Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Encyclopedia
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (born April 5, 1962) is a Kalmyk
multi-millionaire businessman and politician. He was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia
in the Russian Federation
from 1993 to 2010, and he has been the President of FIDE
(or the "World Chess Federation"), the world's pre-eminent international chess
organization, since 1995. He has also been in the forefront of promoting chess in schools in Russia and overseas. He is the founder of Novy Vzglyad
Publishing House. In addition to his native Kalmyk
, he is fluent in Russian
, English
, Japanese
, Chinese
, Mongolian
and Korean
.
. His parents, like other Kalmyks, were deported by Joseph Stalin
in World War II, and he grew up in Elista
after the Kalmyks were allowed to return following Stalin's death. From a young age he became interested in chess, and he won the Kalmykian national chess championship in 1976 at the age of 14. From 1979–80 Ilyumzhinov worked as a mechanic-fitter at the Zvezda plant in Elista. After two years in compulsory national service for the Soviet Army
, he returned to the plant as a mechanic for a year, and then studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations in 1983–89. In 1989–90 he was sales manager of the Soviet-Japanese automobile company "Liko-Raduga" in Moscow, and in 1990–93 he was President of SAN Corporation in Moscow. Ilyumzhinov acquired his wealth with the emergence of the private sector which followed the collapse of the USSR. He now owns a private jet and six Rolls Royce
s; he has a black limousine in Moscow, but prefers his white one at home. Kirsan is married to Danara Ilyumzhinova (née Davashkina) and they have one son, David. Ilyumzhinov also has two brothers, Sanal and Vyacheslav.
Ilyumzhinov has drawn world-wide attention for claiming personal contact with aliens
, alleging that they took him on a mystical tour of the galaxy in their spaceship in 1997.
for every shepherd—much of the population of Kalmykia living from agriculture. He once campaigned under the slogan "a wealthy president is a safeguard against corruption." He also pledged to introduce what he called an "economic dictatorship
" in the republic, as well as to continue to promote chess in Kalmykia, in Russia and to the wider world. After his re-election in 1995, Ilyumzhinov reportedly told a journalist from the Russian daily Izvestia
, "Irrespective of what I tell people, I give them instructions on a sub-conscious level, a code. I do the same thing when I communicate with Russian citizens from other regions. I am creating around the republic a kind of extra-sensory field and it helps us a lot in our projects."
Ilyumzhinov has striven to become an "Asian values
" authoritarian
like his Singapore
an, Korean, and Chinese role models (even though his republic is in the southern European portion of Russia). He has spent millions of dollars on chess
and supporting religion
, building a Catholic
church at the instigation of the Pope
John Paul II. He has also built a mosque
, a synagogue
, 22 Orthodox
churches, and 30 Buddhist temple
s. Chess was made a compulsory subject in the first three years of elementary school—the only place in the world where this is the case. The region now has numerous champions. The Dalai Lama
has visited Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on many occasions and has blessed a number of the temples in Elista, as well as Kalmyk Buddhist temples overseas. Ilyumzhinov denies persistent accusations of diverting the republic's resources for his own use (in fact he does not draw a salary as president) and of suppressing media freedom. Visiting journalists and tourists who have come to Kalmykia have spoken of the great reception they have received, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov often meeting them in person. In 2004, police dispersed a small number of demonstrators who demanded his resignation. When Australian journalist Eric Campbell
interviewed people in Elista about Ilyumzhinov, he found that many were happy that he had managed to gain widespread attention for Kalmykia through chess, although one was slightly critical of the money invested in chess projects.
Ilyumzhinov is also famous for his nature-conservative activities. He created the only reserve in Europe where it is possible to see relict saiga antelope. The year of 2010 in Kalmykia announced by Ilyumzhinov as Year of Saiga.
