After devoting a
large report to the activities of the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in his
bid for reelection as FIDE President we bring you an even longer campaign report
from the other side. Longer not because we wish to provide a disproportionate
amount of space to one candidate, but because there is much more material on
their site. Apart from that we have received a report and pictures from the
Karpov 2010 team, which you will find at the end of the report.
Don't Cry for Me Argentina
The breaking news in the Argentine and other Spanish-language press –
which includes our Spanish
news page – is that the Argentine Secretary of Sport, Claudio Morresi,
has released an official statement saying that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is not
an honorary member of the Argentine Chess Federation (FADA). This is of some
relevance to the FIDE presidential election because FADA is one of the federations
that nominated Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for the presidency of FIDE – along with
Russia and Mexico.
The Russian Federation nomination, claimed both by
Ilyumzhinov and by
Karpov, has been hotly and at times violently
disputed, so both candidates had back-up nominations from other federations.
The legitimacy of all of Ilyumzhinov's nominations is under an legal challenge
at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The New York Times has
reported that the arbiters in Lausanne will hear the case on September 15
and 16. The speed with which this is taking place would seem to make it likely
that a decision could arrive before the FIDE election, scheduled for September
29 in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Since the case is still in progress and there are legal confidentiality restrictions
attached, nobody was willing to comment on the details. The Karpov2010 campaign
is one of the groups who brought the case against FIDE, along with the federations
of Switzerland, Germany, France, Ukraine, and the USA. We are just going to
have to wait...
Karpov Campaign Reports
August 9, 2010: Response to Freeman’s Interview – What about CNC?
While we understand the desire of ChessBase to remain neutral in this FIDE
election, and to present items from both campaigns, we must address several
damaging fabrications contained in the “interview”
with Nigel Freeman they republished from Kirsan’s website. Some of the
Treasurer’s statements are as full of fantasy as the Kirsan
campaign’s claims of federation support.
FIDE should not be taking money from federations to begin with, which is
why the Karpov administration will abolish these fees and move to a sponsorship
model that allows FIDE to support the federations instead of the reverse.
In that vein, perhaps Mr. Freeman could enlighten us as to the details and
purpose of FIDE’s agreement with “CNC” and the infamous
David Kaplan. It appears Kirsan’s FIDE is selling all of its commercial
rights for pennies, with some benefits likely in store for a few FIDE officials
as well.
It would be very helpful to us and the entire chess community to hear him
explain an agreement that cedes the rights to the rating list, titles, every
FIDE event including the world championship, and even states that FIDE must
change its own regulations to promote CNC’s activities. And for this
FIDE “can expect to receive” a meager $100,000 per year, with
no guarantees in sight.
August 10, 2010; Strategy for the Future of Chess Marketing
Making Chess a Professionally Marketed Sport – The
Karpov2010 Campaign has the pleasure to share a detailed and comprehensive
marketing strategy for chess, prepared by Ravi Abhyankar, a senior advisor
to the Karpov campaign. Hailing from Mumbai, India, Mr. Abhyankar is a leading
expert on international marketing, having worked with a number of major multinational
corporations.
This ground-breaking plan aims to make chess a commercially viable sport.
Beginning with a comprehensive worldwide chess market survey and proceeding
to offer a number of major fresh ideas, including FIDE-sponsored Internet
broadcasts of chess events, ways to secure major advertisement and the creation
of a Global Chess League, this document offers a badly-needed alternative
to the stagnation and complacency which have characterized FIDE under the
leadership of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. It also exemplifies the ambitious ideas
the Karpov2010 campaign has received from the world of commercial strategy
and sponsorship – and the business leaders who look forward to investing
in a new FIDE.
August 18, 2010: Kirsan’s Agenda or FIDE’s Agenda?
FIDE has published the
agenda of the 2010 General Assembly in Khanty-Mansiysk, which will run
from September 23 to October 4. We would like to draw your attention to one
item in particular, under Section 6) Directors’ Reports. The only mention
of the CNC Project in the document is here, where it says:
6.1.1. CNC Project.
Deputy President G. Makropoulos to inform the General Assembly.
This project, which gives the opaque David Kaplan company CNC complete control
over every commercial aspect of FIDE, the rating list, titles, and more, will
not be discussed, debated, or otherwise opened to the General Assembly. Instead,
the Deputy President will simply “inform” everyone that Kirsan
has surrendered FIDE’s potential to develop a successful commercial
program that could support the national federations instead of taking from
them.
