FIDE Election, Daily Dirtier Edition

Kramnik's case is a bit more complex as Dvorkovich claims him as a supporter - it was one of the main focuses of this piece (before it was slightly overtaken by events!). I should probably declare more than a passing interest in the article... :) http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/russian-media-on-the-dvorkovichkarpov-controversy/

Anand actually has been doing some quiet diplomacy over the last few years. He was the first reigning world champion to visit Africa - he toured Botswana and S.Africa giving simuls.
He has also visited places off the beaten track - Chile - to give lectures and demonstrations.

Indeed Karpov will change the things (only) at the very top (the WCCH-cycle) that's why Kasparov (with his "Pre" and "Post" hobbyhorses) is so passionate about this election.

But for the 3rd world chess, and for the mass of amateurs with less than 2700 ELO, Karpov or not won't make any difference.
He has no plan, no vision, and he never had.
Karpov hasn't come it (and fought) for any new idea of any sorts in his whole career. He is just the man of "before was better"-credo, as when he criticized the fast controls promoted (for better or for worse) by Krisan.

Personally I like Yazici. He's done a lot for chess, and nothing bad.

Please leave him out of it, since shooting "salt of the Earth" civilians will tend to turn neutrals against you.

On the "other" FIDE election, and displaying all his customary good grace in defeat: http://interviews.chessdom.com/danailov-after-the-match-wcc-2010

"Cheparinov is much better and much more creative than Kasparov, Carlsen, etc."

"Anand was only defending, nothing more. Brilliant defence, by the way! But maybe the fans expect different way of play from the Champion, a more inspiring one..."

Kirsan understands the real needs of chess: money, and so does his supporters.

Mig,

Maybe you don't exactly understand what happen in a 'developing chess country'. It's more frustrating than you think.

Since I live in one (In Africa) I can perhaps explain how it goes down at least in my country.

1. The chess officials i.e the delegates who will vote in September from my country, operate with total disregard to what the player on the ground wants. I.e the local chess office is a means to fatten the pocket and therefore Kirsanesque manouvers are very helpful in this regard.

2. What the players think on the ground is not what the local official thinks. And therefore comes about this stereotype that all "developing chess countries" are corrupt...it's individuals who are corrupt not whole countries.

3. Sometimes players are powerless against officials who will even use underhand tactics to quell any dissatisfaction e.g police, banning players from events etc The chess officials in many african countries are strongmen.

4. What you developed chess countries need to do is break away from FIDE, start a new organisation and liase DIRECTLY WITH PLAYERS in Africa and not officials.

Curious; chess politics in Africa seem to work the same way as in the USA...

Sounds like building a network of interconnected chess clubs would be a good idea.

> Would you pledge money to buy vouchers for sets
> and boards and to pay for trainers and travel for
> in-need federations in the developing world if
> Karpov wins?

I am willing to give fifty bucks but don't like the sound of "if Karpov wins". Can't you make it a more sustainable thing, maybe challenge the other side to join in? Gifts and promises once every four years are part of the problem.

Everytime I hear the canard about Kirsan personally putting more financial support into FIDE than he has gotten out of it, I also ask to hear the one about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny too.

I believe that Karpov and his people (longtime Karpov cronies not the least bit dominated by Kasparov) will do an admirable and professional job. Absent electoral games, I frankly do not think that the policy agenda needs to be that imaginative and complex. The real agenda relates directly what I suspect are Karpov's motivations for running. The first step is simply to return chess to the raison d'etre of FIDE rather than chess being a front for an enterprise of a different sort altogether. Karpov may not be a political dynamo in the popular sense, but given his devotion to the game of chess (recall the title of his first book), he must be honestly pained by what FIDE has become.

Apart from corruption, chess will continue to be shunned by corporate sponsors, to the detriment of players and fans, so long as it is run by a figure who, as far as I can discern, the entire legitimate world media regards as a authoritarian nutjob who repeatedly insists that he communicates with and was abducted by aliens. Contrast the status quo with FIDE leadership by an individual who is not only a chess legend but also a significant international public figure known well beyond the chess community.

By the way, Ilyumzhinov's term in office as leader of Kalmykia expires this year. According to some, Medvedev will not reappoint Kirsan but has 'promised' him the FIDE post as a consolation prize.

Thanks for the update, Mig! I also like your idea of suppling sets and trainers for developing federations...if you put your idea in action, let me know...I'm down for a few bucks.

Sorry if this has been posted in another thread but some big newspapers at least take an interest in this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/may/24/anatoly-karpov-kremlin-world-chess

Karpov should place some distance between himself and Kasparov. The latter is the perfect partner when looking for a purely chess endorsement, but this election has far too many political overtones and Kasparov carries more political baggage than the Karpov ticket needs.

Potential sponsors & supporters, at any rate the type Karpov should be looking for, want a leader who is solely interested in improving the popularity of chess, its status, its promotion across the world; but definitely not promoting political interests. Especially not taking on the Kremlin, which may a laudible cause but should then be tackled by other means. If you want to raise the status of chess you have to place it above politics.

Karpov would be wise to broaden his support base to apolitical entities across the globe; my perception is that it's too US-centered which in itself alienates some votes.

Wow, Mig, 3 blogs written in today's early morning hours!! They're very well composed, by the way, especially considering the time when many of the rest of us were perhaps dreaming of today's play-off game between Shulman and Kamsky, now under way. I really appreciate your thoughts on this site, especially those concerning the up-coming FIDE elections which have appeared here over the last few days. It's unbelievable professional chess is being run by a nut-job like Ilyumzhinov, especially considering the possibility that he may be connected with the murder of journalist Larisa Yudina. If Karpov is not elected FIDE President, there will be little hope for professional chess in the years to come, when the so-called "organization" will not be anything more than the play-thing of a fantasizing despot.

