Talking ’bout a (FIDE) revolution

Source: Chess Vibes Link: http://www.chessvibes.com/columns/talking-bout-a-fide-revolution/

11 October 2010, 17.01 CET | Last modified: 17:27 | By Arne Moll  | Filed under: Columns | Tags: FIDE

After Ilyumzhinov’s victory in the FIDE Presidential elections in Khanty-Mansiysk twelve days ago, it’s become awfully silent on both fronts. Those seeking change in the World Chess Federation have been struck dumb at the prospect of another four years of Kirsan’s reign. But they needn’t despair. They just shouldn’t wait for the big shots to change things.


About half a year ago, as a private initiative, I formed a group on Facebook for chess players who wanted change within FIDE. It started with just one member – myself. But over the past months, over 1,100 people from all over the world joined. Although quite a few notable grandmasters and other known figures in the chess world also joined the group, the vast majority of the people in the group consisted of amateurs – they may have been a member of some local chess club, but more likely they just enjoyed chess as a game and were concerned about the course of FIDE over the past 15 – or more – years.

Strangely, the biggest group of people who play chess – the fans, the youngsters playing chess in their schools, the amateurs playing in pubs or coffee shops, the club players sacrificing their holiday days in local tournaments, the sub-IM level players fighting to separate themselves from the masses – those countless chess lovers don’t have an official voice in deciding the course of the World’s Chess Federation. If they did, judging from the support even my little Facebook group received, things might actually look pretty different.

Democracy?

In theory, of course, even within FIDE there is some kind of ‘democracy’. Once amateurs have become paying members of their country’s federation, the federation delegates can vote during the FIDE Presidential elections. Thus, the amateurs can indirectly ‘influence’ the course of FIDE itself. (Although I’ve never heard of a federation asking its amateur members for their opinion on such political matters!) The problem is, however, that the majority of active chess players (not to mention the strongest chess players) live in a pretty limited set of countries.

Though I don’t have the official figures, I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of chess players within the German, Russian and Spanish federations (and a few others) make up as much as 80% of the total number of players in all the world’s federations. Yet, according to the infamous ‘one country, one vote’ system FIDE maintains during elections, every federation – no matter how small – has the same weight of vote: namely 1. A country’s federation with just 100 members has exactly as much influence as a federation with 100,000. So much for democracy.

Interestingly, even Anatoly Karpov didn’t openly want to change this system which gives power to the (small) federation delegates but not to its underlying members. Although Karpov’s campaign language was littered with words like ‘grassroot support’ and promises to involve not only chess officials but also ‘ordinary’ chess players, when I asked the Karpov Campaign webmaster to add a simple link to my Facebook group, all I received was silence.

The Karpov 2010 campaign website

In fact, both Karpov’s and Ilyumzhinov’s campaign sites decided to completely ignore the entire ChessVibes news reporting about the elections. Perhaps the webmasters were confused by the fact that we were critical of both candidates and their election programs in our columns while still trying to be as objective as possible in our regular reports.

Taking sides

Some readers have reproached us for taking sides during the elections, but in fact we’ve always tried to separate our personal opinions from the arguments that were simply put forward by both sides and which needed explanation (or questioning!). Also, giving equal weight to all statements – regardless of the contents – made by either side in an election is hardly the same as objective journalism – rather, it’s an abdication of journalistic responsibility.


Looking back, I think Karpov’s campaign was really not all that much about changing the democratic (or lack thereof) structure of FIDE (though, of course, Ilyumzhinov’s was even less, and Karpov, to his credit, did mention many of Ilyumzhinov’s and FIDE’s darker aspects towards the end of the campaign) but about something else. It was about raising funds during gala dinners for business people, in order to find sponsors for the elite tournaments and the organization of the World Champioship. As always, it was mostly about money.

Money vs. Moral

Now, don’t get me wrong: money is important in chess. It’s important for federations in order to organize national and local chess events, to fund innovation projects like Chess in the Schools and promote chess for groups like disabled people and minorities. Most of all, money (preferrably, a lot) is important for chess professionals who need to live from prizes and good conditions. It seems that money makes the chess world go ’round. Or does it?

Thrilled though chess lovers all over the world are and always have been about grandmaster participation, top level tournaments, Candidate Matches and World Championship matches, they are also annoyed by a lot of things. The zero-tolerance rule, which applies not only to top events but also in local competitions, is just one example. Then we have the increasingly tough-to-understand Elo rating calculations.

