Kirsan Re-elected, as Kok Fails to Unseat Him!

by John Lee Shaw

Since Bessel Kok announced a couple of years ago that he was considering running for the FIDE Presidency -- and more so since it came down to just he challenging the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov -- much hype has surrounded the FIDE elections for 2006. Now that those elections are over, resulting in the re-election of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and the rejection of Bessel Kok and his 'Right Move' ticket, it is time for the chess world to get serious again and take stock.

What, exactly, do I mean by that? Well, as someone with a profound love of chess (a love which resulted in Chess Gateway being conceived), and as someone who has observed our wonderful sport closely for many years (and hopes to continue to do so for many more), I feel that it is no exaggeration to say that chess faces a very crucial stage in its lifetime. It remains to be seen just whether it will be good or bad.

Firstly, let me just address my thoughts on the FIDE elections, and why I think that Bessel Kok was unsuccessful in his bid to remove Kirsan from office. I am sure that some claims of corruption will surface at some stage (even though Mr. Kok himself has said it was a fair and secret ballot) but I think that to attempt to claim this seriously would be naive. Quite simply, I think that Bessel's 'Right Move' ticket, in chess terms, made many blunders.

Chess players know, that in a position, there are many seemingly 'good' moves, but also that 'good' does not necessarily mean 'best' or 'right'. Bessel, I am sure, when looking at the situation, considered it good to pull many high-profile GM's in to his camp. However, just for starters, when one of those GM's is Nigel Short, one of the not-so-many parties responsible for the disintergration of the World Chess Championship (Chess's highest prize, and the state of which Bessel himself has been highly critical of), one starts to look somewhat ... inconsistent. When one of the factors in your ticket is the recovery of the World Chess Championship, to be waving Nigel Short around as one of your selling points (just when the World Championship is getting back to some credibility) is perhaps something of an own goal. By Short's own mouth, it was his proposal to split from FIDE for his match against Kasparov in '93, an ill-considered move, which has done FIDE and the World title much harm and embarrassment since.

Another high profile supporter of the Right Move ticket, was GM Yasser Seirawan. Now, I have the greatest respect for Yasser, from speaking to him a couple of times he strikes me as a very pleasent and shrewd person, and is certainly very motivated where chess is concerned, with a wealth of experience to boot. However, Yasser, when all is said and done, is American, though now living in Holland. So, we have a ticket which has a British GM and an American GM as two of the highest profile supporters. Firstly, post Iraq war, that is something that one must be extremely careful in doing. However, perhaps more important, is the fact that the Right Move team were purely and simply isolated from the majority of FIDE. Proposed President and deputy both European, with a large European feel to the team in general, a British and American GM both high-profile advocates, when coupled together with the fact that Bessel does not have a lot of prior communication with the other continents represented within FIDE, was not really going to be a very agreeable recipe to lead what is, let us not forget, an international organisation.

By far one of the biggest errors in the Right Move ticket, in my eyes anyway, was the radical idea of uprooting FIDE and pulling it to France, aided by the French Chess Federation. As someone who has not been overwhelmingly impressed by the administration of Kirsan -- infact, I have been highly critical of it, just before anyone accuses me of bias -- I must say that this point of the Right Move un-nerved me greatly. Firstly, one must ask why FIDE needs to move? In my opinion, it doesn't. Secondly, if you are going to move it, then at least do so sensibly, which it is definitely not in taking it to France, pretty much sponsored by the national federation. It is a purely ridiculous thing to even contemplate as being anything of a Right Move, even with the 'going back to where we started' line.

More than Kirsan winning the election, Bessel can be said to have lost it, in more ways than one. To be honest, I think that he should be extremely disappointed with his campaign, and I say this as someone who had placed a lot of hope in him as being able to give FIDE a good shake up and a new lease of life. In the end, this proved to be unwise. Mr. Kok went on to place all his eggs in one basket, made up of just a few sections. The others were totally neglected. It is like a Presidential candidate of the USA only choosing to visit Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, California. There is more to the USA than a mere few states, and so there is more to FIDE than a mere few Federations. Furthermore, Grandmasters are not the only membership (and mostly not the ones voting) -- 'if you want to appeal to the ocean, do not just throw meat to the sharks.'

I think that the Right Move team realised that they had played a bad game all too late, and when their faulty gambits had already begun to backfire on them. I think that the first feel that they got of the situation was when they reached Turin. Bessel's speech to the delegates was without energy or conviction, and the end sounded like a consession of defeat even before the votes had started being cast. It did not come as anything of a shock to me when I heard that he had failed in his bid to become FIDE President -- if I play a game of chess against a dangerous opponent, and I do not choose every move wisely, then I expect to lose.


So, then, Kirsan has another term at the helm of the recently dubbed 'NATO of Chess'. Like it or not, that is the situation. To use some of the wiser words that Bessel Kok said during his speech to the FIDE delegates, the winner of the election has much work to do. That is an understatement. As I said at he top of this article, now that the smoke has cleared, it is time for all those with an affection for our great game to get back to business and focus on the nitty-gritty. As far as I see it, things boil down to 3 main area's.