It is funny to see the Russian federation (heavy )petting his FIDE puppies and hearing about 3rd world corruption at the same time .

http://digg.com/people/Member_of_Russian_Parliament_Claims_He_Was_Abducted_By_Alien

Kirsan has made it to Digg and the comments show that people love Kirsan all you see is how they want to party with him and how awesome he is. The public has spoken 1-0 Kirsan.

This is further proof Karpov is living a lie and has swindled democracy by rigging election it is good the Russian government will not tolerate such actions and Karpov prob will have to pay a heavy price.

Also We learn Chess is from space not made by humans and only Kirsan can guard the space game since he has been in space and is a trail blazer for humanity. How can u not support such a man who has perhaps even saved humans from hostile alien fire by befriending them??? You are all delusional and need to reconsider your thinking and accept the life-time president-ship of Kirsan.

"Dvorkovich is a presidential aide, yes, but those weren't government security forces that raided the Moscow Chess Club, they were private for-hire on his payroll."

Yes, but we can suppose that there was at least tacit approval from some high-up officials in the Kremlin. As has been mentioned by others, the fact that Kssparov has recently openly joined forces with Karpov is a game changer. Perhaps Putin's cronies could abide Karpov, and throw Kirsan under the bus. But they can't abide letting Kasparov be the one to (essentially) take over FIDE, which would give Garry more legitimacy and a bigger power base for his "Democracy" campaign.

Karpov might have blundered by bringing Kasparov on board so soon.

If the Peper private security firm was just that, then one could suppose that Bakh could hire twice as many of the Russian equivalent of Pinkerton's and have them muscle out Dvorkovisch's crew. But it ain't going to happen.

"What you developed chess countries need to do is break away from FIDE, start a new organisation and liase DIRECTLY WITH PLAYERS in Africa and not officials."

Yes, precisely. The worst case scenario is if Kirsan manages to run, and win, and keep the reins. But Karpov winning, and taking over from Kirsan is also a bad scenario. Even if you deem "soft-spoken" tolya to have the purest of intentions, it would be as if you have liberated a country, but only control a few cities, whereas the countryside is still controlled by one's enemies. FIDE is unreformable.

Therefore, I hope that the strategy of Karpov and Kasparov is to aim for the effective dismantlement of FIDE, and provoking the Western Federations to bolt and form a new, rival Chess Federation.

The Ilyumzhinov fallback position in face of all criticism is how much of his own money he's put into chess. In fact, this claim highlights a big part of the argument against him and his administration with one request: "prove it." What money? Where did it come from, where did it go?

****
JHC! Were you asleep for the last 10 yrs? Who paid the Kamsky/Karpov 96 prize fund? Who paid for the 98 KO? The 99 KO? Who built the Elista chess city facilities so that the Olympiad could be hosted there -- ie paid for?

Give us a break Mig -- there is no doubt that Ilyumzhinov has poured money into FIDE to keep it afloat -- and whether it is state money or his money is rather moot given his control of Kalmykia

Or should Korchnoi pay back the Philippines for the 78 match now that state money is considered dirty?

Geezuz!

Therefore, I hope that the strategy of Karpov and Kasparov is to aim for the effective dismantlement of FIDE, and provoking the Western Federations to bolt and form a new, rival Chess Federation.

***
Pay for it or shut up about it -- the breakaway aint gonna happen when major western federations barely make their own budgets

There is no "let's fund an alternate FIDE" genie in a bottle waiting to be rubbed

I would like to hear what Karpov is intending to do in order to make FIDE self-sufficient. So far he is running on the strength of Kirsan being a "bad guy". That won't cut it, though. Professional chess players ( the only ones with a real stake in all this) know that the grass is not so green on the other side: Kasparov gave them a sample with the PCA.

What makes anyone so sure that Karpov is an actual improvement over Kirsan? I haven't seen any evidence that would point in that direction...in fact, his new partnership with corrupt Kasparov (remember how he backed Kirsan when promised a shortcut to the WC match?) indicates very poor judgement.

Professional chess needs to be supported from a wide variety of sponsors, not simply by one sugar daddy despot. Interest in the game from outside sources has fallen dramatically since the days of the 1980s and early 1990s, when the Karpov/Kasparov rivalry was covered world-wide. Now, professional is very much a smaller world with enthusiast though very small support and total non-interest from the rest of the world. With a guy like Ilyumzhinov in charge, that wouldn't change; in fact, it's only bound to get more and more narrow in terms of support. What corporate sponsors want their name associated with a political dictator who fancies himself a friend to creatures from outer space?

I always enjoy reading the blog, Mig, thanks for another article.

Please excuse my sudden agony at the redundant apostrophe.

"one of the nastier skeleton's"

Good luck to Karpov

A question.

As I understand it, Russia has one vote. How much a difference will it make which way their vote goes? How much influence do they have? Or do both candidates need Russian support to be able to stand, Russia being their home federation?

I agree with some of the comments (if not all) in here regarding African countries. I live in Kenya so I can talk about somethings first hand.

Yes, there is absolutely a disconnect between chess officials in my country (and perhaps some neighbouring countries like Uganda) and the players on the ground. FIDE, Kirsan and Yazici (Da 'attack dog') can cry out as loud as they want that they are doing a hell lot for third world chess countries...the reality is any 'offerings' chesswise from FIDE (Boards, clocks, CACDEC funds etc) totally fail to trickle down to the player. Somewhere within the blackholes of the local developing federations these things disappear or are only available when players meet certain 'conditions' or are in the 'good books'. Chess development in countries like mine remains stagnant as a result.

Recently Yazici came up with this youth programme thng called 'TACTICS'. One of our officials let it slip at a recent chess function that a primary motivation for Yazici to do so was because they realised what a huge voting bloc Africa was. So Yazicia and Kirsan probably see African countries (together with other developing chess countries) as a means to keep them in power for a long long time. Some of you here are still stuck with the idea that all it takes to get the 'African vote' is sending over some boards and clocks. The game has been upped...now it's whole chess programmes we are talking about. Boards and clocks is an old and possibly outdated game. With programmes you get everything - boards, clocks plus more. Theoretically this sounds great but as I mentioned things tend disappear into blackholes. These programmes possibly end up becoming potential cash cows for individual official 'pockets'.

