Reports | May 15, 2010 18:17

'Schism in Russian Chess Federation' over nomination Karpov - UPDATE2: Ilyumzhinov reacts, press release RCF

Ilyumzhinov vs KarpovUpdates: Sosonko comments, open letter Ilyumzhinov, RCF press release Yesterday, in a bizarre series of events, the Russian Chess Federation nominated Anatoly Karpov as candidate for the FIDE presidential elections, contrary to the earlier endorsement of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The result, according to the current FIDE President, is a "schism" in the Russian Federation. Developing story.

Just a few weeks ago, we reported on the RCF's endorsement of Ilyuzmhinov, leading to furious reactions in the Karpov camp. Yesterday, the official meeting regarding about nomination took place in Moscow, but resulted in total confusion, as was first reported live on Twitter by chess journalist Denis Bilunov and quickly followed by practically all Russian media.

What happened? Well, it seems two simultaneous meetings of the Supervisory Board of the RCF took place. On one meeting, not attended by RCF President Dvorkovich but in the presence of Garry Kasparov - 18 (or 17, according to other sources) out of 32 members nominated Karpov as candidate. As the Karpov Campaign site reports,

Ilyumzhinov’s supporters on the Council realized they lacked the votes to overcome Karpov and attempted first to postpone the meeting and then to move it behind closed doors. Failing that, they chose to boycott the proceedings entirely, but even with a few Council members absent from Moscow and several others abstaining, a quorum was reached and the vote proceeded. Karpov received the unanimous and enthusiastic support of all attending members, providing a 17-vote majority in full view of the media.

RCF President Dvorkovich called both meetings illegitimate: one because the President (himself) was not present, and the other because not sufficient members were precent to legalize the voting procedure. As Dvorkovich explains in an interview with, this is his version of the proceedings:

In accordance with the Federation’s statutes, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board collects its members and organizes a meeting in one place. We informed the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Federation A. Bakh where the meeting should be taking place. Unfortunately, the information was not delivered to all Board members by him. My assistants in the same day were on the phone with the members of the Supervisory Board a few hours before the start of the meeting. Unfortunately, the position of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board on the issue of the FIDE Presidential candidate led to the fact that it was impossible to organize the meeting.

Not surprisingly, Dvorkovich is challenging the results. To us, it does seem rather strange to have a round of votes in the absence of the President, even if he did try to block the whole thing. However, a majority is still a majority. Shortly after the RCF meeting, Ilyumzhinov himself issued a statement in which he used big words:

The situation reminds me of the one in the early 90s, where Kasparov and Karpov were involved and then, as you know the chess world became divided into two parallel organizations, with two champions. And now unfortunately, they start to split the chess world again. One of them wants to become President of Russia, and the other one – President of FIDE. But we live in democracy. It is a pity that they are splitting the RCF.

So it seems we have a true schism within the Russian Chess Federation, and it will be interesting to see what happens next. What does this "schism" imply for the future of FIDE? It's clear the Iluymzhinov camp has been dealt a several blow last night, because Ilyumzhinov, though President of Kalmykia, is Russian after all, too. But as Mig Greengard points out, it's unlikely Ilyuzhinov will throw in the towel already. Also, we think it is not improbable that the entire voting procedure is indeed ruled illegal and things will have to be settled at a later date.

This time, Ilyumzhinov will have to come up with something extra, though, if only because it seems at least one of his supporters, the elusive Ignatius Leong, is leaving him already. Meanwhile, support for Karpov is still growing, with Syria and Scotland having also said to express their support for Karpov. It really looks like this time, things may be different. Perhaps Ilyumzhinov should take some advice from Mark Crowther, who on The Week in Chess ponders:

Under the rules, how will Ilyumzhinov even be able to stand? I don't believe he can submit his name to go forward without the Russian Chess Federation Nomination. Although the rules are written in such a way that it maybe possible to get on an established ticket after the nominations are in. Another way I understand is that using the Presidential board has sufficient powers to nominate Ilyumzhinov, or think they have.

1.2 Nominations for the Presidential ticket and Continental Presidents must reach the FIDE Secretariat at least three months before the opening of the General Assembly. To be elected, each candidate shall be nominated by his federation. He/She should have been a member of their federation at least one year before the General Assembly.

