Russians knights joust to control the chess world

Former world champions Kasparov and Karpov join hands to fight entrenched Russian officials

The Russian Chess Federation, it seemed, was under siege.

The incident was the most brazen move so far in a bitter struggle for control of a game that has been dominated by Russians for decades and is still a source of national pride. But Russia’s pre-eminence has dwindled in recent years along with interest in the game generally, and the fight is over how to reverse the slippage and re-establish Russia’s authority in the chess world.

The conflict has pitted an alliance of two former world champions and onetime enemies, anti-Kremlin activist Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, against high-ranking Russian officials. Karpov shocked Russia’s demure chess world earlier this year when he declared his intention to seek Russia’s nomination for president of the World Chess Federation against the officials’ handpicked candidate.

The players have accused the officials of corruption, incompetence and, in the case of Kirsan N Ilyumzhinov, a Russian provincial leader and the current president of the federation, mental instability. Ilyumzhinov, who has also been linked to the murder of at least one journalist, is supported in his bid to continue in the job by several top government officials, including the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee and a senior Kremlin adviser, Arkady V Dvorkovich.

In a country where chess champions are treated as national heroes, the Russian news media have latched onto the conflict with the gusto of American tabloids covering the latest exploits of Lady Gaga. They have taken particular delight in covering Ilyumzhinov, who has claimed on several occasions to have communed with extraterrestrials.

Ilyumzhinov would indeed seem an odd choice for reviving the flagging fortunes of Russian chess and the World Chess Federation, better known by its French acronym FIDE, and not just because he claims to have been visited by space aliens in yellow suits at his Moscow apartment.

The Kremlin-appointed leader of an impoverished southern Russian region called Kalmykia, he is known mostly for his exorbitant and mysteriously acquired wealth and his fanatical devotion to chess. He has also led the World Chess Federation for the past 15 years, presiding over the decline in the game that has so concerned the Russian officials who are backing his candidacy.

For Karpov, who was a shining star in the Soviet era, when chess served as an important platform in propaganda battles with the West, Ilyumzhinov has been in place long enough.

To oust him, Karpov was even willing to set aside his long rivalry with Kasparov and his own tendency to avoid politics.

In an interview, Karpov said that Ilyumzhinov had done lasting damage to chess and to the event that had defined the game for decades, the World Chess Championship.

“The prestige of the world championship title has declined,” he said, adding that Ilyumzhinov’s leadership “has caused serious damage to the authority of the federation.”
To the surprise of many in Russia, a majority of the Russian Chess Federation voted in favour of Karpov’s candidacy earlier this month.

Raid on Russian federation

The vote was followed by the raid on the Russian federation’s offices by security guards sent by Dvorkovich, who was vice president of the federation until a decree by President Dmitry A Medvedev last year barred Kremlin officials from holding prominent posts in sports federations. Dvorkovich, who still leads the chess federation’s supervisory board, said in an e-mail message that the raid was necessary after an audit turned up major financial irregularities.

Dvorkovich also wrote a letter to other national federations calling Karpov’s candidacy illegal and urging other countries to avoid all dealings with him.

It is unclear why Dvorkovich has so staunchly supported Ilyumzhinov, who has such a dubious history, especially given persistent rumours that Medvedev will not reappoint him as leader of Kalmykia when his term ends later this year.

Kasparov and others have suggested that officials might be trying to keep a lid on nefarious business dealings involving FIDE.

“You should always look in Russia for the business interests behind any public conflicts,” Kasparov said. “The people who are in charge of FIDE’s finances, they live in places like Athens. The treasurer is from Bermuda — and you can tell me what normally financial consultants from Bermuda do.”

Dvorkovich, who’s father was an accomplished chess player, has partly acknowledged Ilyumzhinov’s failings, saying in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station on Saturday that he has been ‘far from satisfied’ with FIDE’s management in recent years.

But he said he could not support Karpov, saying in the same interview that he would sooner support Kasparov than his onetime rival, who he said “was not an entirely decent person.”

In an e-mail message, Dvorkovich said that Ilyumzhinov had the managerial skills needed to carry out changes at FIDE. While Karpov’s contribution to the game had been ‘indisputable,’ he said, “leading an international federation requires huge managerial efforts, and I think that Ilyumzhinov can handle this better.”

Regardless of who comes out on top, the Russian candidate will still have to secure the votes of a majority of the member countries in FIDE. Despite Karpov’s fame, Ilyumzhinov has built a large support base in the organisation — critics have suggested that he purchased it — and his opponents say Russian officials may want to retain him to maintain control over the game.

“They are partially interested in FIDE’s reputation, but only to the extent that they control the federation and its material and financial currents,” Stanislav Belkovsky, a prominent political commentator wrote, referring to Dvorkovich, Ilyumzhinov and their supporters.

Dvorkovich and others have said they would like to move FIDE’s headquarters from Athens to Moscow, something that he says Ilyumzhinov is better equipped to handle. Also, the newly elected president of Russia’s Olympic Committee has said he will seek to include chess as an Olympic sport, perhaps in an effort to compensate for Russia’s less than stellar achievements in other Olympic events in recent years.

Karpov has accused Russian officials, and particularly Dvorkovich, of playing politics to the detriment of the game. His solution is to give control back to the players.

“I have won Russia at least 16 world championships,” Karpov said. “I have fought for my country. With all due respect to Dvorkovich, who is an assistant to the president on specific economic programmes, why does he think he knows chess better than I do?”