Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Remains FIDE President

However, the Presidential Board in Athens severely limited his power.

The extraordinary meeting of the FIDE Presidential Board took place on April 10 in Athens. Resignation of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was discussed. Earlier there was an information that FIDE President canceled the meeting, however, on Monday Berik Balgabaev, director of FIDE office in Russia, told the R-Sport agency that Ilyumzhinov decided to attend the Presidential Board in Athens. 

At the extraordinary meeting it was decided that Kirsan Ilymzhinov will stay President of FIDE until the end of 2018. However, his power will be limited and he will not be able to take major decisions nor sign contracts.

RCF President and FIDE Vice-President Andrey Filatov noted that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov called him after the meeting and informed that he remained President of FIDE. 

“I am glad that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov remains President, the status-quo remains, and the chess world remains united”, said the head of the RCF.

FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos commented for Chessdom.com:

“The meeting was peaceful and all decisions were reached unanimously. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov remains FIDE President, nobody wanted to remove him, and everything is explained in the press release after the Presidential Board.

The Board unanimously reconfirmed its decision of 6th December 2015. The Board decided that the Powers of the FIDE President, as described in Chapter 9 of the FIDE Statutes, are fully delegated to the FIDE Deputy President.”

In the FIDE official statement published after the meeting, Mr Ilyumzhinov explained that in the previous board meeting he had emotionally expressed his desire to resign but he now felt that he had more time to contribute to Chess. Mr Makropoulos and several board members then commented on the current situation. It was clear that nobody during the FIDE PB of March 26th 2017 had asked for his resignation nor did they make any calls for his removal from office. Mr Makropoulos stated that FIDE always wants to maintain excellent relations with the Russian Chess Federation, which may not have had complete information regarding the present situation.

Mr Ilyumzhinov apologised for making statements regarding FIDE Presidential Board members and FIDE Executives.

It was unanimously agreed by the Board that no statements would be made on behalf of FIDE, or purporting to represent FIDE, unless such statements are made with prior approval of the FIDE Secretariat.

It was also unanimously agreed that everyone would co-operate productively for the good of FIDE, National chess federations and the worldwide chess community.

FIDE Press-Release