Practically the only chess site that hasn't reported on the elections at the time of writing this report, is FIDE's official homepage. News is likely to develop quickly: we'll try to keep you updated on the most important facts as fast and accurately as possible.

Update: we learnt the reason why is silent so far about the presidential candidates: it's because FIDE wants to remain neutral on its site. Neither of the two known candidates have yet to select their team, once they (or any other candidate) do, then FIDE will put it on the website with a link to their respective websites.

Update 2: we asked Grandmaster and author Genna Sosonko to comment on the news. Here's a brief statement, recorded Saturday May 15, at 14:00 CET at the Max Euwe Center in Amsterdam and uploaded from there as well:

Update 3: Open letter by Ilyumzhinov

Moscow, Russian Federation / Saturday, May 15, 2010

Dear Presidents, Delegates and Federation members,







Gens una sumus.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
FIDE President

Update 4: RCF's press release

Following Ilyumzhinov's letter, the Russian Chess Federation has issued a press release via the Russian chess site, stating that it was clearly announced on the RCF website that the original meeting was to take place at the Central House of Chess, not at mr. Dvorkovich's place. This is clearly in contradiction with President Ilyumzhinov's version of the facts. It's not clear to us who exactly issued the press release, but we assume it was written not by the entire federation (certainly not by mr. Dvorkovich) but perhaps only by the Karpov-supporters (that is probably why it's not on the site of the RCF).

We invite our (Russian) readers to provide We just received confirmation from Denis Bilunov that the original invitation for the meeting was indeed scheduled at the Moscow Chess House on Gogol Boulevard, not at Mr. Dvorkovich's place, as President Ilyumzhinov states. The invitations on dated 5-5-2010 and 7-5-2010 clearly state the time and place of the meeting: 17.00 at the Central Chess House Botvinnik.

Arne Moll's picture
Author: Arne Moll


Radical Caveman's picture

Arne, I think you're bending over too far backwards to accommodate the Ilyumzhinov/Dvorkovich position and present things within their framing. It's not clear that there were really two meetings, or that there was total confusion, let alone that there is a genuine schism. A clear majority of the board with the power to nominate voted to nominate Karpov. This is very different from Dvorkovich’s attempt to stampede the process by falsely claiming the RCF was nominating Ilyumzhinov. We can see now the reason for the panic inside the Ilyumzhinov camp that inspired that attempt.

I've served on a board, and these kinds of shenanigans can happen. They don't happen if there's good will on the board, but if you have factions dead-set against each other, they become all too possible. I don't know if the RCF Supervisory Board's bylaws require the President to be present at all times in order for the votes at a meeting to be valid. If they do have such a rule, it's very stupid, because it effectively allows the President to veto any vote he thinks he will go against him by just not showing up.

How things actually turn out is another matter. This may end up in Russian court, or dictated behind the scenes by Russia's notoriously corrupt government. I have to suspect, though, that Karpov would not have gotten this far if he didn't have some pretty high-level connections there. Certainly Ilyumzhinov does, being president of a Russian republic--and Dvorkovich, as an economic assistant to the Russian President, is actually much more powerful in Russian politics than Ilyumzhinov. There is no separation of sport and state there. Karpov, who was always the consummate insider, must have counterlevers. We'll see if they're strong enough.

Arne Moll's picture

@RC, I'm not bending over backwards, I'm just reporting the news since I didn't attend the meeting myself. Even the Karpov team agrees the Ilyumzhinov supporters weren't present during the actual voting, and this includes the president. I've been on boards too, and though I agree shenanigans sometimes happen, whenever they do, there is always confusion!

I agree with the rest of your reasoning. The reason I emphasized the schism is that I think this will most likely influence what's going to happen next in a major way.


Not liking Karpov but disliking Ilyumzhinov.

