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| Russian president Vladimir Putin (right) and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (left) |
In October last year, incumbent FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced that he would run for re-elections this 2014, signalling the start of a fierce electoral battle against his rival, former world champion Garry Kasparov, for the FIDE presidency. Ilyumzhinov also launched the "FIDE Arena" this year which is an online chess server where official ratings are given to it's members who play rated games in the website. The existence of such online server may help boost Ilyumzhinov's bid for the presidency which is terrible news for Kasparov's camp. Nonetheless, Kasparove has to do something about this. So how is Kasparov going to counter Ilyumzhinov's plans?
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| Garry Kasparov |
One
thing's for sure, Kasparov isn't staying behind the sidelines.He has
been very active campaigning in countries in Asia and Africa where a
significant number of chess federations are supporting his bid. Take for
example in Africa, Kasparov simultaneously visited 7 countries which
were Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa.
He was warmly welcomed there in each of those countries. On top of that,
three West African chess federations (Nigeria, Senegal, and Ivory
Coast) have united together to declare their support for Kasparov,
saying that they were already tired of the crappy ole' FIDE shenanigans
and thought it was time for some change. To say that all of these
African federations would truly support Kasparov might be too
optimistic. But at least it is something Ilyumzhinov would not be
particularly thrilled about.
And
In Asia, Kasparov has been drumming up support from a lot Asian
countries like Macau, India, Hongkong, you name it! Yet the most
intriguing among his Asian campaign visits were actually "ASEAN" ones
(Southeast Asia).
Recently,
the word came out that Kasparov had been making a "secret" deal with
FIDE general-secretary Ignatius Leong of Singapore (well, it wasn't any
secret at all since Kasparov wanted as much transparency as possible to
discourage any corruption which Kasparov himself said in a New York
Times report).
Along with
the deal, Kasparov would virtually receive up to 15 federation votes
from Leong's region (whoah, what a number of votes!) In exchange for the
votes, Leong would be given finacial support of up to 250,000 US
dollars per year, for four years. The money will be used to fund chess
development projects in Singapore and perhaps in some parts of the ASEAN
countries as well. However, as Morten Sand (Kasparov's lawyer) stated,
the deal would be void if Kasparov didn't win. So Leong really needs to
deliver well.
And I mean very well.
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| Garry Kasparov (right) and Ignatius Leong (left) |
Now
that we're done chit-chatting about Kasparov's campaign programs, let's
give some time to our very own FIDE president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ;)
Ilyumzhinov
has been so far well-received in Latin America, particularly in Central
America where not only do its federations' presidents welcome him, but
as well as their very own national sports ministers of their respective
nations. But how about Canada and the USCF? Well forget about it because
Kasparov's got them. If there's any consolation for Ilyumzhinov, a
Kasparov would not getting any from China since it would be ridiculous
for that country to support an anti-Putin ( 'cause obviously in China,
Putin is like an uncle to them). Meanwhile...
One
of Ilyumzhinov's important allies, Jorge Vega, is the Continental
President in the Americas for FIDE. he is very influential in garnering
sizable amounts of votes in the Americas (particularly Latin America).
He has also been constantly around the incumbent president during
campaigns and is a respected voice in Latin American chess. Having Vega
in his camp is a good move in Ilyumzhinov's part.
In
Europe however, Kasparov will most likely have better chances since the
supporters of Anatoly Karpov (Ilyumzhinov's rival in the previous FIDE
elections, and awesome chess legend), will now support Kasparov... And
so does Germany's ChessBase (for propaganda purposes). Hehe.
But at least Chessdom will always post glorious infomercials for Ilyumzhinov, right? Oops...
AND DID YOU KNOW?
A key supporter from Europe, Dr. Adrian Siegel, president of the Swiss Chess Federation, has just joined the Ilyumzhinov elections ticket for the position of Treasurer?
So this could be a good move, right?
Not even close. I don't think this is enough for Ilyumzhinov to drum-up support from the ECU (European Chess Federation). Even the ECU President, Silvio Danailov, who is a "well-hated" figure in FIDE, dislikes him in so many ways. So how do you expect Ilyumzhinov to gather enough support from Europe? Well as for now, only his henchmen know...
A key supporter from Europe, Dr. Adrian Siegel, president of the Swiss Chess Federation, has just joined the Ilyumzhinov elections ticket for the position of Treasurer?
So this could be a good move, right?
Not even close. I don't think this is enough for Ilyumzhinov to drum-up support from the ECU (European Chess Federation). Even the ECU President, Silvio Danailov, who is a "well-hated" figure in FIDE, dislikes him in so many ways. So how do you expect Ilyumzhinov to gather enough support from Europe? Well as for now, only his henchmen know...
PART II COMING SOON
Author:Guy Chessman
Author:Guy Chessman