On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina
, a publisher of an opposition newspaper, was stabbed to death in Elista. Both people convicted in the murder were Kalmykian government aides, and one was an advisor to Ilyumzhinov. One other person was acquitted by offering evidence to help in the conviction. Ilyumzhinov denied any involvement with the murder; the incident was fully investigated by the local and the Russian authorities.
On October 24, 2010 Ilyumzhinov retired as Head of Kalmykia, being replaced by Alexey Orlov
.
On 12 June 2011, Ilyumzhinov appeared in public with embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
after playing a game of chess with him in Tripoli.
in the republic led to protests by some people, but have been praised by others for generating good publicity. The 1996 bout between Gata Kamsky
and Anatoly Karpov
was originally scheduled to be played in Baghdad
. However the international response was so harsh that FIDE moved the match to Elista where it received more positive international attention.
In other developments during that time, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov encountered opposition from rivals in the European chess federations, the U.S., and Canada. Some of these managed to a special meeting in Utrecht
, Netherlands, on April 27–28. The meeting called for equal treatment for Kamsky and Karpov, the restoration of the traditional FIDE cycle of qualifying contests leading to the world title match, and a shake-up in FIDE. To reinforce this reformation the Utrecht partners supported a candidate to challenge Ilyumzhinov at the FIDE Congress that took place alongside the Chess Olympiad
. The candidate was Jaime Sunye Neto
, a grandmaster from Brazil
. Ilyumzhinov was successful in mustering support from the Third World
and from Russia, and he won the election 87–46. There was no restoration of the traditional qualifying cycle, and Ilyumzhinov's own preference for a $5 million knockout contest for the world's top 100 players was deferred from December 1996 until December 1997, with no definite sponsor announced.
In the summer of 1998, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced his possible candidacy for the Russian presidency. This coincided with Anatoly Karpov being critical of the annual knockout FIDE world title system. Karpov argued that his contract with FIDE stipulated that the winner of the 1998 Karpov-Anand
match would hold the title for two years. Karpov's successful advocacy of his rights led to the cancellation of a planned world title knockout series in Las Vegas
, Nevada
, later in that year. Since Karpov had an unsuccessful year, apart from his match against Anand, and he was unable to resist the plan that he would have to enter this knockout, whenever it came to be organized, at a far earlier stage.
Ilyumzhinov managed to persuade the 140 member countries of FIDE to take part in the main team event of the year, the Chess Olympiad, scheduled to start in late September 1998, in Elista. However the event started late due to the failure to complete the new venue in time. In the end, it attracted 110 teams to the main event, a Swiss system contest shortened to 13 rounds to allow for the delay.
On June 2, 2006, Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as FIDE President by a margin of 96–54 against his opponent Bessel Kok
. In an October 2006 Wall Street Journal article Garry Kasparov
, who backed a rival to Ilyumzhinov, criticized Ilyumzhinov FIDE's leadership stating: "(Ilyumzhinov) has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today." Nigel Short
, the British grandmaster who also supported Kirsan's rival for the leadership of FIDE, joined Kasparov's misgivings at Ilyumzhinov's victory.
On September 29, 2010, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as President of FIDE defeating his rival, Anatoly Karpov
decisively - winning this election by 95 votes to 55.. However, there were bitter accusations of cheating and corruption about the voting system with CJ de Mooi, the president of the English Chess Federation, saying: "This was a farce of a vote...There wasn't even a pretence of fairness and free speech."
, published in 1998, The President’s Crown of Thorns. Chapter titles included "Without Me the People Are Incomplete" (a quote from a short story by Andrei Platonov
), "I Become a Millionaire," and "It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed"—the latter being about the problems with rising crime in some parts of Russia.
Ilyumzhinov also has a whole chapter devoted to him in The Lost Cosmonaut by Daniel Kalder. (ISBN 9780571227815) (Faber, 2006).
There is also a brief biographical account on the website for the Embassy of Republic of Kalmyki.