I cannot really believe what's going on, I have never thought that corruption and violation of democracy could be so flagrant like that !!!
I' am sorry to say that the """ improper""" behavior of Dvorkovich is one of the worst I have in my life, and it's a real pity to see corruption prevailing and endorsed by the government if Russia.
The chess world should never allow such people who behave in this ""........"""" way to dominate the game.

foobar's picture

It is great for Karpov

bondegnasker's picture

The talk about 'schism' (Ilyumzhinov) and 'both meetings are illegitimate' (Dvorkovich) suggests that their plan B would be to split the Russian federation. If you have two organizations, both claiming to be the 'real' Russian chess federation, and one of them nominates Ilyumzhinov, then he may still be able to run.

It's funny how the Russians always seem to imitate Lenin's concept of 'dual power' (google it). I suppose it's an important part of their political upbringing.

eso es's picture

The one voice conspicuously absent in this brouhaha is that of the elected Russian Federation President Aleksander Bakh. You would expect that in such a critical situation the man would step forward and do his job, mainly direct the Federation. That is, if he he is not sick - or has been shanghaied to Novaja Semlja or Inner Kamchatka....

Hortensius's picture

Interesting soap. Great report!

ebutaljib's picture

This was written about FIDE and it's President more than 70 years ago:

"The FIDE has shown itself, at Stockholm, supremely unfitted for the task. It has shown already more bias, stupidity and incompetence than any world champion ever did."

"The reasons for this crassly stupid decision are hard to find. You can send ten very wise men into a committee room and they may make a very stupid committee. Invoke the curse of Babel and the confusion is intensified."

"It is almost superfluous to add that the FIDE, still floundering like an inebriated elephant, managed to reject Capablanca's claims as official challenger in favour of Flohr's."

"Get better men! Mr Rueb and his delegates are not gods. If a labourer makes a mess of his job, he is sacked. If an engineer makes a bad blunder, he loses his job. The present FIDE is obviously incompetent. We should sack the lot!"

"Mr Rueb is attempting to set himself up as an autocratic dictator in the chess world. Politics instead of a good hard fight have determined the next candidate for the world's championship. Reason and common sense have been cast aside; personal prejudices rule the day. The interests of living chess have been defeated; and the FIDE with Mr Rueb as president is responsible."

Sounds familiar? :)

FIDE is always going to be FIDE, regardless who is in charge. So don't make such a big deal about it.

noyb's picture

I gotta go with Radical Caveman on this one. While I think Arne was being fair to both sides, he had to go to such lengths to find "facts" to support Dvorkovich's version of events that it renders Dvorkovich's position not credible.

Arne Moll's picture

@noyb: Just to clarify, I do not think Dvorkovich's position is very credible at all, but voting without some prominent members being present does sound a bit strange to me.
What's more important, I'm not the only one who thinks the situation is complicated, as becomes clear from Genna Sosonko's comment on the events in the video.

Pieter de Groot's picture

In Turin 2006, 77th congress of the FIDE, 27 May till 5 June 2006, was the election of a new president: Krisan Ilyumzhinov or Bessel Kok.
However, Peru and Paraguay had two representatives each claiming the right to vote. Which representative was allowed to vote? A long discussion followed. See the minutes of this discussion. The conclusion at last: ‘The Assembly approved the proposal of Mr. Skripchenko. The delegates from Peru and Paraguay would need to reach agreement amongst themselves regarding who will vote,’ according to the minutes.

Michael X Tractor's picture

Entertaining though this shambles may be, it is unfortunately quite irrelevant to the future of the FIDE Presidency. Whatever way the Russian Federation votes, Kirsan will win re-election, by the simple expedient of buying all the African and South American votes, just as he did in Turin 4 years ago. The only beneficiaries of the Karpov challenge are the FIDE delegates from the various African and South American nations, who will receive another few thousand dollars each from Kirsan's people, ostensibly to buy chess clocks, or whatever the excuse, but in reality to ensure they vote the right way. You will never change FIDE under its present constitution, when all these corrupt third world countries are permitted a vote.

Ingo Zachos's picture


finally you realized that FIDE is developing backwards and made no progress.
Gone are the days of worldwide media attention and sponsorship.
Gone is the regular Wolrd Chamionship Circle and the unity of chess that lead to a steady progress after WW II.

We are back at the situatiuon in the 1920's and 1930's!

FIDE 2010 is FIDE 1930, bad enough!

