this country – and in my own country, where you have achieved lots of success, you get arrest papers,” she told the BBC.