August 25, 2010: Kirsan’s Shame: VP Candidate Iturry Ousted in Peru
On August 18, the ongoing corruption scandal involving Milton Iturry, president
of the Peruvian Chess Federation finally came to its denouement. As reported
on the website
of Peru’s Group RPP, “the director of the Affiliated Sports
of the Peruvian Institute of Sport (IPD), Daysi Cereceda, announced that Iturry
is no longer president of the Peruvian Chess Federation (FDPA).” Iturry
also happens to be the vice presidential candidate in the election campaign
of the incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilumzhinov.
Iturry, Jorge Vega, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
The move was a particular embarrassment for Kirsan, who was visiting Peru
at the time. Kirsan had relied on his alliance with Iturry to safeguard and
increase the support of his candidacy among Latin American federations. This
is yet another vivid illustration of the illusory nature of the support Kirsan
has claimed.
Special article: Anatoly Karpov on the campaign trail
By Peter Zalmayev
Throughout the hot weeks of summer, the Karpov campaign has been relentless
in its efforts to gather support for its vision for world chess and FIDE. An
alternative to the outright stagnation of the sport during the fifteen years
of Kirsan Ilumzhinov’s tenure is long overdue.
During the campaign’s busy travelling schedule this summer, Anatoly Karpov
and members of the ticket, including Richard Conn Jr., candidate for Deputy
President and Abd Hamid Majid, candidate for Secretary General, met with national
federations’ officials and chess enthusiasts to identify local needs, held numerous
press-conferences, and played countless exhibition matches. The message throughout
the journeys has been loud and clear: change in FIDE, change in chess is needed
for the sport to survive and to thrive.
Karpov2010 responded to that appeal by literally putting its money where its
mouth is and announcing, during its barnstorming Asian tour, an unprecedented
$4-million development package to assist struggling federations worldwide. Structured
to be distributed during the first 4-year term of the FIDE presidency, the package
will help promote chess and support youth programs and chess education in schools
in the neediest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Together with the plan to abolish membership and title fees, this initiative
constitutes the main objective of Karpov’s campaign: to turn FIDE into an instrument
of credible and effective assistance to federations rather than an instrument
of extortion, which it has increasingly become under the current president.
Anatoly Karpov’s vision has clearly resonated with the voters at the upcoming
Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, as scores of federations have endorsed– whether
openly or in private – the candidate and his revolutionary platform.
Asia
On July 13-21, the most populous continent on Earth – Asia – hosted
a remarkable tour by Anatoly Karpov and Richard Conn, during which they visited
Japan, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Front-page
news at several of these stops, the duo’s appearances at well-attended press-conferences,
exhibition matches, and youth tournaments provided local chess communities with
fresh new vigor: in the words of one of Singapore’s chess aficionados, “this
was the best chess event ever held in Singapore.”
Beijing: Anatoly Karpov presides over the award ceremony at Asian Youth
Invitational Chess Championship
[Addendum: Asian Chess Federation Deputy President and
Ilyumzhinov ally Casto Abundo wrote in to inform us that Karpov was only one
of several presenters: "FIDE Secretary General Ignatius Leong, myself
and Asian Chess Federation Secretary General Hisham Al Taher were clearly
named as the main guests, in this order, and Karpov was only No. 6 after Chinese
Chess Association president Chu Bo and Secretary General Ye Jiangchuan."
Abundo goes on to chide us: "To mislead readers is a disservice to those
who worked hard to make the Asian Youth Championship a success." People
are extremely touchy in this election campaign.]
While in Indonesia, Anatoly Karpov responded to the most frequent complaint
from location federations – that of the dire lack of funding and exorbitant
fees charged by FIDE – by announcing a large development package for chess,
much of which would go be appropriated to Asian federations. This initiative
stands in stark contrast to Kirsan Ilumzhinov’s demonstrated inability to bring
in sufficient, if any, corporate sponsorship. Shortly afterwards, the campaign’s
ground-breaking announcement echoed in another corner of the vast continent.
The president of the Chess Federation of the United Arab Emirates Sulaiman Al
Fahim joined the growing chorus of Karpov’s supporters during the latter’s brief
trip to Dubai, and, in his turn, pledged $320,000 to support chess in Asia.
Read a detailed report on the Asian tour here.
Indonesia: the 12th Champion and his adoring young fans
Americas
In the first two weeks of August, team Karpov moved across the planet, for
his third visit of South America and the Caribbean this summer, following his
trips in late June and early July to Bolivia,
Puerto
Rico and the Bahamas.
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales and former world chess champion
Anatoly
Karpov played a chess match at the presidential palace in La Paz
On August 6-8, Karpov and Conn visited Buenos Aires, Argentina, to attend
the Festival de Villa Martelli, which is comprised of four large tournaments.