Certainly FIDE could attract more media coverage, which is essential to gain sponsorship and public support.
Like they did after WW II, until in 1982 Campomanes took over.

Similar officials also took over other sports (Nevi, Samaranch, Mosely etc.) that are not known for their integrity.
But at least they assured media coverage and made great business efforts.

Like a friend from the football association told me frankly:

"Most sports are ruled by corruption and business. Chess is only ruled by corruption"

Arne Moll's picture

Ilyumzhinov is demonstrably wrong about the facts here, as various Russian media already reported. I'll post an update later this afternoon.

test's picture

>> voting without some prominent members being present does sound a bit strange to me

What are they supposed to do if the Ilyumzhinov supporters just walk out?
And then have their own meeting? And then pretent like there is a split.

Castro's picture

"voting without some prominent members being present does sound a bit strange to me"

I think that's a wrongly put question.
Either there was a meeting properly scheduled, and rules apply (quorum or not, other member presiding if the president is absent, etc., etc.)
Or not! (Case in which every done thing in such a meeting is simply void).

It looks like THAT is the only things to know.
(Comparing --- and legitimating --- posible ilegalities with other previous ones doesn't make sense --- This is more related with RC's words)

ebutaljib's picture

Things went fine with FIDE from 1948 to 1970's because of the firm grip and an iron fist of the Soviet Union. Only because of that!

After that the Soviet Union became "softer" and others dared to say their opinion in the matter. Fischer then tore everything apart (tell me one other organization where one athlete can dictate the terms of competition) and the ones who followed (Karpov, Kasparov) have seen that they can do practically whatever they want because FIDE as organization is unable to stop them (like they couldn't stop Fischer). Kasparov then went one step further and created his own organization. We all know how it ended.

So don't be kidding yourself that things are going to be any better if Karpov wins. In few years you'll be using the same words for him like you are using now for Ilyumzhinov.

FIDE was always FIDE and will always remain FIDE ;) (if you know what I mean)

Tano's picture

@ Michael X Tractor

That is a stupid and xenophobic comment.

Ingo Zachos's picture

Bad week for Kirsan:
Topalov, his protegee, lost to Anand on home ground, he had to hurry back to Russia and could not avoid a stunning defeat on home ground (not to win outright would have been enough to destabalize his campaign), and some of his allies are already deflecting.

Add the media hype about his UFO encounter in Russia last week, and you will see that he lost support of the inner circles in Russia.

Kok had 54 votes in 2006. Ilyumzionov 96.
I bet Karpov will get at least that and a number of East-European federations (if not all) , as well as a few new African and Asian endorsements.
Karpov need to turn around 22 votes.

The council also decided about the delegate to the FIDE congress and the director of the Chess Olympiad.
If these decision hold, and I see no way to change a given absolute majority vote of the council, Kirsan might be effectively lost right now.

I predict Karov will hit the 50 federation endorsement within May and maybe already ahead of the Kok vote would the election be held today, maybe close to 70-75 votes.

And can Kirsan buy enough votes in South America and Africa?
He may, but the price will be much higher this time, and is his position in Russia solid enough to justify that investigation?

Karpov claims only 21 endorsements, but I predict he has all 54 Kok votes, and Ilumzinov much less the the 96 he got in Torino.

Already the additional votes Karpov gets in East Europe, Africa and Asia could be about 20-25, so he might already be winning by a small margin, and we will see if South American and African federations will back a likely loser, meaning they get no money from him or the new president.

I think they can be bought, but also that they will vote for the likely winner even if they get money in advance.

In 2006 Ilyumzhinov paid and was regarded as the sure winner.
This is now a totally different game.

My hope:
Ilyumzhinov retreats by the end of this month, in order to become the new honorary president (Campomanes died recently) and hands over power to Karpov with a few on his ticket remaining in office like the continental presidents.

My prediction:
A long, tough and mean effort by the incumbant president, and the question if money can secure votes in an election that could be lost even if he gets ALL the votes money can buy.
A closer result then 2006 and a good chance for Karpov to win nevertheless.

Karpov surge!

Septimus's picture

How hard is it for 30 or so guys to hold a meeting/vote? These clowns are making a joke out of chess. Who the hell would want to be associated with chess after all this bullshit?

max's picture

Very interesting. Karpov will win, has the ideal temperament for a slow, positional squeeze.