The respect and credibility of the World Chess Championship: This is the highest prize of chess, it is its showcase, and this has taken a brutal battering over the last 13 years through no fault of its own. It is impossible to deny that progress has been made in restoring its prestige. At last, we are getting back to the situation where it is contested between the best players in the world. This progress must be built on, and I hope that the current administration brings about measures to protect and nurture this title from future possibilities of damage. I also hope that efforts are made to seek sponsorship for future World Championship matches -- not putting the responsibility on an aspiring challenger to produce funds. That, to me, strikes as a defeatest attitude at best, and a cheap and lazy get out at worst.

The image of FIDE as the governing body of chess: This, really, can be split in to sub-area's. Firstly, the issue that FIDE is divided must be addressed. 57 delegates were not willing to vote for Kirsan, and wanted change within FIDE. This is something that Kirsan must take seriously, and I hope that in the coming weeks and months, he will give serious analysis to this matter and do something that can begin to bridge the gap. Sitting down and talking with those who have opposed him, can only be constructive.

Secondly, one must look at the following, which I quote from the website Wikipedia:

Florencio Campomanes is honourary President of FIDE, and was obviously delighted to see Kirsan's re-election. When you hold a position of authority and responsibility, you must be careful with whom you associate, especially when it is not only you as an individual who is affected, but the organisation that you represent. How can Campomanes hold on to his 'honourary' position within FIDE? One can not say that this matter does not affect FIDE, it most certainly does on all counts.

Furthermore, FIDE is affected by the following, also taken from Wikipedia:

"Ilyumzhinov has himself proved a controversial figure, with question marks over the sources of the money he has donated to FIDE, and accusations against him that he has not paid promised prize money among other things."

"Ilyumzhinov is widely regarded as heading a corrupt regime that has proved itself incapable of developing the region. Residents of the Kalmyk capital, Elista, often hold protests and hunger strikes because of the shortage of basics such as water, and the lack of democracy. Ilyumzhinov's preoccupation is chess, and he spends his time flying around the world as president of FIDE. He built a now-crumbling "Chess City" for the 1998 Chess Olympiad, which was held a few months after the murder of leading Kalmyk opposition newspaper editor Larisa Yudina."

The above examples are not cases of personal attacks, and I am not making these words up in the interests of sensationalism. They are examples of what one finds when entering FIDE or it's former/honourary President or its recently re-elected President in to a search engine. True or not, they are there for all to see, and are found extremely easily. So far they are being ignored, treated as though they are not there, swept under the carpet. This directly reflects on the image of the governing body of chess. (See photo, right, picturing Kirsan Ilyumzhinov being congratulated upon his recent re-election, with joyous Florencio Campomanes behind him).

It must be addressed, or how is it possible that FIDE will attract any sponsors? What business people or companies will want to associate with such an organisation? How can FIDE move forward with such stigmas? I hope these issues will be dealt with speedily, in the interests of chess and the integrity of its governing body. Mr Ilyumzhinov, you apparently care about chess, and FIDE. Chess is your life, you say. Same goes for me, Sir, and as such, I emplore you to demonstrate it, and deal with these issues, either with refutation, or resignation. In Campomanes' case, as far as I am aware, his conviction stands, and there has been no appeal, nor is one pending, and I have looked extremely hard for news to the contary. In this case, his position is untenable, and he should simply cease to be an honourary anything of FIDE.



Promoting chess in its present...: Again, this covers not just one area. Foundations can be laid by improving the status of women's chess, for example. The days where women were seen as inferior within chess should have ended long ago, just as they have in most (I say most) other sports. The Polgar Sisters, especially Judit and Susan, have demonstrated fully that they can compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts. If chess is to go with the times and move forward, if it is to attract new fans and sponsors, then the denial of this fact must stop. If you improve the status of women's chess, then you improve the image of chess in general, we are not in the middle ages anymore. The use of 'Chess Ambassadors', if you like, can be used for this area, as well as other area's such as, scholastic chess, etc.

Second, publicity for chess should be taken far more seriously, and there is no excuse for the failure of this with such things as the internet and other media outlets too numerous to mention. These are tools at the disposal of chess, and are so far not being utilised. Not only can they be used to promote tournaments and events, but also to promote and increase the over-all image of chess.

...investing in its future: FIDE has made a good start in encouraging and nurturing new talent, its Training Academy is an excellent initiative. It is a fine first step, but much more can be done, and here is where the investment is called for. A greater communication with schools and amateur chess clubs, a higher involvement with school events, helping under-privalleged schools in founding/equipping their chess clubs. 


I end this article as I began it, by voicing the opinion that chess faces a crucial time in its history. The next few years can either be very good for it, or very bad, and in that we all play our part. However, the person with the power and responsibility with him, given to him by the delegates who re-elected him as President of FIDE, the world governing body of Chess, is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The few points that I mention in this article, only begin to scratch the surface of issues that he has been entrusted to deal with, and opportunities that he has been handed, over this new term of his administration.

He says that chess is his life, let us hope that he repays it in kind. It is the least it deserves.