Another annoyance of many is the fact that so many big FIDE events are organized in a rather restricted area of the world – the Caucasus and the former Soviet States – making a visit to their favourite chess tournament a rather problematic goal for most of the world’s chess fans. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the fact that FIDE is reigned by people who have a more than dubious track record on several aspects of political life is a concern that cannot even begin to be expressed in terms of money. It’s a moral issue.

So if two former World Champions can’t change things; if rich business men can’t (and make no mistake, Karpov and Kasparov are both!); if elite grandmasters won’t; if the delegates of the world’s largest chess federations are powerless -then who can? Perhaps we shouldn’t expect change from the top of the food chain. After all, they’re much too dependent on good relations with FIDE (and yes, that also applies to federations in favour of change).. We may have more chance starting at the bottom. Why wait for the big shots? Why wait for 2014?

Lenin in the Bolshevist headquarters in October 1917 (Painting by Wladimir Serow)

Real change hurts

Unfortunately, as Malcolm Gladwell has recently argued in the New Yorker, real revolutions aren’t likely started, let alone won, on the internet. My Facebook group is nice, but it hardly changes things in real life. It’s too easy to sign an online petition or join a group with the click of a mouse, too comfortable. Real change hurts – at least a little.

So why not look at things in real life? Here’s a couple of suggestions to get a taste of what I have in mind. Suppose all FIDE-rated chess players refused to play in tournaments organized by FIDE, starting next week. I suspect Ilyumzhinov and his team of rating experts would have a problem even before the end of the year – if not because of empty chairs and tables, then surely because of a distortion in progression for the rating population.

Arbiters

Somewhat more realistically, suppose club members wrote a letter to their federation stating they refuse to pay the part of the annual fees that their federation sends to FIDE. I’m pretty sure the FIDE treasurer wouldn’t be amused. And what if arbiters refused to comply with some of the more bizarre ‘new’ rules within the FIDE handbook? I bet the frequently organized Arbiter Seminars would definitely become much more exciting! As the great essayist H.L.Mencken said, “progress is furthered not by conformity, but by aberration.”

Of course, these suggestions don’t imply that there couldn’t be any more chess tournaments organized. It’s just that FIDE would not be involved anymore. Game score sheets wouldn’t be handed over to FIDE anymore. Perhaps even rating results wouldn’t be passed on anymore – surely I can decide that my rating shouldn’t be used or published without my explicit permission? (Actually, my FIDE rating is so embarrassingly low that I’d prefer to ignore it anyway. I guess it just goes to show that self-interest doesn’t by definition have to contradict a good cause.) But otherwise, who cares if FIDE is or is not involved?

Players

A little rebellion won’t hurt anyone. Players can simply disassociate themselves from FIDE and still happily play chess. After all, it’s the organizers who decide the participants of a particular tournament, not the FIDE board. Heck, someone can even start an alternative rating system – after all, they’re plenty of experts out there. (As a matter of fact, such systems have always existed in the past: my own national federation – the Dutch Chess Federation – has its own rating system, the “KNSB” rating, and – until recently – it was fully separated from FIDE ratings.)

In the end, things like ratings and rankings are just peripheral aspects of chess, mostly established for the benefit of professionals, which amateurs and club players can easily do without (I know I certainly can). And if the professionals don’t like what I’m saying – well, tough luck. Serves them right for looking only at their own interests and refusing to stand up against FIDE (for instance by boycotting the Olympiad in Elista in 1998) and passively letting things get out of hand over the past decades, eh? After all, how many chess pros have actively spoken out against FIDE politics in recent years even when their personal interests couldn’t possibly be hurt by doing so?

Talking ‘Bout A Revolution

When I was in high school, in the year of Tracy Chapman’s Talking ‘Bout A Revolution, I learned an interesting ‘rule of thumb’ in history class to find out if there’s a real revolution going on: it’s only a revolution if the trams stop riding. (Apparently this was said during the October Revolution in 1917). In other words, real revolutions are felt not only in parliaments and oval offices (and czar’s palaces), but also on the streets. They require the involvement not only of politicians but also of citizens.

Tracy Chapman | Photo Hans Hillewaert, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

In chess, the majority of the ‘citizens’ are not top grandmasters or even titled players. They are the people who love chess but can only dream of ever beating an FM in a serious game. The citizens of the chess world are the amateurs sacrificing their spare time to pay for the prizes of the winners.