Eiae's picture

Funny comment from Iljumsomethingov. Hasn't there been a schism in FIDE for as long as hes been president?

Jo's picture

Just to be mischeviousand irrational...

this is all a plot to give Carlsen the next crack at world championship- get the Nowegian govt to come up with 10 to 20 million, give the Indian Govt an opportunity to come up with same - if not goodbye Anand hello Kramnik Germany/Russia or whoever got the gold.

Kasparov and Karpov pretty good at not allowing true contenders to get a shot at the title.

Snits's picture

@Jo, Who has Karpov not allowed to have a shot at the title?

Snits's picture
Arjon's picture

One of the weakest responses I've ever read. Karpov will be the Obama of chess ;)

Albert's picture

As I already wrote in this forum, immediatelly after the Karpov;s nomination was announced: This election will no be decided at the congress of FIDE, but the battle inside the Russian Federtation will be key to the future of the FIDE presidency.

In 2006 Karpov had the same ambition, but failed to take this RCF hurdle, as Kirsan was able to meet the main condition for support set by the people in power of the RCF, which was to organize the World Chess Championship reunification match.

Jo's picture

@Snits - did I not say irrational?

Snits's picture

Google Translation of press release out of Russia from website

PRESS RELEASE Russian Chess Federation
to our site from Chess Federation sent a press release read: "May 14, 2010 at the Central House of Chess. Mikhail Botvinnik in Moscow a meeting of the Supervisory Board of RCF. The place and time of the meeting, as well as on the proposed agenda of the Council members were informed in advance. Relevant information messages were also posted on the official website of RCF. But on the eve of the meeting the Chairman of the Supervisory Board AV Dvorkovich suddenly decided to postpone the place. He suggested a meeting at within his office, known as "Living Dvorkovich. Most members (17 of 32) rejected this proposal - given the special historical status of the Central House of Chess, as well as high interest chess public and media to the meeting. Chairman of the Board RCF AG Bach informed AV Dvorkovich about this decision by telephone and invited him and other members of the Supervisory Board to arrive at TSDSH. In the earlier scheduled time (17:00) Council meeting began under the chairmanship of A. Selivanova - Vice-President of FIDE, the honorary President of Chess Federation and Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RCF. Leading recorded the presence of a quorum. The meeting was attended by: 1.Selivanov AV, 2. Kryukov AI, 3. Bach AG I. Southern Federal District 4. Beshukov A ., 5. Ertel AG II. Central Federal District 6. Afromeev VI, 7. Titov SV III. Urals Federal District 8. Gilyazov A. IV. Siberian Federal District 9. Hasin AS, 10. Ivakhin MP V.Severo-West Federal District 11. Zinder Ja.D., 12. Kazakov VA VI. Privolzhsky evicted 13. Goncharov VI Members Supervisory Board 14. Shajdullin BK (Tomsk Region)., 15. Razuvaev YS (Moscow), 16. Fedorova EA (Tula Region)., 17. Sapphire AA (Krasnodar Territory) . AV Selivanov informed members that, according to AV Dvorkovich and AD Zhukov, this meeting is illegitimate because the statutes of RCF are re RF Ministry of Justice. Council members took note of the information that, under current law of Russia, the registration of NGOs in the Department of Justice is required only for legal entity, and those relating to internal affairs organization, it is competent to decide on the basis of documents adopted by its supreme governing body (in this case - Congress) . For this reason, and given the availability of fixed quorum, the Supervisory Board decided to begin work. The Council approved the draft agenda, which contained a paragraph on the nomination of a candidate for FIDE President of the Russian Chess Federation. "Under this agenda item were made by GM S. Razuvaev, and representatives of regional federations: Chelyabinsk, Voronezh, Tula, Moscow and Tatarstan. All of them supported the nomination for President of FIDE, the 12 th world champion Anatoly Karpov. AE Karpov told in detail on its electoral program, after which the voting took place. 17 out of 17 members who attended the Supervisory Board voted for the candidature of Anatoly Karpov. The Council also unanimously adopted a decision to delegate AV Selivanov right to represent the RCF at the Congress of FIDE in September 2010 the Council nominated candidate A. Selivanova for vice-president of FIDE. In addition, the Council was briefed by representatives of the Organizing Committee of the World Chess Olympiad of the Khanty-Mansiysk on the progress of their preparations for competition. The Board decided to appoint Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board AI Kryukov Director of the Organizing Committee of the World Chess Olympiad. The Council discussed preparations for the Olympic teams of Russia to the World Chess Olympiad. "

Castro's picture

"they couldn’t stop Fischer"

"They" not only could, bud "they" did stop him (several times!)

