Only civilised methods of fighting

Power struggle grips world chess
By Stuart Williams (AFP) – 3 hours ago

MOSCOW — It pitches a former world champion against the leader of the world’s western-most Buddhist region who claims to have met aliens in his apartment.

For good measure, it also features the chief economic adviser of the Kremlin and another former world champion who has turned into an implacable critic of the Russian authorities.

This is the cast of a zany row that has broken out over Russia’s candidate to head the World Chess Federation (FIDE), a struggle which has become a bitter test of guile and stamina reminiscent of famous battles on the board.

The president of FIDE is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a fanatical chess player who has been leader of the largely Buddhist southern Russian region of Kalmykia since 1993.

…The role of FIDE is to set the rules of chess and organise championships. To stand for its presidency, candidates must gain the backing of their national federation.

The current mandate of Ilyumzhinov, who has been president of FIDE since 1995, expires in September and there are many in chess who would like the controversial figure to end his stint there.

Ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov, known for grinding opponents into submission during his Soviet-era heyday, has challenged Ilyumzhinov, declaring that 15 years of his “disreputable administration is more than enough”.

Karpov has already been nominated as a candidate for the presidency in the September elections by several national chess federations including France. But winning the backing of Russia has proved more problematic.

…Dvorkovich declared that the nomination was invalid as it had failed to meet the minimum quorum of participants and said his own letter of recommendation sufficed for Ilyumzhinov to be the candidate of the Russian chess federation.

“I respect Anatoly Karpov as a great chess player but unlike Kirsan Ilyumzhinov he is an ineffective manager,” spat Dvorkovich, who is normally quoted reeling out economic statistics.

“I also think Anatoly Yevgenyevich’s election campaign has been indecent and unethical.”

Karpov in turn accused Dvorkovich of staging a rival federation meeting on May 14 so he could then argue the minimum quorum was not met.

…With the latest battle looking like a long-drawn-out clash in which stalemate is not possible, Russia’s current number one Vladimir Kramnik has called on both sides to use “only civilised methods of fighting”.

The chairman of the Russian chess federation, Alexander Bakh, meanwhile accused Dvorkovich of sending in private security guards to seal off offices at the federation in revenge for his support of Karpov.

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