It ends up becoming a vicious circle. FIDE feeds the developing fed officials, officials cut themselves off from players (because giving freedom to players within the parameters of a national federation means good chances of getting kicked out of office - chessers are a moody lot - and thus overturning the FIDE-to-deveolping country-federation gravy train), official votes for 'correct' FIDE man at general assembly etc. I call it the FIDE Oxygen cycle.

Problem is FIDE doesn't ask some federations esp those in developing countries for accountablity and thus you get the wrong kind of leadership heading these local federations. Should Karpov via some miracle manage to become FIDE boss this is one thing he should promptly put in place if local feds want to deal with FIDE.

What people forget is that sometimes there maybe two Africa's when it comes to chess...one for the 'African player' and the other for the 'African official'. Maybe the same thing happens in other regions where 'developing chess countries' exist. That said, some federations on the continent are very well run e.g some countries in Southern and Northern Africa like Angola, SA, Egypt, Botswana, Namibia, Morroco etc...and some of these well run federation are pro-Kirsan. So, perhaps not all of Kirsan's support is as a result of the FIDE Oxygen Cycle.

Mig mentions that pledges should come in if Karpov wins so that trainers etc can be sent to developing fderations. That's nice, but if Karpov wins he will need to put the developing federation officials under the microscope otherwise just like his predecessor things will disappear into the blackhole and he will wonder. Another thing is countries like mine have tremendous sponsorship potential for the game. It's just that the local fed has not taken any initiative to grab this opportunity. I would suspect if Karpov wins all he will need to do is encourage developing feds to run efficiently and transparently and they would end up helping themselves via their own locally available resources and thus require only minimum input from FIDE...maybe none at all! Extra help from FIDE would then just be a welcome bonus.

By the way Nigel Short is apparently around on the African continent...I understand he checks into Uganda for a simul on Thursday and was in Angola a few days ago...is he Karpov's frontman for the 'African campaign' or what? He's great to play chess with but maybe he is the wrong choice if he's here to lobby the local officials. Officials will say "yes yes, Bwana Short, we are Karpov fans!!" but come voting it will be all Kirsan.

I have a very simple question, see anyone can answer.
Assume Karpov wins fair and square (from Germany, France or Russia, does not really matter for now). In view of the current events in the latter country, what is the guarantee that the present FIDE officials set will simply stand up and hand over all documents, bank account details, etc.?

There is a whole lot of doubt as to whether he has personally put more financial support into FIDE than he has gotten out of it. Or is your point that, even if FIDE's chess activities are a mere front for an enterprise of a different sort altogether, the crumbs thrown to chess to maintain the facade are worth supporting the Abducted One? If chess would really be in the wilderness without these ill-gotten gains, how come the pre-Ilyumzhinov K-K matches, for example, mananged to take place on the world stage in places like Moscow, London, New York, Seville, Leon? Technology today only makes legitimate sponsorship more likely, but such sponsorship will never have much to do with the Abducted One or with what FIDE has become.

****
Well let's see -- pre-Kirsan there was:

1. A Soviet Union
2. A cold war
3. State funding for chess in many parts of the world
4. Campomanes (who was pretty good at finding state sources of funding for matches that private sources couldn't fund)
5. Unified chess title (to 1993)

Now let's go to 1995

1. No Soviet Union
2. No cold war
3. State funding aka 2nd and 3rd world funding drying up
4. No Campo
5. Split title

No funding = FIDE almost bankrupt

Could not pay for the 1993 cycle, could not pay for the 1995 cycle (finals ended up being played in 1996)

Kirsan's funding saved FIDE

PS USCF could not fund the 1996 match even though its own player was playing for the world title -- you would think at least zone 2.1 would be aware of the history

***
But, Chesspride, even if it were the case that chess would fare worse under K & K (or whoever), I still don't car. Better that top level chess activity dwindle, than be sustained by corruption and gangsterism.

***
That's the point -- you don't care if organized title chess dies. You would just walk away.

People who DO care...are eternally thankful that (zany) Kirsan came along and paid for things for a decade.

Chess did not die -- but PCA did. FIDE owes that victory to Kirsan. It may be time to retire him ala Churchill but not until real funding is available or a lot of FIDE events will not be held....which impacts other federations much more than zone 2.1

Why talk like the PCA was a tragedy, or a cancer that needed to be killed? It failed in the end, but while it lived it put millions of actual, accountable, viable commercial sponsorship into the game and into the pockets of players. We'd certainly be better off now had it survived and thrived and FIDE dropped dead.

There's no, "keep Kirsan until funding comes along." His involvement and his way of doing "business" -- with political cronies in back rooms and with a big chunk handed to officials -- preclude legitimate commercial sources. He represents the problem and he's had 15 years to prove he isn't the solution.

Why should chess shrivel up and die? There is more chess online and in schools than ever before. There are chess stars in more places, and places with more money than there were 15 years ago. There is tremendous potential out there for professional sports marketing and sponsorship. We will never have this with Kirsan.

The Legend of Kirsan's Millions really needs to die. It's well past its sell-by date.

There's an amazing new article by the Russian journalist Belkovsky that gets to the nut of why Dvorkovich and the others are fighting so desperately. Should be translated soon. It not only explains the current situation, but the general MO of Kirsan's Elista/FIDE and other similar operations in Putin's Russia.

PCA was a nice try but ultimately failed since Garik was more interested in putting millions into his own pocket than in doing something for the public good. Intel stopped sponsoring when he had the brilliant idea to catch the big fish by losing spectacularly against an IBM machine, ruining both the interest of broad public in chess and potential sponsorship from IT companies along. Now Garik does more of the same in his typical not-really-sustainable business style in just another temporary coalition with Tolya (who adds nicely to the a long list of transient Kasparov gang members).

