Kasparov Fails To Unseat Ilyumzhinov From World Chess Presidency

Moscow: An eccentric millionaire who believes he was once abducted by aliens has been re-elected president of the World Chess Federation in a battle that threatened to make chess another field of confrontation in the struggle between the West and Russia. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, former governor of Russia's Buddhist republic of Kalmykia and a loyal follower of Vladimir Putin, saw off a challenge by Garry Kasparov, former world champion and a critic of the Kremlin. Mr Ilyumzhinov won another four-year term with 110 to 61 votes at the FIDE congress in Tromso, Norway. It followed an ill-tempered campaign mired in accusations of corruption, dirty tricks and bullying. "This is not about a former world champion against a former alien abductee," Mr Kasparov said in the run-up to the vote. "It's not about chess. This is a pure political fight." In a letter to the FIDE authorities and Mr Ilyumzhinov's campaign team, Mr Kasparov accused his opponent of using "every trick in the book" – including shutting national federations likely to back his rival – to ensure re-election. Mr Ilyumzhinov has in turn accused Mr Kasparov of cynically seeking to "politicise" the game, something he says delegates legitimately fear. "That's why it is necessary to fight him," he told the New York Times during the campaign. There is no doubting Mr Ilyumzhinov's devotion to – some would say fanaticism about – the game. As the president of the Kalmykia, a remote republic of the Russian federation on the Caspian Sea, he made the game compulsory in school and poured millions into Chess City, a theme-park-cum-chess academy, on the southern Russian steppe. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/garry-kasparov-fails-to-unseat-kirsan-ilyumzhinov-from-world-chess-presidency-20140812-10306t.html#ixzz3ABrq0Ilo