Of course I wouldn't advocate players in countries where its dangerous to oppose the chess leadership to do so. But in many countries the officials are elected by the membership. In those countries some players don't take an interest because they play chess not politics and that's quite normal. But if they want change, they're going to have to fight for it. I'm not one who "blames Africa". I would ask the delegates some questions, have you even had a small look at the information available on Ilyumzhinov, if not, why not? Then if you have, how do you justify voting for such a man. We could probably start with Austria.

@ ChessGirl, 16:45
I am by no means an expert on that issue, but Kirsan did also offer Bessel Kok a part in FIDE. I'm not sure if that did well or bad, but surely he didnt manage to turn things around for real. I hope Karpov rejects and somehow tries to fight back. (although I don't know how at this point).

Yay!! WTG Kirzan!! :)

As much as I can understand that Iliumjinov got elected by buying the votes of the small federations a long time ago, I don't understand how a majority of European federations can have elected Danailov. How does it work exactly? Are the European federations corrupted as well? Do they genuinely believe Danailov can bring anything good to chess? Who voted for the man who brought the toilet-gate on us?

awful!

Well, it was to be expected. I am curious however about the perceived irregularities.
Ilyumzhinov claimed to have 102 supporting federations publicly supporting him with
maybe more to come. He has won the election with 95 votes. No doubt, the best stories about this election (campaign) are yet to come! Tonight, the Dutch programma Een vandaag has scheduled a broadcast about the FIDE elections.

Damn. 4 more years with this idiot.

Doomsday!! Sad...

I guess it's time for a real revolution... :-(

Real revolution takes real money, To legitimize legal revolution, if it can't be done at the voting booth, you have to get a large share of the top GMs to totally abandon FIDE. Even then, the bureaucrats of some countries can influence the top players considerably, so it would take superhuman effort all around. Also, even if Kirsan died from a heart attack tomorrow, how hard is it to envision Makropoulos beginning a 12+ year reign in his stead? Then his successor, etc., etc. I don't see a way out, even with 'revolution.'

Can't national associations get out of FIDE? And build their own super-association? Probaby not realistic.

Congrats to Kirsan, nice try for Karpov! Anywayzzz, Russia rulezz!

@Serdal

Without Russia (and Ukrainia), it is highly irrealistic.

Of course he won, and I won't be surprised to learn sooner or later that the alien federation also brought is support to the idiot.

I would tend to disagree with your wording, Peter. An election that was tainted with many irregularities cannot be said to have been won convincingly, regardless of how overwhelming the announced result looks like. And I do hope Karpov takes legal actions because if he doesn't then nobody will ever be able to end Iliumjinov's reign.

FIDE is beyond rescue, time for a new start is long overdue.

It makes me truly sad

FIDE is finished, it is rotten to the core.

Sad, but expected.
I hope for revolution as well.

It's Power of Dirty Money.FIDE had fininshed many times ago and Dirty Money like septic blood ill every thing.I'm sorry for Chess...

A revloution of a minority to uproot an administration voted in by the majority in an election conducted under the spotlight of the whole world. Really, what legitimacy can the revolutionary administration claim even if it were to succeed through the force of arms, money, media-control or otherwise. Grow up, kids!

IT IS TIME TO ABANDON FIDE! ALL FEDERATIONS WHO TRULY CARE ABOUT CHESS ABSOLUTELY MUST WITHDRAW. FIDE IS COMPLETELY CORRUPT. DO NOT SUPPORT IT ANY LONGER!!!

yeah, Dirty Money needs to be laundered, especially in US Chess Federation and most'ova European Chess Federations, who r unable to organize normal chess tournaments for years.

Do you think Karpov should accept the position as vice president? On the one hand it means joining the dark side, but on the other, you could control it from the inside??? I´d appreciate an expert´s opinion on this.

A sad day. Only a funny José Diaz cartoon can save my mood now.

Cool!

A very explosive and detailed description of Karpov's dirty campaign tactics: http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/fide-elections-2010-ilyumzhinov-ka...

BOYCOT FIDE!

To all the ''euro-northamero-revolutionaries'' out there: your beloved leaders, Car/Cass (Karpov/Kasparov) are dead meat. Mad cows.
They should clean up their own act in the coming years and try again.
I am no Illyumzhinov fan, but i am sure as hell glad Kar/Kas lost this match!

After this sad day it can only be worse if Danailov wins too! Players are responsable for accepting this situation too.

Danailov did win, as I just heard.

From Karpov 2010:

"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."

Peter Doggers: I would be interesting for the chess world is you can make a guess of the 95 countries for Kirsan and de 55 to Karpov, just to know and analyse!!

Thanks…

any news for ecu?