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
multi-millionaire businessman and politician. He was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia
Kalmykia
The Republic of Kalmykia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: It is the only Buddhist region in Europe. It has also become well-known as an international chess mecca because its former President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is the head of the International Chess Federation .-Geography:*Area:...
in the Russian Federation
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
from 1993 to 2010, and he has been the President of FIDE
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...
(or the "World Chess Federation"), the world's pre-eminent international chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
organization, since 1995. He has also been in the forefront of promoting chess in schools in Russia and overseas. He is the founder of Novy Vzglyad
Novy Vzglyad
Novy Vzglyad, is a weekly newspaper published in Moscow, Russia. It used to be well known for its commentaries on politics and social issues in 1990s.-History:...
Publishing House. In addition to his native Kalmyk
Kalmyk language
The Kalmyk language , or Russian Oirat, is the native speech of the Kalmyk people of the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. In Russia, it is the normative form of the Oirat language , which belongs to the Mongolic language family...
, he is fluent in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
and Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
.
Personal life
Ilyumzhinov was born in ElistaElista
-Twin towns/sister cities:Elista is twinned with the following sister cities. Howell, New Jersey, United States Lhasa, Tibet, China. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic, Russia-See also:*Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery*Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume-External links:...
. His parents, like other Kalmyks, were deported by Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in World War II, and he grew up in Elista
Elista
-Twin towns/sister cities:Elista is twinned with the following sister cities. Howell, New Jersey, United States Lhasa, Tibet, China. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic, Russia-See also:*Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery*Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume-External links:...
after the Kalmyks were allowed to return following Stalin's death. From a young age he became interested in chess, and he won the Kalmykian national chess championship in 1976 at the age of 14. From 1979–80 Ilyumzhinov worked as a mechanic-fitter at the Zvezda plant in Elista. After two years in compulsory national service for the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
, he returned to the plant as a mechanic for a year, and then studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations in 1983–89. In 1989–90 he was sales manager of the Soviet-Japanese automobile company "Liko-Raduga" in Moscow, and in 1990–93 he was President of SAN Corporation in Moscow. Ilyumzhinov acquired his wealth with the emergence of the private sector which followed the collapse of the USSR. He now owns a private jet and six Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
s; he has a black limousine in Moscow, but prefers his white one at home. Kirsan is married to Danara Ilyumzhinova (née Davashkina) and they have one son, David. Ilyumzhinov also has two brothers, Sanal and Vyacheslav.
Ilyumzhinov has drawn world-wide attention for claiming personal contact with aliens
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
, alleging that they took him on a mystical tour of the galaxy in their spaceship in 1997.
Political career
On April 12, 1993, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected as the first president of the Republic of Kalmykia, and has been running the state since then. This has allowed him to promote Kalmyk culture and music, but more importantly, chess which has been his real passion. Soon after his election, Ilyumzhinov introduced presidential rule, concentrating power in his own hands. He called early elections on October 15, 1995 and was re-elected unopposed—this time for a 7-year term. He won re-election in 2002. Ilyumzhinov's election platform for the presidency of Kalmykia included promising voters $100 each and a mobile phoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
for every shepherd—much of the population of Kalmykia living from agriculture. He once campaigned under the slogan "a wealthy president is a safeguard against corruption." He also pledged to introduce what he called an "economic dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
" in the republic, as well as to continue to promote chess in Kalmykia, in Russia and to the wider world. After his re-election in 1995, Ilyumzhinov reportedly told a journalist from the Russian daily Izvestia
Izvestia
Izvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
, "Irrespective of what I tell people, I give them instructions on a sub-conscious level, a code. I do the same thing when I communicate with Russian citizens from other regions. I am creating around the republic a kind of extra-sensory field and it helps us a lot in our projects."
Ilyumzhinov has striven to become an "Asian values
Asian values
Asian values was a concept that came into vogue briefly in the 1990s to justify authoritarian regimes in Asia, predicated on the belief in the existence within Asian countries of a unique set of institutions and political ideologies which reflected the region's culture and history...
" authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
like his Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an, Korean, and Chinese role models (even though his republic is in the southern European portion of Russia). He has spent millions of dollars on chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
and supporting religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, building a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
church at the instigation of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
John Paul II. He has also built a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, 22 Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
churches, and 30 Buddhist temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s. Chess was made a compulsory subject in the first three years of elementary school—the only place in the world where this is the case. The region now has numerous champions. The Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
has visited Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on many occasions and has blessed a number of the temples in Elista, as well as Kalmyk Buddhist temples overseas. Ilyumzhinov denies persistent accusations of diverting the republic's resources for his own use (in fact he does not draw a salary as president) and of suppressing media freedom. Visiting journalists and tourists who have come to Kalmykia have spoken of the great reception they have received, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov often meeting them in person. In 2004, police dispersed a small number of demonstrators who demanded his resignation. When Australian journalist Eric Campbell
Eric Campbell (reporter)
Eric Campbell is a prominent Australian foreign correspondent. He works predominantly for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , and was the station's Moscow correspondent from 1996 to 1999...
interviewed people in Elista about Ilyumzhinov, he found that many were happy that he had managed to gain widespread attention for Kalmykia through chess, although one was slightly critical of the money invested in chess projects.
Ilyumzhinov is also famous for his nature-conservative activities. He created the only reserve in Europe where it is possible to see relict saiga antelope. The year of 2010 in Kalmykia announced by Ilyumzhinov as Year of Saiga.
On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina
Larisa Yudina
Larisa Yudina was a journalist and the editor of the opposition newspaper, Sovietskaya Kalmykia Sevodnya...
, a publisher of an opposition newspaper, was stabbed to death in Elista. Both people convicted in the murder were Kalmykian government aides, and one was an advisor to Ilyumzhinov. One other person was acquitted by offering evidence to help in the conviction. Ilyumzhinov denied any involvement with the murder; the incident was fully investigated by the local and the Russian authorities.
On October 24, 2010 Ilyumzhinov retired as Head of Kalmykia, being replaced by Alexey Orlov
Aleksey Maratovich Orlov
Aleksey Maratovich Orlov is a Kalmyk politician who is the current "Head" of the Republic of Kalmykia which is part of the Russian Federation.Orlov was born on the 9th of October 1961 in Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia...
.
On 12 June 2011, Ilyumzhinov appeared in public with embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
after playing a game of chess with him in Tripoli.
FIDE career
Since November 1995, Ilyumzhinov has been President of the World Chess Federation, investing a large amount of his private fortune into the game. He has been enthusiastic about attracting international tournaments to Kalmykia, and many grandmasters have done so. His flamboyant plans to build an extravagant Chess CityChess City
Chess City is a large complex devoted to chess and chess competitions located east of Elista, Kalmykia, in Russia. The neighborhood-size development consists of a central, four-story domed City Chess Hall surrounded by an Olympic-style village of Californian-Mediterranean Revival Style architecture...
in the republic led to protests by some people, but have been praised by others for generating good publicity. The 1996 bout between Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
and Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
was originally scheduled to be played in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. However the international response was so harsh that FIDE moved the match to Elista where it received more positive international attention.
In other developments during that time, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov encountered opposition from rivals in the European chess federations, the U.S., and Canada. Some of these managed to a special meeting in Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, Netherlands, on April 27–28. The meeting called for equal treatment for Kamsky and Karpov, the restoration of the traditional FIDE cycle of qualifying contests leading to the world title match, and a shake-up in FIDE. To reinforce this reformation the Utrecht partners supported a candidate to challenge Ilyumzhinov at the FIDE Congress that took place alongside the Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
. The candidate was Jaime Sunye Neto
Jaime Sunye Neto
Jaime Sunye Neto is a grandmaster of chess.Awarded the IM title in 1980 and the GM title in 1986 he was Brazilian Champion six times, in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 ....