Karpov just made the ridiculous statement that he wants ensure that every Grandmaster can make his living from the game. ("Die materielle Grundlage der Großmeister muss hergestellt werden", recent campaign interview in Germany). Of course, no word about how he wants to achieve this despite the same lofty statement that there is "much potential". Funny to imagine that if he succeeds it really would be a great business to buy a GM title for a few thousand bucks (or get it by participating in some dubious national network tournaments) and have ensured material basis for lifetime. Even more funny that actually many GMs seem to believe to have the right of being alimented independent of their performance.

Please give at least a concrete comment, Mig: Do you support Karpov's statement above, or do you agree that it is plain nuts?

Come on Mig, this is ridiculous. I thought I will stay out of politics, PCA was a joke, a big one. It did nothing but kill chances of chess for growing, by dividing it.

Now unfortunately similar thing happens. I just wonder why Kasparov is involved again.

For the good of chess, let it be united. It seems to have better fundaments than 4 years ago, I believe Yazici and even Dvorkovich in this statement. And Kirsan did put millions, and some of them into uniting chess. Respect at least is deserved. Stating the opposite can be done by someone who does not know chess history (or does not want to admit it due to political bias).

Apart from that, ECU is fun, do you have details on the super German that entered? This will be good for chess indeed.

Kasparov, as usual, tried all at once, which didn't work.
Karpov, as usual, will go slow and steady. Give him a chance.

In Bulgarian politics, Borisov's visit to Italy had "no gaffes", just the flag upside-down, and referring to him as from Macedonia. Topalov's loss is still in the Sofia news cycle. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=116506
"Topalov refused a draw in the decisive final game only to lose it eventually"

PCA was not a tragedy or a cancer. It was just one more example of how incredibly incredibly inept Kasparov is at anything other than playing chess.

The important question is: how come PCA was unable to find the "sponsors" that evryone promises but nobody delivers?

Karpov is promising fixing everything that is wrong with FIDE, but he won't say how he intends to do that. I don't think he has any chance of doing any housecleaning, especially after joining forces with Kasparov, who is as corrupt and as delusional as Kirsan.

The whole situation is showing, once again, that
1) democracy is great in theory, but in practice leads directly to dictatorship - this was demonstrated by Hitler, Stalin, the Bush clan, and Campomanes, to name a few, who all came to power through democratic elections;
2) once transformed into dictatorship, the reversal process is almost imposible to take place without help from external forces.
FIDE is also a perfect example of an international organization initially built on democratic principles and 'occupied' by a clique who will not want to give up the power. Who controls FIDE funds, obtained through membership fees and sponsorship? FIDE Congress? Nice try! Why they were not able to fulfill their basic obligations of organizing the world championships for years and years, since they collect taxes like a government? Is there anything to do with the perennial 'employees' such as Giorgios Makropoulos, Zurab Azmaiparashvili and others like them? What are their salary levels and other perks taken from FIDE budget? Is this lack of control such a powerful magnet for 'businessmen' like Yazici to make them stepping over dead bodies to get to the 'bone'?
Now, is there any way to replace/reform/simplify the costly FIDE administration to a minimum requirement? Any ideas?

Doug wrote:

"The sad reality is that Chess is not much in demand, that there is not much interest in following or spectating Top Level events, even among avid tournament chessplayers."

That's the real problem with chess. And that's the reason a real lowlife like Kirsan has literally hijacked the FIDE.

Unfortunately, all pretenders to the throne campaign under the same war cry: "Kirsan is bad and I'll get you millions in corporate sponsorship."

Yes, Kirsan is bad - we all know it. But the pretenders are equally corrupt. Karpov's alliance with Kasparov CAN NOT be good for FIDE or chessplayers. Kasparov is completely dishonest and no less delusional than Kirsan - one was abducted, the other denies a thousand years of history.

The solution is very simple, actually: stop the insanity of pretending that chess is a sport and manage it as a game. Bring back the excitement: shorter games, shorter and cheaper matches with more games, less reliance on memorization, more blunders leading to brilliancies (the stupid purists forget that every single brilliance in the history of the game has at least 1 blunder) and a far more relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere.

Get rid of Leko and Svidler. Give us more Topalov and Morozevich.

It is a game, after all. But I'm afraid the average GM is very stupid: they don't see that a smaller pie shared by many is better than a big pie shared by 10.

Very interesting interview with Kirsan on YouTube. This is part II including the aliens incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCmHi50Mve0&feature=player_embedded#!

Afterwards you can watch part I:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqrsmLxkt3Y&feature=related

The man is an enigma. -Seemingly naive, calm and friendly. But then again, a ruthless emperor with an unknown numbers of skeletons in his closet.

So, millions of dollars of commercial sponsorship for chess now equals total ineptitude and failure. And don't forget corruption. You've solved another case, Irv.

The argument that anything that doesn't outlast the Roman Empire is a disgraceful failure is nonsense. Everything dies and everything fails eventually. If we learn from those failures we go on to make better things. And many things, and people, do a great deal of good before that inevitable failure occurs.

Had FIDE folded under its impoverished and corrupt weight instead of being salvaged to serve as a money-laundering operation and "hobby" (his words) by Ilyumzhinov, it's quite possible the PCA would have held on. Unity was required and there was none. The Intel people in particular were baffled by the attacks on them by the very people who were benefiting the most from their involvement.

Instead of all the moaning, we need to learn from the PCA experience, among others. The world is a very different place today than it was in 1995 thanks to the internet, and there is no reason FIDE should not be able to exploit these changes. But because Kirsan is who he is, it will never happen with him in charge.

