More False Claims from Kirsan: China, Peru

September 16, 2010 

It has become standard for the Ilyumzhinov website to list federations as supporting him without providing any evidence. In several cases he has been forced to remove flags from his list, most recently Argentina’s, but it is clear he has no shame and the practice continues. The latest cases are Peru and China.

As widely reported, the Peruvian federation president, Iturry, who supported Kirsan against the wishes of his players and community, was removed from office — it turned out he was never the legitimate office holder. He was replaced by a working group appointed by the IPD (Instituto Peruano de Deporte), which has oversight over the chess federation. And while the working group (“Comisión Transitoria de Ajedrez del IPD”) has not made an official endorsement of either candidate for the FIDE presidency, they have withdrawn the federation’s support of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and expressed support for the agenda of Anatoly Karpov.
That’s another flag to lower, Mr. Ilyumzhinov.

The case of China is more typical. Kirsan claims to have the support of the Chinese federation, but their website says nothing about it and officials there say there has been no endorsement. How many other flags on Kirsan’s list are like this? Claims and numbers with no facts and no evidence? If Kirsan believes his own numbers we expect he will be in for quite a surprise at the General Assembly in Khanty-Mansiysk. Meanwhile, he hopes to fool other federations with his claims of support.

Despite his bravado, some of the Kirsan campaigns desperate moves reveal they are not confident at all. Their website has a bizarre story from a Lebanese official talking about pressure from a completely fictional “Karpov representative” named “Beatrice Bord.” We have never heard of this person and Google agrees it is likely she is a figure of someone’s imagination. We understand that Ilyumzhinov is infamous for receiving visitations from mysterious people no one else can see, and now we are afraid it is contagious to his supporters!