07-12-2015, 05:29 PM
Apparently Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been suspended as president of FIDE at his own request.
It's a pretty complicated situation but here's my understanding of it (so far...)
FIDE wants to sign contracts to have the 2017 World Championships held in the USA (that's where all the money is these days, and FIDE are not slow to follow the money).
However, Kirsan was recently added to the US sanctions list because of alleged links with Syria. He did play chess aainst Assad once, but then you could say the same about his relationships with Colonel Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and maybe a collection of unidentified 'Aliens').
So he has to stand down to allow the planned WC to go ahead.
Nihat Ali of Turkey (another controversia chess figurehead) seems to have got involved too, claiming that Kirsan has been involved with buying oil from the Islamic State. Of course Russia is making similar claims about the Turks. There is currently a propaganda and media war being waged between them.following the recent shooting down of a Russian warplane.
No doubt Putin himself will soon step in and complicate the situation still further. And I am sure Gary Kasparov, Nigel Short and others will have something to say too.
Is this the beginning of the end for Kirsan? Or in the words of Winston Churchill, could it be the end of the beginning? I don't think so. His deputy will take over meantime and you can be sure that behind the scenes Kirsan will still be pulling the strings. And like Sepp Blatter once was, he is untouchable so long has he has the support of his friends in the third world whi can easily outvote all of the rest.
Whether the US and the Turks going after him will have any effect remains to be seen. And if Putin and his allies back him, he will probably not be on the way out anytime soon.
It's a pretty complicated situation but here's my understanding of it (so far...)
FIDE wants to sign contracts to have the 2017 World Championships held in the USA (that's where all the money is these days, and FIDE are not slow to follow the money).
However, Kirsan was recently added to the US sanctions list because of alleged links with Syria. He did play chess aainst Assad once, but then you could say the same about his relationships with Colonel Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and maybe a collection of unidentified 'Aliens').
So he has to stand down to allow the planned WC to go ahead.
Nihat Ali of Turkey (another controversia chess figurehead) seems to have got involved too, claiming that Kirsan has been involved with buying oil from the Islamic State. Of course Russia is making similar claims about the Turks. There is currently a propaganda and media war being waged between them.following the recent shooting down of a Russian warplane.
No doubt Putin himself will soon step in and complicate the situation still further. And I am sure Gary Kasparov, Nigel Short and others will have something to say too.
Is this the beginning of the end for Kirsan? Or in the words of Winston Churchill, could it be the end of the beginning? I don't think so. His deputy will take over meantime and you can be sure that behind the scenes Kirsan will still be pulling the strings. And like Sepp Blatter once was, he is untouchable so long has he has the support of his friends in the third world whi can easily outvote all of the rest.
Whether the US and the Turks going after him will have any effect remains to be seen. And if Putin and his allies back him, he will probably not be on the way out anytime soon.