Ilyumzhinov vs Karpov

FIDE elections: meaningful and meaningless support
13 April 2010, 11.32 CET By Arne Moll
Report by Chessvibes.com

We haven’t given much attention to the upcoming FIDE presidential elections in Khanty-Mansiysk yet, but the recent news that the United States Chess Federation and the German Chess Federation have given their support to Anatoly Karpov, there’s no escaping the facts: the campaigns have started, and the political games have begun.

In this article, we want to give some background information regarding the various aspects of the upcoming FIDE presidential elections in Khanty-Mansiysk this fall. First, we’ll discuss the letters of support for the two candidates (Karpov and Ilyumzhinov), who wrote them and why. Next, we’ll cover some of the practical and theoretical implications of these endorsements. Finally, we compare the current situation to Turin 2006, when Ilyumzhinov managed to beat his opponent Bessel Kok.

Support for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
A few weeks ago, ChessBase reported in two separate news items about supporting letters for current President Ilyumzhinov. First, Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici (a FIDE Vice-President and candidate himself for the upcoming presidential elections of the European Chess Union) expressed his support for Ilyumzhinov in a lengthy letter. Just two days later, four letters from FIDE continental presidents (Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe) were published, also supporting the current FIDE President in often strikingly silimar prose. The second paragraph of Boris Kutin (ECU) and Dabilani Buthali (African Continental President) are in fact identical, suggesting the letters have been mutually composed.

Some of these letters are difficult to read without feeling embarrassed by their subservient tone. A closer look at, for instance, Mr. Yazici’s arguments for supporting Ilyumzhinov reveals some of the utter superficiality of these letters of support.

…Support for Anatoly Karpov
Not surprisingly, then, on the websites of the German and French federations, letters of support for the other candidate, Karpov, were published. This came after former World Champion Garry Kasparov had expressed his support for his former rival after his candidacy. To Russian press agency Interfax, Kasparov said:

Currently it’s quite obvious that the FIDE administration is on the sidelines and any attempt to bring chess back to its former status must be linked to the name of someone who has a serious prestige and knows everything. In my view, Karpov might try to essentially change the situation, and I hope that he does have such a chance.

And now, the USCF has joined these European federations with a published statement of support. They haven’t elaborated on it yet, but some of the European federations have. In a press release from last week (now also published on Chessbase), the President of the German Chess Federation, Robert von Weizsäcker, stated that Karpov will be nominated as Germany’s candidate. The FIDE statutes allow this, since Karpov has been a member of the German chess club 1930 Hockenheim for sixteen years, and therefore he’s also an official member of the German Federation.

Meanwhile, support from Karpov has come from various other angles, such as a Facebook page and support from columnists. It’s likely his campaign will gain even more momentum, possibly from some of the world’s chess playing elite as well, as the elections approach.

Here is the full article.