And that’s OK, we’re fine with that – but a little something in return wouldn’t hurt. Gens Una Sumus. If the chess citizens really want to, I believe they can do what the two greatest chess professionals alive couldn’t. Now wouldn’t that really makes us ‘one family’?

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov - Will Take Questions from The New York Times Readers'

Source: The New York Times

---

October 5, 2010, 3:50 pm

Newly Re-elected Chess Federation President Takes Your Questions

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation, who was re-elected last week after a contentious campaign, will answer readers’ questions.

In recent years, Mr. Ilyumzhinov, who became president in 1995, has been criticized for failing to gain corporate sponsorship for tournaments and neglecting the development of new players and public interest in the game. His opponent in the last election, the former world champion Anatoly Karpov, ran on a platform of bringing professional management to the organization.

Readers can submit questions to chess@nytimes.com or leave them in the comments section below; a selection of them will be forwarded to Mr. Ilyumzhinov, who will provide written responses that will be published in the near future. Friday is the deadline for submissions.

Ilyumzhinov wins FIDE Presidential elections 95 to 55

Source: Chess Vives

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will remain FIDE President for at least four more years. He just won the vote for FIDE President in Khanty-Maniysk with 95 votes, to 55 for Karpov, and 3 abstentions.

According to our source in Khanty-Mansiysk, Ilyumzhinov immediately invited Anatoly Karpov to become Vice-President, to which his opponent hasn’t responded yet. In case of a close result, the Karpov team might have considered taking legal action against the irregular proceedings. However, with such a devastating loss, similar to the result of the presidential elections in 2006 won by Ilyumzhinov against Bessel Kok, they will most probably refrain from this.

Source: The Week in Chess

http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/politics/fide-presidential-elections-2010/fide-presidential-elections-vote

Daily Chess News and Games. Weekly digest for download. By Mark Crowther.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov re-elected as FIDE President

Mark Crowther - Wednesday 29th September 2010

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumznhinov was re-elected as FIDE President on the first day of the 81st FIDE Congress by a margin of 95 votes to 55 votes. He was challenged by former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov who was supported by former champion Garry Kasparov. The voting on the final day was delayed by 4 hours when Garry Kasparov complained about the voting proceedures. Later on Kasparov appeared to concede they had no chance of winning. As an organisation FIDE and its delegates seems quite separated from most of the rest of the chess world where Ilyumzhinov is regarded, at best, as a joke. The Karpov campaign site says he will fight on to " continue this battle to restore and transform the chess world."

An angry Kasparov tries to get proceedings adjourned. Photo © | http://www.europe-echecs.com

The Delegates. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The result of all the campaigning the Kasparov and Karpov did over the last few months is that they gained one vote over the 96-54 loss of Bessel Kok in the FIDE elections in Torino, Italy in 2006. There seems a block vote within FIDE that is practically impossible to dislodge. It is quite plausible to see Ilyumzhinov stay in power another 15 years and beyond. I don't believe this represents the view of chess players throughout the World. If this is the case then players need to start being active in their own national associations and replacing the FIDE delegates that voted for Ilyumzhinov. In this regard Karpov's campaign probably started two years too late.
This voting block has meant that essentially there hasn't been a change in power within FIDE since 1982, with Ilyumzhinov taking over from Florencio Campomanes (and his still Vice-President Giorgos Makropoulos) who sent the organisation bankrupt in 1995.

The winner Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Photo © 2010 Albran.

Let me make clear why I was so opposed to his re-election. Any investigation of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's background shows that he was prepared to do business with anyone, including both Saddam and his even more vile son Uday Hussein. There are just too many stories of the dubious origin of his money. His record as ruler in Kalmykia was just dreadful. He was in power for 15 years in which time the population fell significantly and the economic indicators put it right at the very bottom of all the Republics in Russia. At the same time the opposition local press was harrassed by Ilyumzhinov officials and one reporter was murdered. In this regard support from people in the Russian Government through Arkady Dvorkovich is absolutely incredible. I believe his leadership of FIDE has followed the same pattern of low achievement being trumpeted as a triumph. One thing is clear, Ilyumzhinov is a formidable political operator, and no-one in his class has challenged him for the Presidency.
Right from the start today it was clear that Karpov was going to lose. A picture of Kasparov complaining (source the Europe-Echecs report on the Congress and Round 8. Photo used with permission) said all that needed to be said. Also see ChessVibes story on the Election.

