Antimatter

Russian Grandmaster Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin told Sputnik he is seriously thinking about creating a new chess association to be alternative and rival to FIDE. Apparently, there would already be friends and sponsors willing to follow and help him, even though it is not yet given to know whether they are Russian or foreign. It’s a big difference, but only to a certain extent. If by any chance the memory of the Professional Chess Association (PCA) comes to Karjakin’s mind, he might wonder why both its illustrious founders ended up switching over to the enemy’s army. In fact, following the money is not enough. That is what chess pros do. But political élites need proxies more than pros. And at present FIDE, however monolithic it may appear, is still a stargate to almost any country in the world. It is probably not a coincidence that Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov, who is the press secretary for Russian President, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Chess Federation, showed skepticism about the possibility of a breakthrough: “I think at the moment this is hardly possible”, he said. “FIDE is the most ancient and authoritative organisation, even though it stained its own reputation by engaging in politics, which makes barely possible, especially now, to have a calm confrontation on any level”.

The Sword in the Stone

• Песков: попечительский совет РШФ считает, что Филатов должен быть переизбран | Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov: The Russian Chess Federation Board of Trustees believes that Filatov should be re-elected, R-Sport, December 18, 2017

MOSCOW, December 18 – R-Sport. Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Chess Federation (RCF), said that the current President of the RCF, Andrey Vasilievich Filatov, should be re-elected for a new term. On November 16, the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation decided that the election of the President of the RCF will be celebrated on February 3, 2018. “A great work has been done in the last four years to develop chess in the country”, Mr. Peskov said at a gala evening at the Central House of Chess in Moscow, Russia. “This is a great merit of the incumbent President, Andrey Vasilievich Filatov. The Board of Trustees believes that Filatov should be re-elected”. Previously, Filatov told R-Sport that he would run for one more 4-year term in the forthcoming election, and that he is ready to directly compete with the President of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, if he’ll be nominated, too.

(Free translation by Nobody’s Perfect)

Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov
Photo © RIA Novosti/Sergey Guneev

Si duo dicunt idem non est idem

Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov, Chairman of the Russian Chess Federation’s Board of Trustees as well as spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, told TASS on Monday that “We believe that everything possible must be done to avoid any possible disruption in the organization (of upcoming international tournaments) and most importantly to evade all barriers in the direction of further development and popularization of the sport of chess”.
On the other hand, FIDE’s Greek junta, through its Press Officer Anastasiya Valeryevna Karlovich, confirmed in an email to Bloomberg News the statement of Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov’s resignation, but declined to provide further details.
Ilyumzhinov’s Executive Assistant Berik Tuktybekovich Balgabaev, for his part, trumply called FIDE’s statement “fake news”. Yes, Ilyumzhinov attended the Athens Presidential Board meeting on 25 and 26 March, Balgabaev told Bloomberg News, “but he never gave any resignation, and he never intends to do so”.
And, finally, Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, the President, who in a March 27 interview with Russian news agency TASS, said that “This intrigue has been whipped up by the U.S. Chess Federation and its allies, and this attempt is the latest among many. They tried to raise the issue of my resignation during the session in Athens, but it failed. In general, I sometimes receive threats demanding that I resign”. Yesterday Ilyumzhinov sent FIDE Executive Director Nigel Freeman a vehement letter of denial regarding his alleged resignation.
And today came FIDE’s reply, yet addressed to Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov as President:

Meanwhile in elsewhere, life goes on.

Storming Mirror Force

Новая Газета (‏@novaya_gazeta)

The Kremlin criticized the poor quality of journalistic investigation over offshore trails. See http://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/1702054.html.

The Kremlin has expressed disappointment with the poor quality of journalistic investigation over offshore trails. Thus spoke the Press Secretary for the President of Russia Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov. “After proclamations made, we had long waited for some reliable evidence to substantiate what the investigating journalists announced. As a matter of fact, however, nothing particularly new is to be expected, and I cannot but express my disappointment over how investigative journalism of high quality has now sunk into oblivion”, Peskov said. Peskov also said that the Kremlin is well aware that “the real goal of such stuffed ballot-box was and is our President”. [Read more].

• В Кремле раскритиковали качество журналистского расследования по офшорам (The Kremlin criticized the poor quality of journalistic investigation over offshore trails), Novaya Gazeta, April 4, 2016