Within a revolution people will think and walk in the same direction.
During this trip, more and more people join because of the charismatic character of the tour.
At the end of the walk, even the largest strongholds yield.
This is not @Vladimir - highly irrealistic - but has proven to be thru over and over again.
Examples? The Berlin Wall - Chausesku - etc.etc.etc.

Of course Kirsan was gonna win.

Mark Crowther is also dead wrong and also dead right. Yes, players on the ground in Africa on the whole support Karpov. But changing or ousting officials in our national feds...he's opiated...it's very difficult to do that. It's basically asking guys to risk jail. That's the kind choke hold african chess officials have on the players.

I suggest the likes of Karpov stop wasting time and simply form something parallel. They will NEVER remove kirsan or any FIDE dictator who has the African and asian votes in the bag. NEVER.

The elections for the post of President of the European Chess Union was won by the Bulgarian candidate, Silvio Danailov. In the first round Robert von Weizsäcker (the candidate supported by Karpov and Kasparov) was out, and in the second round Danailov beat Ali Nihat Yacizi with 30 against 24 votes.

Jim Scott: For Kirsan: Brazil... unfortunately.

Just an FYI, the Karpov2010 statement is a placeholder pending a formal statement from Karpov. The scene in KM was a total mess with multiple abuses of the sort strictly prohibited by the Lausanne decision and if the lawyers say something is actionable, "concede defeat" may not be a valid sentiment at all.

Ilyumzhinov and Danailov. The world is crazy, I don't get it. I'm guessing it's time to go to my happy place for the next four years.

just on a side note, didn't Argentina change its support to Karpov?

"1.President - Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov nominated by Russia, Argentina and Mexico,"

http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/fide-elections-2010-ilyumzhinov-ka...

Mr. Mark Crowther,

Let me make you understand your own idea "Officials are elected by membership"...first of all in many african countries national membership numbers are very small...most players do not pay up membership because there are no benefits, even something small like a pencil, to be gotten back in return. Furthermore come election day you will find faces you have never seen before aka 'imported voters'....no way is it easy to get in a well-meaning individual in as a chess official in my neighbourhoods.

As for "I would ask delegates some questions"....keep dreaming the only questions they wanna here is "How much $$$ do you want?"...otherwise anything you say goes in through one ear and comes out the other.

I said it some months back here on chessvibes...if Karpov wants to win he's gotta play the same palm greasing game of his opponents. Otherwise forget about it and set up a parallel organisation.

It seems to me many of you well meaning people don't grasp how Kirsan has won. It's not just K-M. The guy laid the foundation over the last 2-3 years. Yazici helped him big time with the chess in schools thing which is being rolled out in all the '3rd world countries'. Karpov was way behind the curve. A clueless loser.

After Karpov beat Kramnik in 1994 linares, Kramnik said something like "I don't know why I lost"...I think Karpov doesn't know why he lost.

a sad day when a World Champion loses an election to a psycho, alien abducted thug. And you wonder why chess can't get sponsorship and be taken seriously as a sport. Wonder no further.

oh lord not Danilov too! bad day for chess! I'm not sure whether Danilov or Kirsan is worse. At least Danilov can claim the hosting of Mtel at least ONE positive thing to say about this wretched man. Its clear the only loser today was the game of chess.

Mehul, you miss my point. I wouldn't advocate players getting involved in Africa in nations like you describe. Not all nations are like that. I'm saying in nations where it is possible the delegates need to be asked these questions. Africa is by no means the margin of the vote. In countries where officials are elected by players which is I believe common, should be the starting place. There must have been some very big western democratic nations that voted for Kirsan, lets start there.

most of the chess lovers are against kirsan and danilov gang!
it clears the clouds...

but chess needs to get rid off the people who have no tight relations with the chess sport itself.
karpov and kasparov loses, topalov's elista mind wins: so sad.

Karpov should at least decide.
Either
1. Going all the way in "taking legal action against the many irregular proceedings that took place today"
OR
2. Refrain from (and in fact deny) declarations like "it is difficult, if not impossible, to consider this a legitimate election".

Not none, not both!

(But who am I --- or how much naive am I --- to expect good for chess from K+K??)

Again an interesting report, this time a photo report from the Austrian delegate!

http://www.chess.at/meldungen/fide-wahlen.html

This is like a Lord of the Rings story. The dark lords (Ilyumzhinov and Danailov) are in power.

Actually the voting of Danilov is good for chess I think. von Weizsäcker didn't even manage to find sponsors for the German national team and Danilov has good connections to players and sponsors. I know that he's not the most diplomatic person and some things he did were just provocative and stupid (I hope he will shake hands with everyone as president :) and make peace with the russian chess players), but after all he seems to be a good manager and organizer.

John Saunders claims

"Only in chess... K > K+K"

But that is wrong! If K is (are) negative, indeed K > K+K is the plain truth! :-)
Very fit to the situation!!