, a grandmaster from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. Ilyumzhinov was successful in mustering support from the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
and from Russia, and he won the election 87–46. There was no restoration of the traditional qualifying cycle, and Ilyumzhinov's own preference for a $5 million knockout contest for the world's top 100 players was deferred from December 1996 until December 1997, with no definite sponsor announced.
In the summer of 1998, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced his possible candidacy for the Russian presidency. This coincided with Anatoly Karpov being critical of the annual knockout FIDE world title system. Karpov argued that his contract with FIDE stipulated that the winner of the 1998 Karpov-Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
match would hold the title for two years. Karpov's successful advocacy of his rights led to the cancellation of a planned world title knockout series in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, later in that year. Since Karpov had an unsuccessful year, apart from his match against Anand, and he was unable to resist the plan that he would have to enter this knockout, whenever it came to be organized, at a far earlier stage.
Ilyumzhinov managed to persuade the 140 member countries of FIDE to take part in the main team event of the year, the Chess Olympiad, scheduled to start in late September 1998, in Elista. However the event started late due to the failure to complete the new venue in time. In the end, it attracted 110 teams to the main event, a Swiss system contest shortened to 13 rounds to allow for the delay.
On June 2, 2006, Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as FIDE President by a margin of 96–54 against his opponent Bessel Kok
Bessel Kok
Bessel Kok is a Dutch businessman and chess organiser living in Prague. He has served in top management positions in telecommunications companies in Belgium and in the Czech Republic...
. In an October 2006 Wall Street Journal article Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
, who backed a rival to Ilyumzhinov, criticized Ilyumzhinov FIDE's leadership stating: "(Ilyumzhinov) has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today." Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
, the British grandmaster who also supported Kirsan's rival for the leadership of FIDE, joined Kasparov's misgivings at Ilyumzhinov's victory.
On September 29, 2010, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as President of FIDE defeating his rival, Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
decisively - winning this election by 95 votes to 55.. However, there were bitter accusations of cheating and corruption about the voting system with CJ de Mooi, the president of the English Chess Federation, saying: "This was a farce of a vote...There wasn't even a pretence of fairness and free speech."
Autobiography
Ilyumzhinov called his autobiographyAutobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, published in 1998, The President’s Crown of Thorns. Chapter titles included "Without Me the People Are Incomplete" (a quote from a short story by Andrei Platonov
Andrei Platonov
Andrei Platonov was the pen name of Andrei Platonovich Klimentov , a Soviet author whose works anticipate existentialism. Although Platonov was a Communist, his works were banned in his own lifetime for their skeptical attitude toward collectivization and other Stalinist policies...
), "I Become a Millionaire," and "It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed"—the latter being about the problems with rising crime in some parts of Russia.
Mentions in literature
Ilyumzhinov features prominently in three books:- Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld, by Sarah Hurst (ISBN 1-888690-15-1) (privately published by Russell Enterprises Inc.).
- The Chess Artist, by J. C. Hallman (ISBN 0-312-27293-6).
- Absurdistan, by Eric Campbell (ISBN 0732279801).
Ilyumzhinov also has a whole chapter devoted to him in The Lost Cosmonaut by Daniel Kalder. (ISBN 9780571227815) (Faber, 2006).
There is also a brief biographical account on the website for the Embassy of Republic of Kalmyki.
External links
- "All about Kirsan" — ChessBase.com, 17 July 2004
- A two part documentary by Al Jazeera English on YoutubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
— part 1 and part 2 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in comics, 1995 - Letter from Russia: "Planet Kirsan" by Michael Specter, The New Yorker, April 24, 2006
- "King of Kalmykia" by Tom Parfitt, The Guardian, September 21, 2006
- THE DICTATOR AND HIS HOBBY: "Kalmykian Leader Makes Farce of Chess Championships" by Mark Grossekathöfer, Spiegel Magazine, October 12, 2006
- "The man who bought chess" by Ed Vulliamy, Observer Sport Monthly, October 29, 2006 Novy Vzglyad Publishing House— Official site