मसाला चाय (Masala chai)

Alea iacta est! Shortly after the deadline for submitting candidacies for FIDE presidential election expired, it is now finally ascertained that there will be four ticket candidacies: Andrey Vadimovich Baryshpolets & Peter Heine Nielsen; Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich & Viswanathan Anand; Bachar Kouatly & Ian G. Wilkinson; Inalbek Sultanbekovich Sheripov & Lewis Ncube. In spite of his difficult circumstances as a Russian high official, Dvorkovich can rely upon the votes of most, if not all, South-East Asian countries, not to say of Russia and Belarus, and on the esteem of half Europe. Moreover, none of the big names who in past years campaigned for FIDE Presidency took the field to challenge him — and this must mean something, whatever it means. But Baryshpolets & Nielsen, of course, do not want to lose the election. Their electoral program does not leave room for Machiavellianisms and political compromises: they are pro-business, anti-corruption, pro-transparency — as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Their ideal FIDE is as apolitical as it is involved in geopolitical issues — which may sound like a contradiction, if not a Gordian Knot. Curiously enough, Baryshpolets is not the candidate of the Ukrainian Chess Federation — and that’s probably the best of references! Last but not least, the last two candidates: Belgian Chechen-born filmmaker and screenwriter Sheripov (a.k.a. Inal Sherip, Inal Cherip, Inal Cheripov) and French Grandmaster Kouatly. They too are running for President or perhaps they’re just hunting for votes and alliances, at worst. Just for political fiction’s sake, suppose that Sheripov is a hologram of 6th FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov and Kouatly a hologram of President of Chess Federation of Russia, Andrey Vasilievich Filatov, the one and the other being each nonetheless interested in measuring their relative political power, in anti- or pro- Dvorkovich function.