His latest scheme is to loot the Russian treasury with Dvorkovich's help by inventing a big chess technology project with Kaplan and a bunch of Israelis and then getting a big chunk of Skolkovo money for it to pass around. A few rubles might drip through their fingers into FIDE and the chess world, or maybe not. Nice work if you can get it. This is why they are fighting so hard in Russia to hang on to FIDE. What, because they love chess or think chess is such a great business opportunity? Please. It's because they are hoping for tens or maybe even hundreds of millions of dollars to come from this.

Meanwhile, Karpov we know actually cares about the game and the players and has dedicated his life to it. Will he and the group of extremely wealthy "advisors" he has assembled necessarily transform FIDE into a crystal-clear zone or chess into the next tennis or poker overnight? Of course not. We can expect improvements mostly because Kirsan and his gang have been such a catastrophe. But I don't think Karpov or the people around him are trying to do this so they can get richer and that is an important difference.

Saying Kirsan "paid for things for a decade" is thanking someone for giving you a sip of water while standing on your throat. His presence has reduced the potential for sponsorship in chess. You can't measure what has happened against zero. You measure it against what could have been created, against the commercial potential had it been exploited. Chess has boomed in crucial areas -- youth and online, especially -- and Kirsan missed these boats almost entirely while having knock-outs in Tripoli. Other areas ripe for development like the rating list, the world championship cycle, and programs in the developing world have been ignored or actively vandalized.

Nice to be well informed, I did not understand what was actually scheme by even so I recall thinking instantly "Ostap Bender !!" when I read the Chessbase article with Kaplan's grand "projects".

"His latest scheme is to loot the Russian treasury with Dvorkovich's help by inventing a big chess technology project with Kaplan and a bunch of Israelis and then getting a big chunk of Skolkovo money for it to pass around. A few rubles might drip through their fingers into FIDE and the chess world, or maybe not. Nice work if you can get it. This is why they are fighting so hard in Russia to hang on to FIDE."

Anatoly, beware!

http://www.smh.com.au/world/modern-mata-hari-leaves-kremlin-critics-exposed-20100428-tsem.html

Great coverage in the front section fo the NYTimes today (although lagging behind the UK dailies):http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/world/europe/27chess.html?ref=todayspaper

The print edition has this shot at Ilyumshinov's alien abductionin delusions in a sub-lead:
"Ex-foes vs. a man with friends in hign places. (No, higher.)"

Kasparov gets refreshingly direct with the following quoted statement:
"The treasurer [of FIDE] is from Bermuda — and you can tell me what normally financial consultants from Bermuda do.”

Mig wrote:

"Had FIDE folded under its impoverished and corrupt weight instead of being salvaged to serve as a money-laundering operation and "hobby" (his words) by Ilyumzhinov, it's quite possible the PCA would have held on. Unity was required and there was none."

The PCA fiasco is a well-documented one and re-writing history is going to be tough in this particular case. Everyone knows that Kasparov, not FIDE, is fully responsible for the PCA fiasco.

"The Intel people in particular were baffled by the attacks on them by the very people who were benefiting the most from their involvement."

Do you mean Kasparov destroyed the relationship with his dishonesty and lunatic accusations?

"Instead of all the moaning, we need to learn from the PCA experience, among others. "

I agree 100%. Kasparov should not be given the opportunity to ruin another organization. Karpov blundered by associating himself with a shady character like kASPAROV. That's the lesson to be learned from the PCA debacle.

"The world is a very different place today than it was in 1995 thanks to the internet, and there is no reason FIDE should not be able to exploit these changes. But because Kirsan is who he is, it will never happen with him in charge."

True, but we must make sure that the replacement is selected based on his own merit and not on Kirsan's well-documented failures and delusions.

"Karpov...actually cares about the game and the players and has dedicated his life to it."

Karpov has dedicated his life to his OWN chess career, not the advancement of the game of chess. Chess owes nothing to Karpov.

"Will he and the group of extremely wealthy "advisors" he has assembled necessarily transform FIDE into a crystal-clear zone or chess into the next tennis or poker overnight?"

Having "wealthy advisors" does not mean anything until it results in tangible results in the area of sponsorship. Last time I checked, long-time chess "benefactor" Bessel Kok, widely respected and acknowledged to have "weathy and powerful connections", promised millions of dollars in sponsorship money. He even signed some sort of contract with FIDE. The money has never materialized....

But right now, there are only two candidates. My federation's delegate can either vote for Kirsan or Karpov. Do you suggest, if we find out that Karpov hasn't been selected based on his own merit, I should tell my federation's delegate to vote for Kirsan, or not vote at all?

But I don't want the delegate to be so choosy. I want him to hold his nose and vote for Karpov. I don't feel obliged, and wouldn't know how or why I should make sure what you demand. And my federation has already complied with my wishes :)

Most delegates will hold their nose and vote for Kirsan, I'm afraid. Only time will tell...

:-)

Why talk like the PCA was a tragedy, or a cancer that needed to be killed? It failed in the end, but while it lived it put millions of actual, accountable, viable commercial sponsorship into the game and into the pockets of players. We'd certainly be better off now had it survived and thrived and FIDE dropped dead.

***

PCA was a cartel operating with a stolen property -- the world title.

PCA was a disaster wrapped up in shiny paper and glitz but its beginning was based on a chess crime of epic proportions.

I disagree with you 100 % -- chess is better off today now that FIDE has won. Or do you really believe PCA could have survived forfeiting its champion, had he run off in some disagreement (as with FIDE).

Sports leagues must be bigger and stronger and independent of their players. PCA was not and never could be so long as private title claims existed. Now that private title claims are dead, chess is better served.

GM Bareev has provided his insight into the role played by Karpov and Kasparov. In my opinion it is really hard to argue with him. I will like Mig to provide an official response on behalf of the two K's. Here is the article as published in Ms. Polgar's blog.

“Kasparov and Karpov are playing another game, this time a political one.”
by GM Evgeny Bareev
May 28, 2010
Subjective speculations on a strange Kasparov-Karpov tandem
Kasparov and Karpov are playing another game, this time a political one.