Any hope of another Professional Chessplayer Association on the horizon?

The 'true' loser of the day, imho, is the website ChessBase. They are at odds with both Ilyumzhinov and Danailov. They were accused to support the Karpov team by the Ilyumzhinov team a couple of weeks ago and they are already in a huge conflict with Danailov and Topalov since the Toil-gate.

with mr. danailov the ecu is surely about to enter its testosterone-phase.... that good manners is not one of mr. danailov's strong points is apparent to anyone who has witnessed this man's thuggish behaviour in the past. surely most people would hardly buy an insurance or a car with this man... at least i only buy with people who appear to be considerably less sinister, not to talk about the dirty tricks the world was confronted with in elista... there is still this toilet smell around that mr. danailov apparently loves to stir up and wallow in and at least outside of bulgaria potential sponsors do not appreciate any such thing...

ilyumzhinov? well... he is a good partner for danailov... both are on the same level... they are willing to do anything to gain power... people are better not in their way... and wasn't there a journalist who learned this lesson too late?

Well, the federations have spoken. As much as I think this is a major disaster for chess, the result was obtained by majority vote. Nothing can be done now. Just because you don't like the outcome does not mean you should surround the presidential palace with tanks.

What a black day for chess. Time for a new federation - may I suggest the Federation Interplanetaire des Echecs?

If those 95 countries that voted for Kirsan are happy with him or happy to be bribed by him they got what they wanted.

Those 55 countries that did not vote for Kirsan however should draw their conclusions. How many elections do we need for it to sink in that things are not gonna change?

Those 55 countries that did not vote for Kirsan should form their own organization and everybody will have what they want. The countries that are happy with Kirsan can stick it out with him and the rest can go their separate way.

Forming a new organization is not as hard as it seems, it only has one downside; there will be dual world champions. But so what, the situation we have now is much worse. For example FIDE can keep organizing Olympiads for the countries that support Kirsan, the other organization will do the same for it's own member countries. (And btw: let's see how long FIDE stays around before it becomes totally irrelevant in that scenario.)

Shame, shame, shame

@test

Well, in principle you're right, BUT I fear that it will have to be you, your family, your friends or your business partners who provide the multi-million dollars necessary for 55 countries to split from FIDE without chaos ruling supreme.

chessdom is just a ridiculous, biased site which doesnt deserve any credit as a news source;
lately, the chessbase portal became an advertising industry, with only a few (copy+paste btw) news;
I would preffer chessvibes or twic to replace chessbase as the main chess news portal, but considering Danailov as ECU president, maybe we're witnessing the born of a new FIDE, now into chess news...

Sponsorship. Sponsership. Sponsirship... Some hope it passes with the month of September. The word, Sponsorship, is beginning to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Sour Grapes.
Clean money? If there really is such a thing as clean money, who do you get it from? Fritz Eleven? Friedrich Friedel? Sponsor Ship? Gotta pay the top ten chess sportsmen fat salaries? pro soccer, pro golf, pro basketball saleries.
The Karpov2010 team should have offered a five million euro prize fund for the world chess championship, Anand2012 versus ............ your guess is as good as mine, match. This would have been more effective than slinging mud. But...

Dear Sirs,
I can only admirer how the western brain washing system works. You people are talking and commenting subject you do not have any clue. I know Kirsan from 1995 and I cannot compare him with any Estonian politician and I know all of them. Kirsan is a way ahead of all of them as person and as politician. I know Mr. Karpov also and Mr. Kasparov as well. What was the change they wanted to bring in? All they did was to speak about non existing reality. Yes it is politics and everything is allowed. Kirsan did also for 15 years only one real thing, he tried to include chess in Olympic Games and he failed. In US the cultural level of chess is so low, that even Kasparov understood it is not worthy to fight with windmills. First clean your own house and only after that point to others. By the way Estonia voted for Karpov politically unwise move, our supermodel Karmen Kass did not realize that the point of all this action was the fight between G8 countries against Kremlin. It was not good idea, because Kirsan has his right hand appointed by Medvedev to the post of Kalmykia Mr. Orlov, but still I believe Kremlin was looking closely these FIDE elections and to fail it was not an option for Kirsan. The campaign against Kirsan was very unprofessional in my opinion and underfunded as well. The result 55 votes were very good and there is nothing to complain. About real things. There is borderline between US and Mexico but it exists only in our heads, we cannot touch it. The same is true in politics. Most of the things politicians talk does not exist. Next time if the challenge has something real he can also win. I was in FIDE politics serving as zone president and once challenging the post of EU presidency. The FIDE is how it is, but you need to devote your life to win, nobody can just pocket all federation as history shows. GENS UNA SUMUS

Those 55 countries that did not vote for Kirsan should form their own organization

Really? People who lose elections get to sulk, go off on their own and form their own club? What's going to be the nature of that club? Representative of the world, or just of Western nations?

