Russian media on the Dvorkovich/Karpov controversy (UPDATE May 22)
20 May 2010, 18.54 CET | Last modified: 14:11 | By Colin McGourty | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Politics
While Karpov basks in the limelight of his New York fundraiser, Ilyumzhinov and Dvorkovich find themselves in a tough situation. Given the personalities ranged against him, how can Dvorkovich fight back? An analysis of the Russian media on the matter may clarify some things.
By Colin McGourty
The Russian Chess Federation website dutifully reports that Dvorkovich is sticking to his guns in rejecting Karpov’s nomination. A summary might read: Karpov’s nomination wasn’t valid as I wasn’t at the meeting, though even if I’d been at the meeting it wouldn’t have been valid as the federation’s new charter hasn’t been approved, and even if the charter had been approved and I’d been at the meeting it still wouldn’t have been valid… as we’ve already chosen Ilyumzhinov. It smacks of protesting too much.
This is perhaps best captured by Maxim Kononenko, a columnist at GZT.RU, whose take on the situation has garnered attention on Russian chess forums. It’s entitled, “A scythe ran into Karpov”, where “Karpov” replaces “stone” in the Russian proverb. In short, Dvorkovich met his match. The problem, as Kononenko expresses it (with the occasional mention of aliens…), is that Dvorkovich is fighting a losing battle:
Even if Dvorkovich’s right a thousand times over in coming up with a way around the decision of the national chess federation, he’ll still be a laughing stock. While those members of the federation who voted for Karpov won’t be, even if Karpov hasn’t got a clue about organising chess events.
(…) Plus he has the support, at least briefly, of Kasparov, whose authority in the world of chess (true, only chess, but still) is, in general, limitless. Who on earth is Arkady Dvorkovich compared to Karpov and Kasparov? All things considered, no-one. The whole world knows about Karpov and Kasparov, but no-one in the world knows that the Russian president has an aide called Dvorkovich.
So given the personalities ranged against him, how can Dvorkovich fight back? The answer, perhaps, is in seeking his own endorsements. When he was interviewed a few days ago on Chesspro.ru his final words were the intriguing: “By the way, my conversation with Kramnik showed that he fully supports my position in the current dispute”. Is Kramnik, not known for his political activism, really throwing his weight behind the Dvorkovich/Ilyumzhinov ticket!? The RCF website was glad to elaborate on the issue, quoting the comments of “one of the best known active chess players in the world” to the RBK newspaper:
The fact that there might be two candidates for the post of FIDE President is, on the one hand, a good thing. Competition always leads to better results. But it’s unpleasant that it’s grown into a scandal. According to my information the majority of the RCF Supervisory Board were simply misinformed about the location and time of the meeting. It’s particularly unpleasant to behave in such a manner with such respected people as Dvorkovich and Zhukov.
For years now they’ve practically carried the whole of Russian chess on their shoulders. They’ve supported our young talents and the best professional players, the development of children’s chess and also the organisation of the Tal Memorial, one of the strongest tournaments in the world. For my part, I’d like to make an appeal that the struggle for the very important position of FIDE President be conducted using only civilised methods of combat.
Quite a ringing personal endorsement of Dvorkovich, but is it anything more? No-one seems entirely innocent in the events of 14th May in Moscow. This curious report tells of how delegates from the Volga Federal District spent their day in Moscow, and sheds some more light on the proceedings (the photos from the “official” meeting include Bareev outlining plans for the Olympiad later this year).
After arriving in Moscow they only received a call at noon to say the meeting had been switched to Dvorkovich’s “Hotel”. A bus was to ferry delegates from the Central Chess House at 4 pm, but they decided to take the metro instead. They only learnt of the Karpov vote in a phone call after it was taken, and just before the other meeting began. The report sums up their bemusement with a famous line from the Russian poet Tiutchev, which could serve for the whole affair: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone”.
So we can agree that Kramnik’s right to think the events were unseemly and some delegates weren’t fully informed what was going on (by either side!), but we can also doubt the information he was given and, crucially, note that he says nothing to approve Dvorkovich’s nomination of Ilyumzhinov. Coming from a slightly different angle, GM Sergey Shipov, on his forum, responded to Dvorkovich’s claims with:
Voldya’s a “thing-in-itself”, in Kant’s phrase. He stands apart… And to drag him onto your side in any clear way is impossible. But in principle, the way things are shaping up right now is perfectly clear. Grandmasters are for Karpov.
