Monday, May 17, 2010

Russian Chess Federation split between two candidates for FIDE Presidency

Several weeks ago Russian news agencies distributed the information that the Russian Chess Federation endorses Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Some of the board members protested against the news, despite the fact the head of the board members Dvorkovich confirmed it.

The Ilyumzhinov opposition called yet another meeting this Friday, May 14th, in Moscow. At the Council were present 17 (some sources claim 18) out of the 32 delegates, and Kasparov as guest. Kasparov pointed to the previous decision as "non legitimate" and the delegates elected Karpov as candidate of the Russian Chess Federation.

On their turn, the Ilyumzhinov supporters claimed the election is non legitimate because despite having quorum, the meeting did not feature the head of the board of members Dvorkovich.

Dvorkovich himself explained the situation for Gazeta.ru, "Both meetings were not legitimate. At one of them there was no quorum, on the second there was no President of the Board."

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov did not attend any of the meetings and lamented the situation, comparing it to the FIDE and PCA schism, but this time at internal Federation level.

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