People should have good look at what was said above. I was far from agreeing with everything Mehul wrote, but this is crucial:

It seems to me many of you well meaning people don’t grasp how Kirsan has won. It’s not just K-M. The guy laid the foundation over the last 2-3 years. Yazici helped him big time with the chess in schools thing which is being rolled out in all the ‘3rd world countries’. Karpov was way behind the curve. A clueless loser.

Far too few people are interested in hearing this. You'd think the opposition campaign and its candidates were perfect and that there was no way anybody could have had any problem with them. But they weren't. They had nothing very much to say, and manifestly nothing to say to anybody outside the better-off parts of chess and the better-off parts of the world. And as a result, you've still got Kirsan, this crook, in charge.

A bad campaign that everybody knew was going to get beat, got beat. You can whine about it, you can try and split the chess world into the haves and the have-nots, or you can try and find out what the players through the whole world want from FIDE. Not just the ones who are friends with Fred Friedel or who get interviewed in New in Chess.

Is the ECU of any importance to (European) Chess?

YES, it's quite simple: chessplayers and officials primarily care about money, they have to make a living. A player like Carlsen (no criticism intended) can easily support a Kasparov-Karpov campaign in hope for a better World Championship Cycle, but an average GM does not care about Cycles as he has to make a living with about a 1/100th to 1/50th of Carlsen's annual income.

Anybody who wants to effect a change has to put serious money on the table. Karpov and Kasparov and an annual 100 Million Dollar sponsorship agreement (with companies like Microsoft, General Electric or any Russian global players as partners for example) would have made a difference. As a matter of fact they had nothing to offer: no new concept, no fresh money just accusations and insults.

The same people have been in charge of FIDE for the last 29 years, 15 of them with Kirsan. He was lining up votes before either side had any policy. Karpov looked to have good plans to help smaller nations chess. The election really wasn't about that. Right from the start it was Kirsan Ilyumzhinov saying I'm going to win, and you don't want to be on the losing side. As a matter of fact there are plenty of complaints that the current FIDE leadership come round only when they want votes. You have this voting system and you're going to get that, it does limit the pool of potential candidates, Karpov was one of the few who could raise the money to even stand, how is that for democracy? But it is what it is, and it isn't going to change.

Tempting though it is to just abandon FIDE, it is a none-starter. We just have to get on with things as far as we're allowed.

The growth in the strength in chess in the 3rd world (hate this term but I can't think of a better one) is down to computers and the internet. There is much more access to the learning material a talented player needs and stronger opposition if necessary that was simply impossible in the past.

I may have had my run ins with Silvio Danailov but at least he is a chess player and organiser. I believe Ilyumzhinov is in it because he discovered being the head of a sports organisation is useful to him, he'd probably prefer it to be football but he's prepared to settle for what he's got.

It is his political skills not his chess policies that are winning him these elections, he knows what to offer and who to strong arm. He's ducked and dived in the far more difficult pool of Russian politics. For me its just about right and wrong and Ilyumzhinov with his past should be ruled out on that alone.

His 15 years have not been a success, just a lurch from one crisis to another usually rescued by money he's got at the last minute from who knows where. (http://www.lenta.ru/lib/14161210/full.htm is from one of the biggest and respectable Russian news websites, google translate that for a mild view of his career good and bad). A google search for the word Kirsan in Russian is an interesting exercise too.

It is now time to leave FIDE!

Create a new organisation based on countries with most active chessplayers in relation to population.

All countries are of course welcome. But smaller chesscountries gets less influence.

Todays "Fide-system" of giving one vote for Russia, one for USA and two small islands in the Carribean equal voting power!?!?

Totally absurd!

not that the alternatives were like the greatest people that could ever come, but these two idiots mean curtains for any development in our beloved game. aliens, wtc chess center, toilet calbes, no handshakes, and so on -- my ass

Ha-ha! Ironically, now the only one who can beat Ilyumzhinov at the next congress is DANAILOV. At least he has proven he is a good manager.

A new federation is unrealistic. What we need is a commercial and political organization that works with the 55 national federations. This organization should make chess a profitable activity for its members. With economic power comes political power.

FIDE simply does not exist as an organization for chess players. Rather, it exists for the purposes of continued corruption with immunity from prosecution. This election demonstrated everyone's the worst fears about the basic governance of FIDE and about the integrity of the of the election process. There is nothing legitimate about this election. If FIDE's warped processes yield leadership by a corrupt and delusional murderer who is universally reviled by the world media -- when no less than Karpov is the alternative! -- then it is safe to say that it is impossible to effect reform from within FIDE. The members of the chess community with any semblance of a conscious should separate themselves from FIDE. That is an unfortunate sacrifice for many top players. However, the alternative -- playing under the banner of a corrupt madman who causes "official" chess to be shunned by legitimate commercial sponsors -- is an even bigger sacrifice.