In fact, rather than being an exception to this general rule (like Kevin Spraggett), Kramnik is one of the few top players to have come out in open support of Karpov. Perhaps recent events in the RCF have diminished his enthusiasm, but Kramnik was recently quoted as telling the Russian chess journal, 64:
I’d like, rather, to support the candidacy of Karpov. We don’t yet know exactly what he’s planning to do. But we know for certain that the current leadership of FIDE, if it’s chosen once more, will do nothing. No changes! Another four years of total confusion and incompetence in the chess world is guaranteed.
Perhaps it’s a bit too early to chalk Kramnik up as an Ilyumzhinov supporter! Alexandra Kosteniuk appears a better candidate. Her declaration now has pride of place on the RCF website, alongside Dvorkovich’s. She says she hasn’t received any financial support for over a year (as the RCF claim there’s no money), and dramatically declares:
I must say that if Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich hadn’t been in Russian chess I wouldn’t have decided to return to professional chess at the end of 2007 and I wouldn’t have brought Russia the women’s chess crown in 2008. I also couldn’t have been part of the team that brought Russia its second European gold medal in October 2009, seeing as Dvorkovich was the only person in the whole RCF who was always willing to help when problems arose.
(…) But now all these hopes are threatened by the actions of people who say they are working for the good of chess, while in actual fact their only aim is the will to remain in power. Therefore, I would like to support the position of Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and call on those who aren’t indifferent to the future of chess in Russia to evaluate the current situation soberly in an attempt to try and reach compromises, rather than destroying what exists in order to build castles in the sky.
Interestingly, Kosteniuk’s passionate declaration has yet to appear on her immensely popular blog, and the news has only been picked up by Chessdom so far. What are its implications? Can we take her clear backing of Dvorkovich’s position as a declaration of support for Ilyumzhinov’s nomination? Perhaps, though his name isn’t mentioned, and the criticism isn’t directed at Karpov (he’s not one of those trying to “remain” in power).
In the meantime, an indication of how Dvorkovich might prevail, at least in the local battle, is emerging in comments on a thread at Shipov’s Crestbook forum (”FIDE Presidential Elections: Ilyumzhinov or Karpov?”). It appears that the local administration of two of the delegates who supported Karpov (Gilyasov and Goncharov) claim the delegates failed to represent their views. Dvorkovich, meanwhile, seems to have switched the security guards at the Central Chess House in Moscow, in what may be a move to exclude Bakh and his team.
Shipov’s summary there, as ever, is sharp and to the point:
The RCF site, it’s already absolutely clear, is working under the direction of Dvorkovich’s men and not Bakh’s. They’ve lost their mass media outlet.
It’s no doubt the same with the Federation’s accounts… People from the provinces, sensing something’s wrong, have rushed to display signs of loyalty to Dvorkovich and rejection of Bakh (even if they’d previously agreed with the latter).In general, in a pack of wolves the strongest prevails. However, what does this have to do with the FIDE Presidential election? How will it influence it? It seems to me that in no way at all. The success of Karpov in the West is almost 100%. And in the third world he already has many countries on his side.
In the former Soviet Union there are also many under his banner. Even if the neo-RCF under Dvorkovich’s rule favours Ilyumzhinov, it won’t change a thing.
We should also note that Shipov just added that the premises have been taken over. Bakh called the police but when they saw the papers Dvorkovich’s men had they just went away! A new date for the supervisory council to meet appears to have been set for 4 June.
Summing up the current state of affairs, the minor coup d’état that Bakh, Karpov and Kasparov managed to pull off in Moscow on 14 May has altered the game completely. Even if Dvorkovich can somehow uphold his choice of nominee (which, at the moment of writing, looks ever more likely!), Ilyumzhinov’s campaign has suffered a body blow - the majority, when all’s said and done, was still a majority. Not that you’d want to stake your life on predicting the outcome of this strange and enthralling battle – as someone was very quick to respond after Shipov’s, “Grandmasters are for Karpov”:
That sounds like a verdict! If grandmasters are for Karpov then his chances of winning aren’t great…
Update 22 May 2010
The events described above, almost as they happened, have been confirmed. On Thursday 20 May Dvorkovich completed what Karpov, in a letter published at Chessbase, calls “a hostile takeover of the
Russian Chess Federation”. Security guards expelled Bakh from his office at the Central Chess Club in Moscow, after first seizing control of the accounts and official website.
