Chess Fans

‘Schism in Russian Chess Federation’ over nomination Karpov – UPDATE: GM Genna Sosonko comments

15 May 2010, 11.17 CET | Last modified: 15:57 | By Arne Moll  | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Politics, Videos

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.

Just a few weeks ago, we reported on the RCF’sendorsement of Ilyuzmhinov, leading to furiousreactions in the Karpov camp. Yesterday, the official meeting regarding about nomination took place in Moscow, but resulted in total confusion, as was firstreported 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 Gazeta.ru, 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.