The visit came in the midst of a scandal involving high-level officials in the
local federation. Similar to the scandal
around the president of the Peruvian Chess Federation and the candidate for
Vice President on Kirsan’s ticket Milton Iturry, who has recently been relieved
of his duties, the situation in Argentina involved a high-ranking member of
the federation grossly overstepping his authority (and bypassing the federation’s
president, Nicolas Barrera) to do Kirsan’s bidding – at the expense of the federation’s
integrity and, indeed, the integrity of the sport itself (read more on the scandal
at the Argentinian Chess Federation here).
While in Buenos Aires, Anatoly Karpov met with federation officials to help
mediate in the scandal and discuss ways to promote chess in Argentina. This
was a nostalgic trip for Karpov, as Argentina has hosted numerous world-class
events where the Grandmaster has participated. In his interview to Clarin.com,
Karpov recalled fondly the golden era in Argentina’s chess, when Capablanca
and Alekhin came to play here, the age which lasted until the 1980’s, when the
country hosted a chess Olympiad. Fewer and fewer such events are being held
in Argentina under Kirsan’s watch, though. (Read the full interview here).
Meeting Argentina’s Minister of Education and a senior official from
the Russian Embassy
On August 9-11, Anatoly Karpov and Richard Conn visited Curaçao as part
of their FIDE presidency campaign and to promote chess in the Caribbean region.
Their visit came after the Curaçao International Chess Festival. As Curaçao
has an active chess life and a long tradition of international chess events,
a large number of chess fans and local journalists turned out to greet the former
champion and his deputy. The local organizers, Fabio Mensing and Quirino Richardson,
had prepared a full program for the visiting challengers and had invited local
media to accompany them during their visit. Also on hand were representatives
of the chess federations of Jamaica, Surinam, and Guyana, who had come to Curaçao
to meet with the chess legend.
Fabio Mensing and Quirino Richardson welcome Richard Conn and Anatoly
Karpov
During their short but eventful visit, Karpov and Conn met with the Prime Minister
of the Netherlands Antilles, Emily de Jongh Elhage. The government and Caribbean
chess federations consider chess an important educational tool for elementary
school students. One of the initiatives is to donate chess sets to elementary
schools. The Antillean Chess Federation organized a ceremony in the Avilla Beach
Hotel where representatives of the elementary schools were invited to receive
their chess sets personally from Anatoly Karpov and Mrs. Alcala- Walle, the
Commissioner of Education, Sports and Culture.
From right: Ludwig Abad, Errol Tiwari. Carlos dos Ramos, Ian Wikinson,
Emily de Jongh-
Elhage, Anatoly Karpov, Richard Conn, Quirino Richardson, Aubrey Kappel, Fabio
Mensing
Karpov and Conn discuss the development of chess in the Caribbean with
the
Prime Minister and the President of the Neth. Antilles Chess Federation
Karpov had several meetings with representatives of Caribbean chess federations
to discuss strategies to further develop chess in the region. One traditional
problem is the high travel and lodging costs for international competitions,
making Caribbean islands a less than obvious venue for chess events. Following
the meetings, the former champion played a simultaneous match against talented
local youth players.
The
2010 Curacao International Chess Festival was held from July 23 through August
1. On the agenda were the traditional Open tournament and a Youth tournament.
The Open tournament is always an interesting mix of chess players from the Caribbean
region, Europe, the United States and South America.
Anatoly Karpov also went to work “behind the scenes” and, as a result, had
some very good news for the Organization Committee of the Curaçao International
Chess Festival: the Curaçao cellular company Chippie has agreed to be one of
the major sponsors of the 2011 Chess Festival.
Karpov and representatives of the region’s chess federations concluded their
visit with a sailing tour. Karpov demonstrated his qualities behind the wheel
of the yacht. In the coming months we shall know if Karpov will also get to
steer FIDE through quiet and rough seas.
Karpov, Conn and local chess enthusiasts steer the Insulinde through the
Caribbean Sea
Following the team’s discussions with the Caribbean chess officials in Curaçao
on August 19, Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) announced that an agreement has
been signed by Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname to
establish a Caribbean Chess Union (CCU). The planned umbrella organization
shall be fashioned after the CARICOM, and vested with the power to make decisions
on behalf of the entire Caribbean chess community and represent it at international
forums.
Guyana was represented by president of the GCF, Errol Tiwari, Jamaica by the
president of the Jamaican Chess Federation Ian Wilkinson, Netherlands
Antilles by the president of its Chess Federation Ludwig Abad and Suriname
by the president of the Suriname Chess Federation Dr Carlos Dos Ramos. Read
the full report on the agreement here.