Richard Conn Jr., Karpov and a stone-faced Kasparov in the foreground. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Nigel Freeman on the stage in the background. Photo © 2010 Europe-Echecs.

Kasparov's complaints surrounded the use of proxy votes.
http://www.sovsport.ru/news/text-item/410694 reported FIDE Vice-President Giorgos Makropoulos saying.

I'm tired of repeatedly having to prove that the elections are fair. - accusations repeatedly made by the Karpov Team - this is nonsense, and their accusations are baseless. Everything is open, the eyes of the delegates, in the presence of Russian and foreign press. For six months Kasparov and Karpov have conducted a dirty game, trying to tarnish Ilyumzhinov. They understand that the position and program of Kirsan is stronger, that they will never win this election. That's why they are trying to blow up a scandal out of nothing.

I'm quite tired of a man who should have been disbarred from holding office after being intimately involved in the bankrupcy of FIDE still being there 15 years later but there you go.

There were compaints about the Congress Building. Photo © 2010 Albran.

The margin of victory probably means that the proxy votes didn't make a difference. although it may have done because there were 56 of them, but probably not all would have broken for Karpov in any event. But the protestations from the Ilyumzhinov campaign that they fought fair and Karpov brought a disgrace to the campaign are simply not true. Ilyumzhinov fought at least as viciously as the Karpov campaign but he did it more behind the scenes and apparently more effectively too. Being the incumbent seems to be such a huge advantage with the knowledge of what it takes to get a vote from someone and with more to offer.
The vote was supposed to take place as 12:00pm but eventually got under way at 4pm local time.
According to Soviet Sport - There was uproar at the start of the vote.

"The meeting began with a roll call. According to the rules here should be attended by representatives of all countries, under the wing of the FIDE. Some delegates could not arrive at Khanty-Mansiysk, but sent an official letter of attorney, which gave his voice for that particular candidate. At the time of roll call, with strong statements made by the 13-time world champion Garry Kasparov (representing the team Karpov), there was shouting about the illegality of the vote and a demand for the adjournment of the meeting.

The abuse of proxy votes of delegates not present has long been a source of complaint and Karpov in his final speach made reference to this being an outdated practice, open to corruption, and no longer allowed by for instance the IOC. Former President Florencio Campomanes was notorious in his abuse of these votes and indeed was caught using votes he was not entitled to.
In TWIC59 I reported on the overthrow of Campomanes. There was a report about his behaviour in the 1994 Moscow FIDE elections.

Also Kurt Jungwirth presented a "devastating" (according to one observer) report about election irregularities during the 1994 Moscow Olympiad. In one particularly glaring case Campomanes used the Philippine vote himself voted and the Brunei proxy (which was given to the Philippine delegate not Campomanes) he was not entitled to do either of these things. This, of course was enough for him to get through the crucial vote allowing him to stand.

However the abuse of these proxies has continued over the years and in some ways has practically guaranteed Kirsan Ilyumznhinov's re-election. For many years Campomanes remained on FIDE's payroll. His knowledge of the election process and contacts was probably the main reason.

Kasparov intervenes at the start of roll-call. Photo © 2010 Europe-Echecs.

Just prior to the results being announced the Ilyumzhinov team claimed 102 supporters and in one Russian article Kasparov just about conceded defeat.

"We have many things in life apart from FIDE. But Ilyumzhinov has something to lose. Moreover, apart from the presidency he has nothing left. Delegates are intimidated almost all dance to the tune of Ilyumzhinov. We're trying everything possible, but apparently it's useless.

http://www.ukrinform.ua/rus/order/?id=974338 talked more about the unsatisfactory election process.
Where the long time opposition to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the current leadership goes from here is anyone's guess. What I don't want to see is any of this "Gens Una Sumas" nonsense. Anatoly Karpov should not accept any position within FIDE, things haven't changed now, Ilyumzhinov is as unacceptable as he always was. It does say a lot about FIDE itself. If an organisation is prepared to elect by such a margin a man of dubious character and associates as Ilyumznhinov then there is something very broken within it. Either the delegates know but don't care about Ilyumzhinov's background and sources of money, or they don't care to know about his background. I don't know which is worse. I just find it incomprehensible 95 countries find it possible to vote for him.

Anatoly Karpov vows to fight on in some way. Photo © 2010 Albran.

