"Time" on the Politics of the FIDE Presidential Election

I think this is as clear a description of the events surrounding the recent FIDE Presidential election as I've read anywhere online.  It is understandable even to those who know nothing about chess.  I believe Karl Rove gives lessons to the boys in the Kremlin.

Russia's Chess Feud: Checkmate, Kremlin
By Simon Shuster / Moscow, October 14, 2010

[Excerpted]

From the 1972 Cold War battle of Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, to the defection of some of the Soviet Union's greatest players to the West, chess has long been a proxy for international conflict, and a tool to project power. In Vladimir Putin's Russia, it seems, not much has changed.

This year, members of the creaky, chipped Central House of Chess in Moscow staged a mutiny against the Kremlin — one that saw two of the game's greatest legends in open conflict with the country's political elite. The coup ended in pathetic failure on Monday, but by the time it had run its course — which featured armed goons taking over the Chess House and talk of UFOs — the Kremlin showed that it cannot stomach even a marginal threat to its influence, not even when it comes to comes to the politics of chess.


The trouble started in the spring, when two former world chess champions and rivals, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, decided to join forces to run against the incumbent president of the game's international ruling body, which is known as FIDE. This irked the Russian government. Kasparov's political activism against Russian Prime Minister Putin in recent years has branded him an enemy of the state: He is banned from Russian politics, frequently arrested, and his projects tend to be harpooned by the Russian bureaucracy at every step. Aside from that, the Kremlin already has a loyal ally as FIDE president, and didn't much care to replace him.

For the past 15 years, FIDE has been ruled by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Putin loyalist who governed the poor Russian republic of Kalmykia for 17 years before agreeing to step down last month. As a consolation prize, the Kremlin is widely thought to have promised him success in the FIDE elections. But Karpov and Kasparov (who served as Karpov's campaign manager and fundraiser) embarked on a globe-trotting campaign that made this promise difficult to keep. After visiting some 30 countries, the duo managed to recruit the support of chess federations in the United States, Canada and most of western Europe, appearing to split the world of chess along Cold War lines ahead of the FIDE vote last month.

Rest of article.

Chess Politics - Really Really Suck!

This headline says it all, from First Post:

Man abducted by aliens beats Karpov in chess vote
Controversy in Siberia as eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov wins battle to head governing body of chess [The election was held in conjunction with the Chess Olympiad being held in Mansky Kamsky, Siberia, not exactly a "must see" tourist destination]

By Jonathan Harwood
LAST UPDATED 3:36 PM, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
The world of chess has been thrown into chaos after former Soviet world champion Anatoly Karpov failed in his bid to become head of the sport's governing body, losing out to a multi-millionaire Russian businessman and politician who claims to have been abducted by aliens.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is the reigning head of Fide, the sport's governing body, retained the role he has held since 1995 after winning a poll of national federations 95-65. But the result was greeted with chaotic scenes as delegates shouted abuse at each other at their meeting in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Ilyumzhinov has been accused of refusing to let Karpov's supporters address the meeting - even turning their microphones off - and using "bully-boy" tactics in the run-up to the vote. The result has infuriated many who are concerned about the future of chess under the leadership of the eccentric Russian, who was stripped of the leadership of Kalmykia, a small, oil-rich Buddhist region near the Caspian Sea earlier this year after claiming to have met aliens.

He has also introduced several controversial tournament rule changes and Malcolm Pein, the International Master who writes on chess for the Telegraph, said this month that Ilyumzhinov "has been the ruin of chess".

Karpov had the support of the English, French, German, Swiss, and US chess federations, but their influence was unable to sway the smaller nations who backed the incumbent. However, as many as 56 countries voted by proxy at the meeting. The Guardian claims that Zambia voted on behalf of Kenya, China for Burma and the UAE for Kuwait.

CJ de Mooi, the president of the English Chess Federation told the newspaper: "It was unbelievable. This was a farce of a vote. You wouldn't believe the blatant breaking of rules and Fide's written statutes. It's amazing. There wasn't even a pretence of fairness and free speech."

Ilyumzhinov hit the headlines earlier this year after he told Russian TV how aliens wearing yellow spacesuits had appeared on his balcony in 1997, taken him aboard their ship and flown him into space.

Shortly after that admission he lost his job as leader of Kalmykia after MPs raised concerns with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that he might pass state secrets on to the aliens that he claims to have met.

Despite his controversial views about extraterrestrials he retained the support of the Kremlin in his capacity as the head of Fide and was the official Russian candidate for the role. But that may have been down to the complex workings of Russian political favouritism. Karpov was backed in the campaign by his arch-rival from the 1980s Garry Kasparov, who is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.

Since winning the vote, Ilyumzhinov has offered Karpov the vice-presidency of the federation, but after accusing his rival of incompetence and corruption during the campaign and questioning his sanity, it seems unlikely Karpov will accept the offer.

Blast from the Past – Soviet Chess Intrigues

This is a new column by Larry Evans at the Sun Sentinel (online) – all I can say is WOW. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's your move Posted June 17 2007 The Vladimirov flap: The first edition of Gary Kasparov's book Child of Change (1987) appeared in England, exposing some of the nasty tricks by FIDE and Soviet chess officials to deprive him of a shot at the title held by his nemesis. His main target was FIDE President Florencio Campomanes, who is mentioned 197 times in 242 pages. The book was panned in the prestigious Dutch magazine New in Chess by Tim Krabbe, who attacked Kasparov as an egomaniac and wondered, "how a person can drown so naively in his own ego?" Kasparov was taken to task for his "shabby" firing of his longtime aide GM Evgeny Vladimirov, who was suspected of being a mole after some secret opening analysis missing from a safe was found in his room. Krabbe denounced the charge: "In 1986 when he was three points ahead in the third match against [Anatoli] Karpov, Kasparov lost that whole lead in three games. How can such a thing happen? Without any proof, as Kasparov himself admits, the reputation of a colleague is murdered. I really hope Campomanes has not let himself be intimidated by the champion to the extent where he will not at least symbolically suspend Kasparov one day for this." GM Raymond Keene, chess columnist for The London Times, was appalled: "I certainly hope that Krabbe's suggestion was a joke. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth in the current climate of assault on freedom of speech by FIDE." The American magazine Inside Chess, now defunct, renewed its attack on Kasparov. "It is difficult for this reader to buy the picture painted of Karpov as the epitome of all that is regressive and evil in Soviet life or the equally unlikely portrait of Kasparov as the avatar of progress and light ... Chapter 13, entitled "Knives in the Back," contains Kasparov's version of the ridiculous Vladimirov affair which cost the world champion much credibility and respect throughout the chess world." Kasparov was derided for blaming some of his losses on a spy in his camp. Yet did he not have a right to dismiss an aide he no longer trusted, which happens routinely in the business world? When I mentioned these charges in an interview with Kasparov, he said: "I realize that I have been criticized for banishing Vladimirov from my camp. Many people in the West find it difficult to believe that he passed analysis to Karpov's camp during the third match. But the world saw me change my entire opening repertoire except for the Gruenfeld Defense in the next match. I had to discard old luggage because Karpov knew everything about my opening preparation. I admit that I cannot prove my case beyond all doubt. But I have one question: `What was Vladimirov doing at Karpov's training camp in Odessa before our fourth match in 1987?'" Larry Evans is a five-time U.S. chess champion and nationally syndicated chess writer. Write to him at P.O. Box 1182, Reno, NV 89504.