"one athlete can dictate the terms of competition"

This can happen in all sports, in flashes, episodicaly. It takes a mix of real genious (Fischer and not many more, in chess history), wrong statu quo things and stutborness. One understands your mainstream and easy point of view, but that is seing just part of the reality.

Castro's picture

Ah! That was @ebutaljib.

ebutaljib's picture

"This can happen in all sports"

LOL. Yes I can see it happening for example how the reigning NBA champions say that this year they won't play in regular season, but only in play-offs as the number 1 seeds. And the NBA agreeing with that. LOL!

Such a team would get kicked out from the league immediatelly and thats exactly what FIDE should have done with Fischer and anyone else who thought he can dictate the rules. But what did FIDE do? Tthey practically begged him to play and gave into every reasonable and unreasonable requests. Hell in the end they accepted ALL of Fischer's demands except the 9-9 clause, but even here they almost gave in (it was rejected by 35-32 votes). Luckily there was still some common sence and this unfair demand was not accepted.

You really believe that things can run this way that one person dictates about the competition structure? Then we really are on a different banks of the river.

No other serious organization would even twinch with it's eye if there is only one person (even if it's world champion) who would demand something like that. Only FIDE does that.

Frank van T's picture

@ebutaljib: since when is the 'firm grip of the Soviet Union' to be seen as something positive? I would like to remind you of the fact that the real reason FIDE was governed justly is

1. There was an organized system of tournaments and more or less clear rules about the organization of the world-championship.

2. Till 1982 the FIDE-presidents were of fairly undisputed reputation.

3. The sums of money earned by chess professionals were within reasonable limits. Personally, I do not see why the World-Champion should earn about 600.000 dollars for winning a match (or else decline to play in lack of proper sponsorship...)

ebutaljib's picture

And when exactly did I say it was a good thing??? I said that FIDE has always been FIDE. It was Ingo who said that things were fine from WW2 to Campomanes. They were NOT!!! It was always chaos. And it will be chaos, regardless if Ilyumzhinov, or Karpov or someone else is President.

1. If system was that well organized, then how come it took one man to tare it down?

2. Read what they said about first FIDE president Rueb. Also there were for example complaints that Euwe, who is considered as the best president, that he didn't do everything for Fischer and that he gave in to Soviets way too often.

3. Agree. Players can only earn as much as the sponsors are willing to pay for. It's just a matter of economy. Chess players will never earn as much as some other sportsmen because chess isn't as atractive and widespread as other sports. Also for the professional level of most chess players, they earn way too much. Just see the press conferences in the last Woreld championship. Boring as hell and very amateurish!!! They have much to learn.

Arne Moll's picture

I've added an update below the article. We invite our (Russian) readers to provide confirmation that the original invitation for the meeting was indeed scheduled at the Central Chess House. This would be clear proof that Ilyumzhinov's presentation of the facts is wrong.

Update: see above. It was indeed scheduled at the Central Chess House. Ilyumzhinov is simply wrong about this.

bondegnasker's picture

Big blunder by Kirsan. Actually, Dvorkovich's statement was carefully worded so it didn't directly contradict the truth:

"We informed the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Federation A. Bakh where the meeting should be taking place [i.e., after Dvorkovich had decided to try and change the venue, probably to avoid the press]. Unfortunately, the information was not delivered to all Board members by him [probably because Bakh, being one of Karpov's supporters, didn’t want a meeting behind closed doors]."