Author: Evgeny Bareev – IGM, gold medalist of four chess Olympiads with the Russian team (1990, 1994, 1996, 1998), two World Championships (1997, 2005) and two European Championships (1992, 2003).

Latest scandalous events surrounding the Russian Chess Federation (namely a desperate effort of two Russian chess legends Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, together with the Chairman of the RCF Board Alexander Bakh who joined them, to succeed in getting the news of Karpov’s nomination as Russia’s candidate to the position of the FIDE President, violating the Statutes of the organisation) made me think, why even the very idea of the joint management of the world chess movement by a tandem of the 12th and 13th World Champions seems to me a catastrophe for chess of the same scale as a Mexican bay fire for mankind.

During my entire professional chess career I have been a witness of a furious battle of Karpov - Kasparov against each other – both at the chess board, and around it – for the influence in various organisations and chess players’ unions and for various privileges. This fight always ended in eventual destruction of these organisations or receiving these privileges by depriving the rest of chess players of them. I would remind you in chronological order some episodes of the quasi-chess activities or actions of the Champions. and

1992. GMA (International Grandmaster Association) created on Kasparov’s initiative is split due to a implacable conflict of the 13th World Champion and his managers with the other members of the Association because of the GMA finances. According to the explanation given to me then by Karpov (I just qualified for my first World Cup organised by GMA, and was sad to receive an official notice that it stopped its existence), the team of Kasparov and himself demanded unrealistic salaries and stipends. Bessel Kok, the then CEO and one of the top managers of the Association’s Sponsor SWIFT, did not concede to this pressure and soon this young and aspiring organisation finished its existence.

1993. Kasparov refuses to play a match against Short for the title under the FIDE aegis, not wishing to give to them a small part of the prize fund according to the Statutes, and creates a new organisation – PCA (Association of Professional Chess players), under which he plays this match without any deductions. As a result for the following 15 years chess world is sinking into chaos. I’d like to note that Karpov immediately took advantage of the situation to his favour and having won the match against Timman, was announced again FIDE World Champion. Both Karpov and Timman before this lost their candidates’ matches to Short and disqualified from the race for the world chess crown.

1994. FIDE Presidential elections in Moscow. Unexpectedly for many the sportsmen exchanged their T-shirts. Karpov supported Kouatly as a candidate, and Kasparov – no matter how weird it would seem to you – his worst enemy – Florencio Campomanes, famous for stopping the “unlimited battle” Karpov-Kasparov of 1984-1985 with a score 5-3 in Karpov’s favour and publicly accused of defending the interests of the opponent. First vote is a tie! The next day Kasparov’s team won convincingly. I recall seeing Kasparov up to now, who during the summer of the same year at the Novgorod tournament was dreamingly mumbling “Khoper, Khoper”, rubbing his hands. This was the first time I heard this strange word from him. Then it turned out that this “organisation” is a financial pyramid, which deceived dozens thousands of people in the whole country – and which was a generous sponsor of those FIDE Presidential elections.

1995. Karpov wins a convincing revanche. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov makes his first entry to a chess stage and at the extraordinary FIDE Congress immediately becomes President. With Karpov behind it. The mother of the 13th World champion was most upset by the fact that prior to that Ilyumzhinov was eating soup in her kitchen and did not share his plans with them. She promised not to ever invite him for lunch.

The same year Kasparov wins in World Trade Center in New York his match over Anand under PCA version, which he and Short created after they left FIDE. As it turned out, this was the last official event under the PCA aegis. Since the moment of Ilyumzhinov’s election as FIDE President Kasparov refuses to play in the tournaments under FIDE aegis, stating that Ilyumzhinov organises his championships for “dirty money”.

Approximately around the same time the battle at the “Eastern front” is becoming more agitated: Karpov and Kasparov are clashing over the control in the Russian Chess Federation, and in reality – as it seems – just for the right to manage the Central chess club on Gogolevsky blvd. This time in an exhausting struggle, after long legal suits the 13th World champion and his team won. Immediately after this moment the legendary club was let to various private companies, having nothing to do with chess. It is a mystery for me personally, where the money from these leases went. As GM S. Dolmatov was saying at that time, these years “the RCF budget was of a totally closed character. I as a Grandmaster, was not aware how and what money the RCF was making and how it spends it”. Dolmatov meant first of all the Chess Club and was demanding to organise a “comprehensive” inspection of it, saying that “there are some dirty games going on behind our backs”.

1996. Elista is staging a World Championship title match between Karpov and Kamsky with the prize fund being provided by the President of Kalmykia. Karpov convincingly wins and Kamsky, declaring that Karpov and Kasparov will never allow him become World Champion, leaves chess for nearly a decade.

Kasparov plays a commercial match against Deep Blue, sponsored by IBM. Intel, an opponent of IBM, who has been sponsoring PCA for three years and spent during this period more than five million USD, immediately calls off future cooperation and leaves chess, which causes the collapse of Kasparov’s organisation. One year later, having lost another match to the same computer, Deep Blue, Great and Terrible, as admirers, followers and true friends of Kasparov call him, publicly and harshly accuses IBM in unfair play, and as a consequence, chess loses another large sponsor.

1997. First knockout World championship was organised. Ilyumzhinov thanked Karpov for his Presidency by a unique format – after winning six most difficult mini-matches, Anand – the current World Champion- in a few days- met Karpov for a six-game so-called final, where Karpov has been resting for a month preparing for the forthcoming event. So, it was not a surprise when exhausted Anand lost the tie-break. Karpov became a knockout “World Champion”.

1999. Second World knockout Championship is organised in Las Vegas. This time the negotiations with FIDE have not brought a desirable result and the Champion has to defend his title from the second round. Karpov is indignant and sues FIDE. Besides, after having refused to participate, in the US he is trying all his resorts to cancel the 3 million USD prize fund event, writing to the Nevada Governor a request to do it. Having learnt about it, chess players were very angry, and a German GM Lobron was chasing Karpov during a Dortmund tournament (Lobron has drank too much) with the aim to inflict light bodily damage.

