Showdown in Khanty Mansiysk

Chess by Douglas Bryson
Published Date: 23 March 2010

ANATOLY KARPOV, world champion from 1975 to 1985, has announced his intention to stand for the presidency of FIDE, the world chess federation. Karpov wants to oust current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also ruler of the southern Russian state of Kalmykia. “I feel I can some make some changes,” he says. “The prestige of the chess federation and chess itself went down. With chess in education, chess schools and the internet, we have chances to get better.”

Karpov believes FIDE is failing to promote the new elite if a retired Garry Kasparov, the late Bobby Fischer and Karpov himself are still the most famous players. He is also scathing of FIDE’s world championship format, in which you can gain the title “without winning a single game”, as could happen in blitz tie-breaks where Black gets draw odds.

Karpov was officially nominated by the French federation, but his homeland of Russia is “still thinking” – since only one candidate per federation is allowed and Kirsan, the incumbent, has been the Russian choice since he was elected in 1995. Karpov mischievously says this shouldn’t be important, since FIDE has a history of “ignoring its own rules”. The election will take place during the 2010 world team Olympiad, in Khanty Mansiysk, Siberia.

Source: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com