@ejh, who wrote: "Far too few people are interested in hearing this. You’d think the opposition campaign and its candidates were perfect and that there was no way anybody could have had any problem with them. But they weren’t. They had nothing very much to say, and manifestly nothing to say to anybody outside the better-off parts of chess and the better-off parts of the world. And as a result, you’ve still got Kirsan, this crook, in charge."

I nearly responded to your article before (which I thought was a good read, but fatally flawed), so maybe now:

1) No-one's claimed the opposition campaign was perfect, or that Karpov was the ideal candidate - not even people like Mig who were involved in the campaign. That's a straw-man argument.

2) You say they had nothing to say to anyone outside the better-off parts of the world but that's simply untrue. They very clearly stated they'd remove all FIDE fees, which would directly influence the less well-off regions. They also said they had $4,000,000 lined up to be invested mainly there (sure, I'm sceptical too, but compared to Kirsan's transparent nonsense...).

3) On having nothing much to say - fair enough, I don't think there was a brilliant manifesto, but they did at least bother to post a serious-looking document on their website - and they put up a proposal for attracting sponsorship and running events etc. They jumped through the hoops of a normal election campaign - while Kirsan simply didn't bother - it was easier just to claim the opposition had no plan (and you and other well-meaning, or less well-meaning, people repeated it like a mantra).

4) "And as a result, you’ve still got Kirsan, this crook, in charge." I don't see how you can put the blame on the Karpov campaign for that. Sure, they could have improved a little, but manifestos are always vague and no-one pays that much attention to them. It certainly doesn't seem as though FIDE delegates were particularly weighing the chess issues... Of course mistakes were made - probably the fatal one was involving Kasparov as it meant the whole weight of the Russian government ended up supporting Ilyumzhinov. But that's a matter of political tactics and nothing to do with the issues where you seem to think they let us all down.

Please, can you tell me the others presidents of the others continents?

Who is Europe, Africa, america and Asia?

James

There is a good video on euroechecs, in which Kasparov is been ordered to shut tup. lol
I used to love Kasparov but then I saw him on video and discovered an arrogant, pedantic and selfish man.

Okay, so a prerequisite to leading a big chess organisation seems to be you have to be completely moronic, corrupt and idiotic. What a day. Ilyumzhinov AND Danailov is more than the chess world can stomach. The UFO-representative and Mr. Toiletgate...

Absolutely disgusting. This is an absolute no brainer: Karpov should have won by a very large margin. But there you have it when you apply democracy to underdeveloped countries. It's just sad. The rule of the corrupted mafia will go unabated (just like in those countries) for 4 more years with devastating effects for the professional world of chess. Expect Kramnik and the alikes to retire at 40!

"There is a good video on euroechecs, in which Kasparov is been ordered to shut tup. lol I used to love Kasparov but then I saw him on video and discovered an arrogant, pedantic and selfish man."

This is one of the least ill considered statements I have read in a long time. In the face of rules violations and the abhorrently corrupt proxy system, Kasparov was to be a yielding wallflower? In fact, if you understood what was going on, you would think that Kasparov's behavior was measured under the circumstances.

Black Wednesday...

Calvin:
The video makes me laugh because it reminds me the one of Chavez, another arrogant and the King of Spain, another arrogant....

And I am not calling Kasparov an arrogant just by watching this video, is always, is in his body language...

So where can I find complete video footage of the entire election proceedings / discussion? I saw many people with camera's and even phones filming, so if somebody has already found a youtube link or something, please share it!

It is a pity and not at all suprising .

Is an alternative to FIDE possible ? people should seriously consider this , because we hit the bottom here .

We must remember that FIDE was created by and for chess players in 1924 . Today it completely escapes their control ..I don't even want to speak about bribery and corruption .. it is rotten to the core ..

If a marriage is not working, you don't say: a divorce is too much paperwork, let's just stay together and make each other miserable for the rest of our lives. No: you get a divorce.

If in a dictatorship the only way to get rid of the dictatorship is through a revolution you don't say: oh but there will be some problems and difficulties in the beginning, lets just stick with the dictatorship. No: you get a revolution.

@ejh: your argument would hold some truth if these were fair elections, but they were not, never have been and under the current circumstances never will be.

(Most dictators btw will claim that they were elected "democratically".)

Oh and btw: not that it should matter but if you add up all the titled players (or just players in general) of those 55 countries I think that you will see that they represent the vast majority of the chess world.

Anonymous (proxy) votes bought by Kirsan do not represent the chess world.