The result of a conciliatory encounter of Ilyumzhinov and Karpov was his withdrawal of his suit. We can only guess the reason which made a principled person give up his claims.

2000. Kasparov, who has not defended his World Championship title for five years, finally picks up his challenger – Vladimir Kramnik. Before this, due to various reasons, including financial ones, two matches for the titles fell through – against Shirov and Anand. Kasparov loses the match in all aspects and violating the contract signed by both participants before the match, immediately demands the revenge. We should remind you here that in the mid-80s, as a result of some serious struggle, he managed to cancel such matches, as Karpov was a stickler of the revanche.

2001. M. Botvinnik Memorial in Moscow. Kasparov, Kramnik and Karpov in a match-tournament. Shortly before the start, after reaching the agreements with the organisers of this event which had aspirations to become historical, Karpov “suddenly” refused to play and preferred due to some reasons which we can only guess about, the knockout World Championship, “incidentally” organised by FIDE during the same dates in the same city. In the first very round he lost to a Chinese player, who was not well-known. This is the end of the brilliant chess career of Karpov.

2002. Ukrainian R. Ponomarjov becomes FIDE World Champion. Kasparov, as it seems, is trying a campaign of public lauding of Ilyumzhinov’s virtues with the aim of returning the World Championship title by any means. They say that at the Bled Chess Olympiad, having his turn for a move, but just seeing Ilyumzhinov in the playing hall, Kasparov rushed to hug and kiss him under the approving roar of the audience. The same year Kasparov in fact started a campaign against Ilyumzhinov’s “chase” by media, praising the achievements of the latter in his capacity as Kalmykia’s state figure and a unique world chess leader. “Kommersant” newspaper wrote: “ The most expensive present was handed to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov by a chess player Garry Kasparov – his assurances in sincere friendship and his support of all the initiatives as FIDE President, and recognition of his being wrong in the past”. Quote from “Moskovsky Komsomolets”: “Kasparov underlined that now they are connected by business and commercial relations, which sometimes are stronger than friendly ties”.

The result of these in my opinion, humiliating speeches of Kasparov was the famous Prague Agreement and the right for a FIDE World championship title without any sporting qualification, which actually was canceled the last moment. Ponomariov refused to play the match due to very strong pressure from Kasparov himself and a number of FIDE officials. Karpov at that period was accusing Kasparov in destructive activity: “Kasparov has made many mistakes. The situation in FIDE and the fact that the former harmonious World Chess Championship system is now turned into something incomprehensible – this is the result of Kasparov’s intrigues and activity”. Then chess circles had the following ironical saying: “President of FIDE and Kalmykia now has only clean banknotes. So Kasparov can play for them with his conscience being clear”.

2004. After Kasimdzhanov becomes new World knockout Champion, Kasparov of course receives a right to play a match for the title against him. Ilyumzhinov refused to personally provide the prize fund, and Kasparov failed to attract other sponsors. Years of public humiliation were wasted, he did not managed to return his title, and Kasparov again joins Ilyumzhinov’s opposition.

2005. Kasparov announces that his chess career is over.

2006. Karpov declares that he is going to run for the FIDE Presidency. As a result of a personal meeting Iyumzhinov succeeds to find solid arguments, and Karpov gives this idea up.

2006–2009. Happy years for chess. Several matches for the title were played. Chess world is unified. The number of top tournament increases alongside with earnings of professional chess players.

2007. Karpov as a member of the Public Chamber, brings the 64-Chess Review magazine to Kasparov in his detention cell. He was not allowed to see Kasparov, and he passes his small present through the mother of Kasparov – Klara. Historical reconciliation of earlier implacable opponents takes place.

2009. Karpov-Kasparov rapid chess match in Valencia. The announced series of similar matches does not take place due to the absence of interest in the world to their creative and sportive components.

2010. Karpov declares that he is intending to run for the FIDE President’s position with the objective of “saving chess which are in the deepest crisis”. Kasparov immediately renders him informational and moral support, trying to secure votes in a number of Western countries and the USA.

Of course, this is just a fraction of the events which have been taking place during these years with participation of Karpov and Kasparov. But even a quick glance is enough to understand that if destructive energy of two pupils of the Soviet chess school is united in one position – FIDE President, then chess players will have difficult times ahead of them. I do believe that this shall not happen.

Nezavisimaia gazeta ©
27.05.2010: http://www.ng.ru/regions/2010-05-27/5_champions.html

Kirsans new slogan at onefide.com:
"One World. One Vision" makes me think of another leaders' slogan from the 1930's...

Bareev's account is quite accurate, in my opinion. Especially damaging for Kasparov are his recociliations with Campomanes first and Kirsan second, hoping for immediate personal gain to come from kissing up to his two former enemies. So much for Kasparov's integrity.

@Not a very solid foundation for an argument, is it?

no, but every argument is in such a context is a
political argument, not an exercise in objective, mathematical, reasoning

"All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred, and schizophrenia" G. Orwell

http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

In other words, each has to think first what he has to gain from it and only afterwards begin
babble-reason something to the effect that the good (for him) outcome is the absolute good and the good for everybody (though of course that in their confuse thinking they may not yet understand, that's why I am reasoning with them)

For the mass of chess amateurs with nothing
(i.e. no money) else to gain having as FIDE chief a fraud, a swindler, an alien abducted and a downright criminal (remember Larisa Yudina) Kirsan is a constant embarassment with no other benefit to compensate for it.
Karpov is no Euwe, but when compared with Kirsan he appears as monument of honesty and rationality.

To mention it at least once: Imho, the whole discussion overestimates Kirsan's role in FIDE. Most of the dubious activities within the organization are connected to Makropoulos and Azmeiparashvili. Perhaps one should ask K&K at least once about their (existing and planned) relation with this "Devilish Duo".

