November 24, 2010, 12:40 pm — Updated: 12:40 pm –>
Auditor’s Report Says Turkish Federation Paid for Votes to Win 2012 Chess Olympiad
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN
A recent audit of the Turkish Chess Federation reported that the federation paid voters to help win an election for the right to host the Chess Olympiad in 2012.
Rumors of corruption have long plagued the chess world, where it is a commonly held assumption that elections of officials and decisions about where to locate tournaments are determined by bribery. But the disclosure by the Turkish federation may be the first time that anyone has admitted it so matter-of-factly.
The Olympiad is a national team competition held every two years, and one of the world’s premier chess events. Turkey won the right to host the event in Istanbul in 2012 after a vote among delegates of the World Chess Federation at the Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, in 2008. Turkey beat out Montenegro, the other finalist, by a vote of 95 to 40.
Holding an Olympiad does not create a financial windfall — indeed, the host may end up losing money as is common for the host country of the regular Olympics. But staging an Olympiad does confer prestige and winning the vote was considered an achievement for the Turkish Chess Federation.
More here.
So what? Goichberg is doing this all the time. Bribery is a normal practice for the USCF.
How much was Dylan McLame paid to publish this article? 2 dollars?
I find his journalism to be useless at best and repugnant at worse.
McLame and the Taxicab driver should get married and make ugly babies together.