It seems that the fight will continue if a post-election message from the Karpov Campaign site is to be believed.

http://www.karpov2010.org/2010/09/the-election-is-over-the-fight-goes-on/
In an election that confirmed the worst of our fears about the integrity of the process, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected in Khanty-Mansiysk by the count of 95-55. Considering the rampant abuses that took place there, especially with the abhorrently corrupt proxy system, it is difficult, if not impossible, to consider this a legitimate election.
No matter how Anatoly Karpov decides to continue this battle to restore and transform the chess world, he wishes to express his thanks to everyone who joined us in this effort. We promoted chess worldwide to an unprecedented degree during this campaign. We proved beyond any doubt that a vast majority of the world’s chessplayers support our agenda and our vision for the future of chess as a 21st century sport and of FIDE as a modern organization. This election also showed how it has become impossible to effect this change from within FIDE, which has long ceased to represent the federations or the chess players.
A full statement from Anatoly Karpov and the campaign will soon follow.

http://www.chess.at/meldungen/fide-wahlen.html is the Austrian photo report.
As a minor post-election challenge. There must be those of you out there with copies of Soviet era chess magazines. Can anyone find out who the senior champion of Kalymkia was in 1976? (Has to be a contemporary checkable source for this, not an Ilyumzhinov interview) Or slightly harder, find any soviet era list that rates Ilyumzhinov as a Candidate Master? (I think their ratings, from memory, were things like 1a, 1b, 2a etc, almost certainly harder because it is hard to prove what I believe to be a negative)

Garry Kasparov. Will he run next time? Photo © 2010 Albran.

I myself, occasionally permitted myself some optimism things might change, but was generally sceptical of the chances for success of the Karpov campaign (and within reason the opposition could have been anyone). It seems I was more or less right that Karpov's campaign was dead in the water from almost the start. I wonder if anyone will be prepared to challenge in four years in what increasingly looks like a fools errand.
Now we will have to see what happens. This is especially true of the deal with Chess Lane a completely mysterious organisation based in the British Virgin Islands. I am not at all optimistic.
There were other elections and Silvio Danailov won the European Chess Union presidential elections.
After the last election I virtually stopped reporting FIDE affairs for a long time. Too depressing. So it is probably time to return to reporting on what I do enjoy. Players playing actual chess.
Alexei Orlov, new President of Kalmykia and apparently friend of Ilyumzhinov. Photo © 2010 Albran

FIDE Elections

Russian Chess Federation nominates

Ilyumzhinov

21 April 2010, 20.19 Source: Chess Vibes

According to Russian sources, the Russian Chess Federation has officially nominated Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as candidate for the upcoming FIDE presidential elections during the Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad in September. His rival candidate, Anatoly Karpov, was already nominated by the German Federation last week.

According to RIA Novosty, chairman of the supervisory board of the RCF, Arkady Dvorkovich, has announced that the letter with the official nomination is on its way to FIDE. Curiously, one of the reasons for nominating Ilyumzhinov was “that the RCF is hoping for a representative from Russia as head of FIDE.” As far as we could find out, Anatoly Karpov is also a Russian citizen.

Chessdom adds that “Dvorkovich expressed the wish that Anatoly Karpov will continue working with the Russian Chess Federation, despite the fact that Ilyumzhinov was the endorsed candidate for FIDE President.” Dvorkovich further said that

We looked at the chances of a number of candidates, and have consulted various federations, which showed the majority of federations is ready to support the candidacy of Ilyumzhinov.

Various commentators have pointed out that a nomination of the Russian Chess Federation is of major importance in deciding the ultimate winner of the elections. Mark Crowther has an interesting analysis up on The Week in Chess, in which he also refers to a more elabore article (in Russian) by Yuri Vasiliev, who quotes Dvorkovich saying the Russian Chess Federation respects Ilyumzhinov’s work and the progress he’s made to popularize chess.

Karpov has so far received the support of the USCF and some major European chess federations. Ilyumzhinov’s candidacy is supported by the Turkish Chess Federation and now, crucially, the Russian Chess Federation as well. The big question remains, however, what all the less well-known countries will vote for. You can read more about the upcoming presidential elections and the candidates’ support here.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also the president of the Republic of Kalmykia, has been president of FIDE since 1995. During the last FIDE presidential elections in Turin 2006, he beat businessman Bessel Kok in an election race which former president of the Dutch Chess Federation Herman Hamers described as “having little to do with democracy.” In Khanty-Mansiysk, he will run against former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, whose campaign team just released its own website this week.