Kevin Spraggett on Bareev

"When Karpov announced on March 13th that he was an official candidate for the FIDE presidency, most of the GMs in the world were pleased. Many publically supported his candidacy, including myself. Since that time, Karpov's support from GMs has dropped by about 90% from what I can see...Karpov's lack of campaign platform more than 2 months into the race and in particular his association with the controversial Kasparov has called into question Karpov's real intentions.

If things continue as we have seen in recent weeks, Karpov will not get the support of any of his former colleagues, and Ilyumzhinov will use this against Karpov's campaign. I think it is time for Karpov to clean up his act and run a realistic campaign, before it is too late."

http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#8058102953538953084

Bareev cut a deal quite a while ago and knows which side his bread is buttered on. Life isn't always so simple, but it is in this case.

After Spraggett's bizarre epic love letter to obscure functionary Dvorkovich, I find it hard to believe he ever supported Karpov. And "from what I can see" is apparently limited to Bareev, who already negotiated for a position leading the training and youth squads.

It would be a shame to have to write off Spraggett as someone who is just going to slam Karpov day in day out. But the Dvorkovich post was so incredibly weird I don't know what else to think. He can't be that oblivious to the reality of the government in Russia, can he?

Well it seems like the eternal political dilemma - the devil you know vs the devil you don't. Or as South Park so poetically worded it - a turd sandwich or a giant douche? To the polls!

Mig, what about Ivanchuk who is also supporting Kirsan? He got a deal too?

An article about the suspicious K-K business/political activities together with Bakh: http://www.compromat.ru/page_29310.htm English translation here: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=el&ie=UTF-8&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.iapm.ru/showpage.php%3Fid%3D193%26h%3D10&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.gr&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhgvFIcVGMY-RiEHVHOUmbPB9QIHOA

Really embarrassing stuff.

On the question of authorship - that site gives the source as another site, which gives the source as this blog: http://iwanenko.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post.html

Though the blog owner isn't the author, and the authors are given as Timur Vasiliev and Aleksey Bondarev. Aleksey Bondarev seems to be the proud author of an article entitled, "Alexander Bakh and his gay lobby", while Timur Vasiliev has written similar articles quoting Bondarev. Journalism at its finest...

Not exactly related to the topic... but I clicked on Greg's translation link and noticed it was via Google's Greek page - which reminded me of something I'd wanted to ask for a while: does anyone know why this site has such a huge proportion of visitors from Greece?

From Alexa.com:

Country Percent of Site Traffic

Greece 31.1%
United States 22.9%
Russia 14.0%
United Kingdom 12.5%
India 6.3%
Germany 4.6%
Egypt 1.5%
Canada 1.5%

It varies and I don't think Greece is always quite that high (a few weeks ago Bulgaria was at least visible on the list, and India was also higher) - but is chess really that popular in Greece? After all chessninja's an English language site, which you'd think might lower visitor numbers. Or are the Athens FIDE offices involved in a DOS attack on Mig? :) Just wondering...

p.s. Greek visitors are also top at Chessvibes also, while they're in 3rd place at Chessbase. Maybe Nigel Short's hiding a computer farm beneath his olive groves? :)

Chess is very popular in Greece. Also on alexa's stats of chessdom, Greece is no.1: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/chessdom.com

Thomas provides the most plausible reason. Essentially, there is one Greek blog (skakistiko.blogspot.com) that is very informative and many interesting discussions take place, but otherwise, Greeks turn to international websites for news, etc. I wouldn't say that chess is popular in Greece, but it is rather popular among students.

Furthermore, Greeks start learning English at an early age, since (with the exception of Cyprus) no other country uses Greek. I would guess that 4 out of 5 people under the age of 40 can read and write in English.

It's funny when Karpov talks about 16 world championships - he did that in the Pozner interview a while back and a lot of GMs spent some time trying to work out what he could possibly mean!"
***
Well, he was world champion for 16 yrs:

1975-85 = 10
1993-1999 = 6

Maybe it is that simple.

Or maybe its like a thousand points of light?

I don't know where else to post this since there has not been an update on the FIDE elections, so Mig can delete this if he deems this irrelevant.

Ignatius Leong is back on the Kirsan ticket (as you may know) despite previously announcing that he would stand down when his current term expires. (http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/new/?p=2066)

Barely two weeks later, he's posted this announcement (http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/new/?p=2169) on the Singapore Chess Federation webpage. It's interesting to see how Kirsan's allies have "persuaded" Leong (despite his better judgment) to return in order to get the East Asia voting bloc on their side:

FIDE ELECTIONS 2010
Statement by Ignatius Leong

Moscow 1994 created very deep wounds and the shenanigans there were only negative for the chess world.

I can’t pretend that K-M 2010 will not be a replica. In anticipation, I had decided to stand down.

Over the past few days, several colleagues, as well as friends all over the world have called or written to me, to persuade me to continue the work which is pretty much unfinished. Kirsan and my colleagues and friends within his team have assured me they have confidence in me to stay to defend the results that have been achieved so far. They urged me on to continue with my ideals to forge partnerships for improvement, for change, for reform, for unity.

The dozens of phone calls have made me take back a move which otherwise is not allowed in a chess game. But if this illegal move may help to decide the better future of the chess world, I am ready to face the test of the voters.

28th May 2010

"His latest scheme is to loot the Russian treasury with Dvorkovich's help by inventing a big chess technology project with Kaplan and a bunch of Israelis and then getting a big chunk of Skolkovo money for it to pass around. A few rubles might drip through their fingers into FIDE and the chess world, or maybe not. Nice work if you can get it. This is why they are fighting so hard in Russia to hang on to FIDE. What, because they love chess or think chess is such a great business opportunity? Please. It's because they are hoping for tens or maybe even hundreds of millions of dollars to come from this."

Mig's been going to town on his medical marijuana permit.