Karpov challenges the legality of Dvorkovich’s actions, but also goes much further, accusing him of libel and “efforts to intimidate other federations from supporting me”. In turn a radio interview revealed the depth of Dvorkovich’s animosity towards Karpov: “As a man, I just can’t stand some people (…) it would be easier for me to support Kasparov than Karpov, based on personal considerations”.
What happens next, and especially how the power struggle in Russia affects the overall FIDE election, is hard to guess, though in the same interview Dvorkovich left open an intriguing possibility:
“There are many scenarios, even the scenario in which both [Karpov] and [Ilyumzhinov] are nominated by foreign chess federations. The Russian Chess Federation, in view of the different positions and the very strong differences of opinion, might not nominate anyone”.
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Isn’t it strange that Kosteniuk hasn’t written anything about her Dvorkovich support on her blog or on Twitter? It’s almost as if she doesn’t want her English-speaking fans know about it.
By the way, given the fact that she’s a member of Ilyumzhinov’s presidential board, her opinion on FIDE’s financial matters are probably more interesting than most other well-known chess players’s in the world…
Maybe Dvorkovich can send Kosteniuk to collect some powerful video leverage?
Having recently (May 6th) interviewed Kramnik for ZEIT ONLINE I can confirm that he holds Dvorkovich in very high regard and thinks the man has achieved a lot for chess in Russia. Presumably Kramnik is in contact with Dvorkovich and he is likely to give credit to Dvorkovich´s version of events. At the time of our interview Kramnik hadn´t made up his mind about Karpov, saying that he wants to see his team and his programme first. Presumably, what Kramnik said to 64 was more a comment on the incumbent FIDE-President than an endorsement of his challenger.
can someone please explain me one thing, that is, why putin’s man sits on top of the rcf?!? it doesn’t seem to me sooo very important position after all…
Karpov has this in the bag, take it to the bank! You simply don’t fail to line up behind both Karpov AND Kasparov, that would be madness given all they did for Russia and for chess.
“Maybe” FIDE should never been ruled by the present rulers, in the first place.
People live by dreaming, indeed.
But taking them down by all means and regardless of the substitutes is something that goes almost to pathetic.
Karpov? Kasparov? Let them play chess while they want to.
Can anyone convince anyone that those are names to trust for organizing world chess?
Ok, I can’t present a 3rd alternative other than my (as) surreal:
Spassky for president!
@Arne
Maybe I’m not in context, namely I don’t use to read Kosteniuk’s blog.
But doesn’ it require extra-imagination to say something like “It’s almost as if she doesn’t want her English-speaking fans know about it”!
And, if she has indeed the position opposed to yours in this, why trust “her opinion on FIDE’s financial matters”? Being ironic? Or in fact glad with her silence on that?
Yes, I feel realy out of context, and maybe better that way. It’s a boring stinking context all this
I think the view of Kevin Spraggett on the whole matter is a very interesting one, also concerning Kosteniuk: Kosteniuk is talking about Russian problems and not about FIDE problems. Russian problems are not relevant to the audience of her US based blog.
Anything if Kasparov involved will be mess. He organized his chess organization, he surrend at last; He wants to be the Russian president, few people supports him; He teaches Carlson, you see what the boy say in the fundrasis meeting.
I think Kasparov is a great chess player. let him stay aside, wait for a chance to be Russian president
Why are so sur that grandmasters are for Karpov?? As i read in 64 (same issue where Kramnik shared his view) the votes are even.
adam: “can someone please explain me one thing, that is, why putin’s man sits on top of the rcf?!? it doesn’t seem to me sooo very important position after all…”
This whole affair defies explanation
but in Dvorkovich’s defence his father was an international arbiter, so there’s no reason to doubt his interest in chess. His boss, President Medvedev, actually came out against top political figures having too much control of sporting federations earlier this year, which seems to have been the main reason this supervisory board was set up in the first place. It’s an open question what Medvedev thinks now that Dvorkovich (and Zhukov) have taken power into their own hands…
In his Moscow Echo blog a few days ago Karpov said that Medvedev no doubt didn’t know what his advisor was doing. Kasparov also said that Dvorkovich is destroying his career. But is that all just wishful thinking!? The only bright side of all this for chess, perhaps, is that the political struggle’s a throwback to the Cold War – and it’s attracting the same sort of serious media coverage that chess had then! e.g. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/05/18/chesspotism
>> some delegates weren’t fully informed
Wasn’t the time and place of the meeting announced beforehand on the official website?
