My Big Fat Greek Wedding

And, finally, let’s introduce the third FIDE President in fieri, Georgios Makropoulos from Greece. Chess International Master, he also achieved a Grandmaster norm in the 4th “Banco di Roma” International Tournament in Rome, Italy, 1980. Makropoulos often took part in the “Banco di Roma” tournaments during the 1980s, and one can imagine him spending evenings in Rome with Grandmaster Sergio Mariotti and International Master Alvise Zichichi, laughing and drinking wine. But Makropoulos soon chose a diplomatic career, both at home and abroad, apparently with some success, as he has been the President of Greek Chess Federation since 1982, and Vice President of FIDE since 1986. During his long mandates he had been often compelled to agree to unpopular compromises, which, if on the one hand saved the face of his masters as well as his own personal power, on the other hand weakened his public image. It is certain that he has enemies in the Caucasus. After serving FIDE for long years in the shadow of President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, with whom he keeps entertaining a solid relationship, Makropoulos had to play all out just to stay in the game. After Ilyumzhinov was blacklisted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Makropoulos reinvented himself as Kirsan Nikolayevich’s most irreducible opponent, candidating himself for FIDE Presidency, so as to reassure both the Yankee sheriffs and the Swiss bankers, in a last desperate attempt to maintain the status quo. But, foreseeably, they did not believe in such a proof of discontinuity, and thus the bigwig Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich and the Knight of the Crown Nigel David Short had to run in rescue of Caïssa. Like Short, Makropoulos, too, has no realistic chance of arriving ahead of Dvorkovich in the presidential race, but, nevertheless, it wouldn’t be wise nor prudent to underestimate his almost messianic ability to be a man for all seasons.