What happened today in Khanty is at the same time ridiculous, frightening to the amount of Mr. Ilyumzhinov's sheer clever (and I strongly believe: criminally active) ignorance - and sad for the chess world, not being able to cope with this lunatic and megalomaniac muppet. K&K, PLEASE show to the world that you're able to send this Mr. Nobody to his friends from Mars ;-)

I´m glad Danailov won! Finally European Chess is going to get back on its feet!

Serious questions are being asked at the losers convention:
Was Garry to blame?
Will Analtoli Karpov be as forgiving to Garry Kasparov as Hillary Clinton was to her husband Bill after her defeat to Barak Obama?
Will the chess world look down on Anatoli Karpov as a two faced lap dog should he accept Kirsan Illyumzhinov's gernerous offer of vice president? Why wasn't Kasparov offered the position?

One member of german delegation worked 30 years for bavarian chess federation. During that time they totally failed to improve anything for chess. Less big tourneys, less price money, less chess at all. Bigger events were organized by private initiatives, mostely in smaller towns. Bavarians capital munich is, from a chess point of view, dead.
I am glad this german chess media revolution based on chessbase didnt succed.
From the beginning on one had to have the impression that Mr. Kasparovs fight isnt ouers. Not that i think it will improve now keeping the old King, but it just cant get worse.

It is worth noting that the dispute in th General Assembly was mainly a procedural one. At the start of the meeting a report was presented by Geoffrey Borg on the proxy verification meeting held the night before. Once that report was finished the meeting moved to a roll call to identify all voting federations. At this point objections were made that the report needed to be voted to be accepted.
But the difficulty here is that you can't have a vote without a roll call as you don't know who is valid or not. So the FIDE side argued roll call then voting, while the Karpov side argued a vote, then roll call. This isn't a problem with corrupt process, just a procedurally flawed one. However it is worth noting that FIDE followed their own statutes on this matter (as the Karpov campaign had requested), it was just the outcome that the Karpov camp did not like.
Of course this a de-facto election battle as once the proxy issue was resolved, the way the vote would go would become clearer.
The figure of 56 proxies being bandied around is also an incorrect one and based on a misunderstanding of the report. There were 56 countries checked by the verification committee, but some of this were holding proxies, rather than requiring them. In the case of my federation PNG, we were listed in the report, but only because we held the proxy for New Zealand. And in both the case of PNG and New Zealand, neither country was a supporter of Ilyumzhinov , but our proxy arrangement was approved as our paperwork was correct according to FIDE statutes.
Now people may not like the outcome, (and I argued for the Karpov ticket within my federation), but from what I saw (for the first hour of GA) and from talking to people later, that the electoral procedures itself were legitimate. There may be an issue with the electoral campaign, but if you move away from the flawed premise that "everyone wants Karpov to win", you can look at why Ilyumzhinov won by a majority of 40 votes. Were federations offered 'inducements'? Yes, by both sides. Was pressure bought to bear on delegates in Khanty-Mansiysk? Again, yes on both sides. And while from afar this always looks terrible when your side loses, up close it it is (a) part of a system that both sides were part of and (b) not so far removed from elections I've seen in the wider world.

Excellent post by Shaun Press explaining the critical factors in perspective. I was a Karpov supporter if due to nothing else other than that FIDE needs a change after 15 years of Kirsan. However, after reading in full the CAS judgment, I realise the repulsiveness of the methods of the Karpov camp and changed my support to Kirsan. Just as the CAS did, Shaun Press confirmed the professionalism of the current administration in following written rules, process and procedures. Better the devil we know than that we do not.

Nor in the FIDE official website or elsewhere are the countries listed by their supported candidate. This is the first claim that ourselves, the general chess public should demand.
About Argentinean former support (and nomination) of Ilyumzhinov : After Kasparov visit and his contact with the national and province authorities, the FADA (Argentinean chess federation) decided to withdraw the support to Kirsan and vote for Karpov. This is the official website communicate – in case you can read Spanish - http://www.ajedrez.com.ar/ -. However, as the country had nominated (as a formal act) Kirsan first, before the deadline for it, the announcement was read as so, together with Russia and Mexico. Supposedly, Argentina voted for Karpov anyway.
About the Proxy votes: I actually don’t see the difference of a poor country which can be shaken down by major ones in voting directly itself, or passing that right over to some other country. If that was not allowed, the votes would have been the same in the final count. Am I right on this?
About the smaller chess federations: As a matter of fact I don’t like the fact that several nations that have no serious chess decide the election in favour of Ilyumzhinov –in the arrival to Olympiad Khanty Mansyisk they showed players carrying the actual books of the Chess informant -If only nations (from what I apparently saw in few sources) whose top ten players average over, say, 2400 ELO (about 60) had decided this issue, would have Karpov won the election? We will see that after the official lists are published.
However, I specifically pointed that I don’t like it, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t conceptually correct, or that they shouldn’t have the right to vote. In other words, that would imply being against equitable democracy (remember that “one federation=one vote” was part of Karpov campaign), and supporting the qualified voting right. It would be like calling a presidential election of a country unfair, simply because one candidate won only with the votes of the poor.