It looks more like some delegates were lured away from the official meeting, though apparently not enough to get a majority.
The original meeting, announced well in advanced, was to be held in the Central Chess House in the middle of Moscow. Then on the day Dvorkovich tried to move the meeting to another venue – that “official” meeting seems to have ended up with 8 delegates, while 17 (an absolute majority of the council) met “unofficially”, but as planned, in the Central Chess House. There they voted to nominate Karpov.
@Colin thanx for the link
Thanks, Stefan, just saw your comment! I did find it surprising how outspoken Kramnik was in “64″. On Dvorkovich – he seems like the kind of progressive figure you’d want to support in Russia, though his actions in picking Ilyumzhinov without any real consultation are hard to defend (if we have anything close to the full story!).
Peter, I’m not sure that grandmasters are for Karpov – that’s Shipov’s opinion – though I suspect he’s right…
Quick update on Gilyasov, one of the two delegates who was said not to have represented his federation. The Chelyabinsk Region Chess Federation here states that his vote for Karpov had their full support: http://www.surchess.ru/ The information to the contrary had been sent out by a recently set up organisation with a similar name.
Well, whatever happens I think chess is ultimately gonna lose. This kind of mud-slinging and dirty backroom politics is gonna drive away people and sponsors. Chess certainly looks toxic now.
@Octavian chess has just raised some 100k+ at one single cocktail party eve…
Why do you guys link to sites in Russian? No one here but a very very few understand it. Might as well link to sites in Chinese.
http://volgachess.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=206&Itemid=1
…and I would say Karpov is a pawn up in Rook Endgame…He won most of these as a chessplayer.
Henk: There are more here who understand, than you may think…..
And Russian sources are the ones closest to the facts on the ground. Actually, the only ones close at all to the facts on the ground. Without them we have nothing, except guesses.
“There are more here who understand, than you may think…..”
And some are even clever enough to use some of all the free translation tools that exist and read them that way.
Henk, the whole point of the article was to given an overview of Russian media reports, because most English-speaking people never read them. Perhaps now they will.
Henk, what’s your problem? Colin McGourty read, summarized and translated numerous Russian sources, giving links serves two purposes:
1) It is good journalistic practice to mention original sources, and good practice of Internet journalism (as well as an advantage of the Internet) to give hyperlinks.
2) Anyone who can read Russian may read the original sources to check if Colin’s translation is correct and “complete” – quoting out of context, deliberately or not, could potentially be misleading. I have no such doubts, but another advantage of the blogosphere is that other Russian speakers/readers can quickly point out if and where Colin was inaccurate or incomplete.
At Dailydirt, I have partly(!) translated some interviews from German into English (Stefan Loeffler with Kramnik, Georgios Souleidis with Kasimdzhanov) – also linking to original sources by way of politeness and to give some readers the chance to read the full story.
BTW, latest twist in the FIDE election campaign as it’s fought out in Russia:
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6354
Frankly, I find it hard to follow everything, and feel a bit sad that the Astrakhan GP is still under the shadow of Karpov vs. Ilyumzhinov as well as Anand (and friends) vs. Topalov.
The fact that Dvorkovich himself suggests this escape option probably shows what will will happen next. In fact, it’s not an unreasonable option at all given the current grotesque circumstances. I wonder which Federation will nominate Ilyumzhinov though.
In the interview he said that “according to [his] information” Ilyumzhinov was a member of other chess federations, but I don’t know if that’s true. I read somewhere that you have to have been a member of the federation for at least a year before they can nominate you – so it’s not something you could fiddle at the last minute. Though of course they can probably do anything they want!
Ilyumzhinov will be nominated by the ACF (Alien Chess Federation), or is it anywhere in the rules that the nominating federation has to be a member of FIDE?
Seriously, Karpov was already nominated by the German Chess Federation, who pointed out that “this is possible according to FIDE statutes”, because Karpov is a member of a German club since 1994, hence of the federation.
Congratulations. This site features the best coverage of the election.
