The election prediction

Expert: ‘The Chances of Anatoly Karpov to Head FIDE Are Practically Equal to Zero’
Date : June 26th 2010
Agency of Political News – Nizhny Novgorod

On Wednesday, June 23rd, the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made a statement which was a surprise to many observers.

We would remind you that commenting on the intentions of Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov to hold simultaneous exhibitions in a number of countries in Latin America, the Head of FIDE stated that ‘he was inspired by this idea’.

‘I welcome the initiative of the renowned champions. I hope that the forthcoming simultaneous games will be held free of charge and help to reveal the most talented young chess players who later on will be able to participate in to new tournaments in the western hemisphere recently established by the leadership of FIDE’, – said Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

According to his statement, ‘FIDE office receives many requests from different parts of the world to help to organize the performances of the famous chess players’.

‘I definitely know that the citizens of the many countries will be glad to meet with their idols. Now the FIDE Development Commission is preparing a programme for visiting different countries and regions by top players. If necessary, I am ready to help in the financing of such trips in respect of the popularization of chess. I have no doubt that the beneficial project of the ‘2 Ks’ will turn out to be long-term and serve the further development of world chess’, – expressed with confidence the head of the international chess federation.

According to the Moscow political analyst and the member of the Journalists Union of Russia Alexander Kozhukhov, by ‘this consolidating statement’, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov being an experienced diplomat, tried to smoothen the ambiguous situation that has arisen in the connection with the nomination of Anatoly Karpov to the post of the FIDE President. And he succeeded in doing it, by a great measure.’

We should not forget that in 2006 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has successfully acted as a unifier restoring the monopoly of FIDE for the organization of the World Chess Championship and awarding the title of the World Chess Champion.

As a result, the many years split was overcome in world chess. In this way, emerged the active participation of former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, who, as you know, in the current conflict took the side of Anatoly Karpov whose nomination was considered to be illegitimate by many in the world’, – underlined the political analyst.

Alexander Kozhukhov believes that the claims of the ex-champion to head FIDE are not well-grounded.

‘After analyzing of the social activities of Anatoly Karpov, one can draw a conclusion that there are much more mistakes and failures than progress. Thus, according to the press reports, he practically failed in his work in the international association of the peace foundations. His activity as an ambassador of the UNESCO has caused suspicion in lobbying of the commercial interests of the companies producing the iodine preparations.

It emerged that Karpov’s idea of opening chess schools for children were unrealized while in Kalmykia, headed by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, chess is taught in schools as a compulsory subject for a long time. By this fact, as well as the numbers of others, for understandable reasons, the people around Karpov prefer not to mention these points.’

The perplexity of the expert questions the methods of the pre-election campaign which was decided on by the team of Anatoly Karpov:

‘Incorrect count of the number of the national chess federations which supposedly support the nomination of the ex-champion has lead to a number of international scandals. Particularly the leaders of the chess federations of Tajikistan and Honduras who supports the candidature of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, accused recently the ex-champion in manipulating public opinion. It is hard not to agree, with the fact, that such blatant games do irreparable harm to the image of Anatoly Karpov’.

More disturbing is the questionable campaign to discredit the incumbent FIDE President.

Unfounded accusations addressed against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov do not cause anything but a sharp rejection of the position of the electoral office of Anatoly Karpov, from which all these insinuations come from.

Against this background, the self-assured position of the head of FIDE looks restrained and extremely correct. Perhaps, the mature ex-champion should drastically revise the policy of his office and make the respectful changes in his personnel. Otherwise, he risks to lose even those few supporters who he gained in recent months,’ – said Alexander Kozhukhov.

The political analyst believes in the fact that the involvement of Garry Kasparov in the campaign of Anatoly Karpov will not bring the latter anything but negative points:

‘There is an impression that Garry Kasparov, the 13th world champion, in a literal sense, attracts to everybody, with whom he works, a magical lack of fortune, attributed to this number, by superstitious people. It is enough to mention his recent interview to the Nicaraguan newspaper ‘Confidencial’. For the whole world it was a shocking revelation of Kasparov’s desire to use FIDE to satisfy his political ambitions.

Meanwhile, the chess community is not interested in being used as a puppet. And therefore, this disinterest will certainly affect the outcome of the elections of FIDE. Of course, it will be not in favor of Karpov.

“Experience of Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov shows that one can be a great chess player and know nothing about management, but also brings with these social activities, destructive tendencies.

In view of this and many other factors one can say with definite confidence that the chances of Anatoly Karpov to head the FIDE practically equal to zero “- sums up the expert.

Source: http://www.apn-nn.ru/540697.html