In short, Karpov has never been my favourite person, and I definitely believe that he has benefited as a chess player in his past from all that something that he is fighting against now. I hope he, Kasparov (unlike he did with Russia) and the rest of the civilized world keep fighting against this kind of power, that is the Russian corrupt and pseudo-democratic way of making politics. Ilyumzhinov is just their face in the chess world.

Karpov was certainly the lesser evil.

Regards,

Adolfo.

No future for FIDE. Just quit!

Chess is dead. In a few more years people will understand Fisher. Theory, lines, opening books, databases and computers killed chess, it used to be a nice, beautiful, creative game, and art, but no more. In these days it should never be a career. How can FIDE help if the game is the problem?, and remember that Politics = Parasites.

Checkmate. :(

I think more of us need to read Shaun Press's comments. I live in Leeds UK. I run White Rose Chess & 3 years was International director of the ECF. I was also Secretary of Botswana Chess for 12 years so I see all the arguments. Mark Crowther plays in my local chess leagues and yet so many of my friends in the west are very selective in what they want to hear. While in Khanty playing for PNG I never saw Karpov. When we received a phone call it would say the Karpov Kasparov team. I didnt know Kasparov was runnng!!! And how many of you out there are actually strong players. How would you like it if only the stong players cast votes in elections or lets say in your country if the millionaires had more then your one vote. You would not like it. How do you develop chess if you create an organisation that hasnt said much about its development of the game. You talk about their policy of abolishing membership fees; that in my opinion is very condescending.Think of your local chess league and the clubs that didnt collect their annual subs, They tend to be the ones that fold. Also a small Federation has to be able to prove itself; it needs to have members, a national championship and collect subs etc. Otherwise you will then only encourage shell Federations where you see a delegate and no team every four years. It may have just been the percerception of the Karpov Campaign but there were many who saw it as being there for the elite in chess. Chess is much more universal then the small elite. No when your western chess websites start writing about the good and the bad on both sides and you as readers start to get all the information then maybe we can have a much clearer idea of what is going on. Both sides fought hard and ****** in this election and both sides had good and bad ideas. I very rarely see any comments about the good things in FIDE and believe me there is plenty. The rating system, the Office itself runs superbly now; the work of the Commissions; ( how many of you ever noticed that my old Federation Botswana drew with Estonia in Dresden) for me that is amazing much bigger then Afghanistan qualifying for the 20-20 World Cricket Championship (and they are making a film abt that). Lets open the blinkers a bit and stop believing everything you hear. Check out You Tube and watch the confrontation between Larry Ebbin (Bermuda)Garry Kasparov. It might open your eyes.

Yay for Danailov!! :D

Reading some of these comments, it’s hard for me to understand how these people were at the same assembly where I sat for eight hours yesterday. Karpov was allowed to speak as much as he liked, although he had little to say. It is hard to say whether Kasparov was permitted to speak, since whenever he had something to say he followed his normal practice of just shouting over whomever was speaking at the time. Their American lawyers were not permitted to speak, and nor should they have been, they add nothing to a chess meeting and we would still be there now – once those people start, they never stop. There was a suggestion of a private agreement between Gelfer and Conn that the lawyers would be allowed to speak, who knows?
There was nothing improper about the way the proxies were handled, as the lawyers accepted when, after twenty minutes of shouting for the cameras, they were finally persuaded to listen as Nigel Freemen read out the appropriate statute.
The business with the vote scrutineers was strange. Kirsan announced three names and asked Karpov whether he objected. Everyone assumed he would, but he did not. Later, his lawyer asked that one of the three be replaced by the chairman of the Ethics Commission, which was of course fine.

I think we should listen a bit more to what Jaan Ehlvest has to say above.
Before complaining about anything we should do out homework.
If those 55 countries were to start a new federation - would it be better than today's FIDE? Really?

Is the USCF a federation we can build any hopes on? Definitely not unless you're a fan of endless law suits.

The German federation with their candidate for ECU presidency Weizsaecker?
He is virtually invisible as president of german chess claiming his lack of time.
The only thing his federation is good at is creating dubious sub-companies where nobody knows who finally gets the money collected from german chessplayers. The olympic team disaster speaks for it's self.

This could be continued for most of the other federations in the west.

Who are we to blame Ilyumzhinov of corruption?

He should be blamed for his rule in Kalmykia - but in chess - are we any better?

I have to give up chess.

> it used to be a nice, beautiful, creative game, and art, but no more.

Chess is just fine. Play it, and you will find out.