If anyone else nominates Kirsan, it will probably be his new toady Yazici and the TCF.
I think Dvorkivich was only musing, when he said the thing about RCF not nominating anyone. I think he will fight tooth and nail for his master Kirsan. And probably win the nomination, in this case–because while we know that Karpov is capable of dirty tricks (as Kok was not, which is the reason Karpov is a serious contender this time), Dvorkovich has completely raised the stakes in the dirty trick department. He has taken it up to the level of Gazprom/Yukos/etc -style business-mafia wars. Now the question for Karpov: How to reply to this.
There is much, much maneuvering behind the scenes, I think, among the delegates in the Supervisory Committee, leading up to this next meeting in early June. How will Dvorkovich either pack the meeting with friends, or bribe the delegates who didn’t vote his way, or intimidate them, or replace them…? Those are his next moves.
bayde, I’m sure you’re right that Dvorkovich can force the vote for Ilyumzhinov, and given his actions so far (and some early hints of pressure on delegates) that’s the most likely course of action. But as Shipov pointed out near the bottom of the original article, receiving the Russian nomination might not mean so much in the greater scheme of things. Can Ilyumzhinov’s campaign for the FIDE presidency survive the sort of “victory” that’s on the cards in Russia!? Which is why there’s still a chance that self-preservation will prompt Dvorkovich and co. to look for an unlikely compromise.
Yes, that type of support for Ilyumzhinov comes down to a poisoned pawn: Even if he gets the RCF nomination in the end, people will realize that support is maybe not genuine, in any case not widespread. Do FIDE delegates read, or at least hear of this site?
Of course next “team Ilyumzhinov” might dispute Karpov’s nomination by the German federation, that vote was actually unanimous (within the board of the federation).
I’m sure the Turkish federation will nominate Ilyumzhinov. How come you never hear anything good about the guy among the English speaking press? Surely he has some sort of support? Every article you see says he is some sort of a nut or is highly critical. Is this guy that useless or is he being assassinated by the press? I find it hard to believe that the guy has not one redeeming quality…:)
If anything he’s been attacked even more ruthlessly by the Russian speaking press since his TV interview on aliens. Even if you don’t understand Russian this article (”The President and the Aliens”) is worth a glance for the illustration (!): http://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/20952 The Yabloko political party over the weekend also said that the nomination of Ilyumzhinov brought shame on Russia.
Of course for us he does have the redeeming qualities that he loves chess and can find money for it!
Octavian, I’m all for objective reporting but I don’t really see what qualities of Ilyumzhinov could be reported in this matter. He’s demonstrably distorting facts, he’s talking about alien abductions, he’s unwilling to support democracy both in his own republic and within FIDE (and the RCF for that matter), and his financial resources are a mess to say the least. I’d say the press has some pretty good reasons to attack him.
Arne, that is fine. The “Alien” stuff was a bit bizarre to say the least. However, I keep hearing about the money he has invested in chess and how he has used his personal wealth to promote chess etc etc…Any truth to this?
My thing is, if the guy is such a big fraud why was the press silent say 2-3 years ago? Of course I understand that this is election time, but still, the guy must have done something in his 15 yr tenure worth talking about?
I think the guy is a clown, but can Karpov really make a difference? I mean, neither candidate have really presented a clear manifesto on what they propose to do once in power…you know, something along the lines of:
There exists problem A1 and we are going to fix it using plan A2…
Lot of bullshit flying around though…
Well Octavian, one of the reasons why so many people see the current developments as good news for chess is precisely because chess players have been silent for too long already.
The big question surrounding Ilyumzhinov’s money is – and has always been: where does it ultimately come from? As Sarah Hurst has noted in a recent article on ChessVibes, it’s not like Ilyumzhinov owns an oil company or something. So where does he get his money from? Many suspect he’s promising tax deals to companies who want to invest in Kalmykia, but instead of giving this money (and money he gets from Moscow) to his own people, he’s investing in crazy projects such as Chess City.
However, people who’ve tried to investigate his sources from within, have been efficiently silences so far, with the never-cleared up murder of Larisa Yudina as a sad low point.
Murder, wow! Seems awful mobster-like to me. Certainly needs investigation.
But, iIf he is the president of a republic, I’d presume he is using taxpayer money to do this? Given that his province has seen some serious GM tournaments, is ot such a bad thing after all?