Kirsan got it wrong. A phone call to Dvorkovich could have cleared this up. This doesn't seem to be his kind of game.

jussu's picture

Kind of hysterical behaviour from Ilyumzhinov's part. Maybe they are running out of money for buying votes. More likely, Ilyumzhinov is running out of support from Kremlin and simply acts irrationally in his despair.

Dr. Wolfgang Berghorn's picture

@All chess friends in the world: Remember "GENS UNA SUMUS"!

Let the RCF propose two (i.e. 2) candidates - i.e. K. Ilyumzhinov and A. KARPOV -
and let all of the federal representatives of all the countries in the world decide in their own responsibility in September 2010, who will be the next FIDE-president! That could be a longtime desired "democratic" procedure and ... the former WC champion A. KARPOV would have his chance!

Hopefully, all Russian grandmasters are going to agree to this sort of procedure!

Dr. Wolfgang Berghorn, Germany

Snits's picture

Why bend the rules for K. Ilyumzhinov or anyone else? Karpov already has his chance. He's not the one who needs the rules changed.

Ingo Zachos's picture


"Things went fine with FIDE from 1948 to 1970’s because of the firm grip and an iron fist of the Soviet Union. Only because of that!"

your own words, not mine.

True, Fischer tried hard, but in the end he was disqualified by FIDE, wasn't he?
And true, especially Kasparov did not respect FiDE and split away(don't say Karpv did: he never did that.)
Note: Karpov has been more loyal over the time and more steady in his efforts then any Wold Champion before or after.

And the NBA gibes unqualified teams achance,provided they have enough money. And better team get relegated or demoted, as they don't have enugh money.
So you see:
the NBA, and escially the NFL and NHL were always ruled by business and not by sportive matters.

I agree thet FIDE does not play in that league, as they don't care about sport or buiness.

ebutaljib's picture

Ingo it was YOU who said that things were fine after WW2 until 1982. I only "confirmed" your sentence by pointing out that it was "fine" ONLY because of the Soviets running the whole thing among themselves.

I SAID that FIDE has always been FIDE - nothing much have changed in the manner that they are doing their business, and it's unlikely that Karpov (or anyone else) will change that.

ebutaljib's picture

And about Karpov - do you know that Karpov and Kasparov decided by themselves when they are going to play their 1986 rematch and that they decided by themselves that the loser of that match is going to be placed into the candidates final? They didn't ask FIDE or anybody else. They just decided and presented their plan to FIDE - this is how it is going to be done.

Ingo Zachos's picture


1. Under the rules of the World Championships since 1974 there was a clause for a rematch (You are right that this was changed in Fischer's favour.).
Normally there would have been enough time for the loser to enter the Candidates, but since the 1984 match was abandoned the 1985 match was the original title match and since the rematch had to be the next year, the Candidated also proceeded to their finals.
So, instead of throwing the last challenger out, like Ilyumzinov did, they agreed to have a Superfinal between the loser of the rematch and the winner of the candidates

It was not against the rules, nor a special favor to Karpov or Kasparow.

I think we are deviating.
It is not 1986 now.
It is not 1930.

It is 2010.

I say FIDE may be FIDE. but Karpov is a better known representative then Kirsan WHO?

ebutaljib's picture

Make up your mind on your position and stick with it.

I say that FIDE was always a mess and that Karpov is unlikely to change anything.

And you say....what?

Rick Massimo's picture

It's easy to say you believe in democracy when you're winning the elections. It's when you lose that we see what you really think. Ilyumzhinov doesn't seem too crazy about it.

h's picture

and i say why change horses in mid-stream? things seem to be moving in the right direction: kramnik-leko, sophia, kramnik-topalov, mexico city, kramnik-anand, anand- topalov, anand-2012.
our current world chess champion, viswanathan anand, is ready, willing, and able to defend his title against the the player who comes out on top of the current cycle.
this appears to me a great improvement since the klan era, since we rid ourselves of kasparov and a step toward normalcy, crediblility, fairness in the world chess.
i can't believe european and american chess federations are backing the kgb (karpov, garri, bahk), two well known classless thieves.
and what's about all this talk of decency, democracy? horse sh.....
“birds of a feather flock together".

h's picture

by the way, i must agree with ebutajib: “fide has always been a mess...." and i might add that karpov/kasparov would in fact make things much worse.

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