Jaan Ehlvest's comment does make a lot of sense. Karpov and Kasparov are the biggest names around, and just possibly could have won on the sound of those names alone, but it wasn't to be. The constructive reaction would be to start a new game, build a tournament series (like Danailov did), take up posts in national federations, seek out independent minds within the current adiministration, build alliances. Explain to the powers that govern Russia why you are the better choice. Get the money to compete with Kirsan. Try again in four years.

Kirsan is a master politician if nothing else. Kasparov & Karpov are amateurs by comparison. Kasparov probably lost the Karpov camp a few votes with his time-wasting and frivolous behaviour at the General Assembly.

I'm sure you're right Rupert that to a certain extent we're being selective. I was never fully comfortable with Karpov as a candidate. But I ask you this, have you looked at any material on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov? For me it was a case of one Candidate, Karpov having pluses and minuses and the other being completely unacceptable. This has been my position since 1996 and any investigation by yourself should lead to the same conclusion, it is the main issue. Also is it really healthy to have the same leadership for that long? When do you think he will go?

It is now clear that the election yesterday was over at least a few days before. I understand that there are blocks of related votes and there were possibilities until near the end as to which way they might fall. What happened yesterday was window dressing. The battle all along was political, chess issues barely rate a mention.

One point that is emerging, and this isn't an Africa or small nations point. There are 30 or so proxy votes for Federations that frankly exist only on paper. That is a huge start for those in power in FIDE.

Yes I'm sure there are good things within FIDE. But I also think that we're starting from a very low base of expectations. We should be doing a hell of a lot better. FIDE has also been "rescued" time after time by last minute money from Kirsan. You don't know where that money came from, but if you look at even mainstream sources in Russian you can get a good clue. So time after time he's failed to get proper sponsorship and he somehow turns that into a plus.

In Kalmykia there was a conflation of the money for the state with Kirsan's own resources. What you need to watch from now on seeing as FIDE is his base of operations is that the same thing doesn't happen there. In this regard the financial operations of the professional game being moved to a shell company in the US Virgin Islands ought to be cause for concern.

Also are you really telling me that the minor nations are getting the help they need? Or are they getting just enough to keep them happy every four years?

This point about it being all about top chess and not about minor nations. The World Championship is the place where a major part of the money to finance the organisation, it is how it works in almost all other major sporting organisations. So yes it is key. As we've had the same leadership for the last 29 years how would anyone know about the record of anyone else?

And your point about the rating list. I use it all the time, believe me, it is not professionally done. A computer science database expert has not been even close to that list. First of all, they're reusing the FIDE ids of dead players. Second the naming of Indian players (and I chose this Federation as an example, a few years ago the Mexican list had all the names of the players with two surnames punctuated incorrectly) is a complete and total mess and changes from list to list, thirdly there are clearly players with duplicate entries. That's just for starters and doesn't even look at the calculation of which I'm not really qualified to judge.

Just remembered Chess Lane is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, not the US.

Professional chess players are less than 1% of the active chess players in the world... Why was Kasparov talking at the GA anyway?

Ilyumzhinov is on the bright side of life, Karpov is a troublemaker per se.

So, anyway, better candidates or not... we're back to following the actual progress of the FIDE team in managing the WC cycle. As I see it, we have a Candidates Tournament that was supposed to be over by now. It is "theoretically" supposed to happen in Kazan, but that is sum total of what anyone knows about this "theoretical" tournament.

I see from the minutes of the last General Assembly, that we now have a Grand Prix which will be discontinued in the next cycle. No suggestions on what will replace it. See:
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=2176

We now have a WC cycle 2009-2011, for which the WC match will "possibly" happen in London sometime before the Olympics, which stretches it into 2012. And screws up the cycle yet again.

We now have a mystery company "Global Chess 2" which will "theoretically" be based in Dubai, and which will "hopefully" organize a whole new Grand Prix and fix everything.

This is the way we move forward, friends.

Same way as we have for oh, so long already :(

Does Mr Illuminated actually know how to play chess or could he be holding the game to ransom just for the sake of profit and power, ad infinitum...? Although this world is alien to me, I think that it might be a good idea for the illustrious Mr K's to pick up the pieces from this disastrous election charade and consider forming an alternative i.e. a modern and transparent organisation backed by people of good faith and those countries which really care about the future of the noble game of chess, with particular reference to its worthwhile application in the educational sphere.

Haha, I said Kirsan Ilyumzhinov would win if Anatoly Karpov + Kasporov. Kasporov is too strong like a spoiled boy. Most poeple likes quiet and smooth chess federation.

In fact this is a very high percentage for an opponent of I.
They usually lose with 99% of the votes (if not more than 101%)

In fact this is a very high percentage for an opponent of I.
They usually lose with 99% of the votes (if not >101%)