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20th Anniversary of Ilyumzhinov’s FIDE Presidency
November 24, 2015
Certainly a controversial President and a man about whom many have strong opinions. Putting aside one’s personal feelings for him, we ask, “Has FIDE and world chess made progress under him?”
The FIDE website lists his achievements and I give the complete text below. The press release is at:
http://www.fide.com/component/conten...-in-fide-.html
20th anniversary of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's Presidency in FIDE 20 years of progress
With 20 years anniversary of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s accession to the office of the FIDE President this November, 24, it is proper to recall his achievements as FIDE President, whose contribution in the history of the world chess cannot be underestimated.
When Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected as FIDE President in 1995, the issues he faced, had been primarily a divided chess world (after Kasparov and Short created the "Professional Chess Association" (PCA) and started to organize their own world championships), a poor FIDE chess calendar, FIDE permanent financial problems and a few major achievements are as follows.
1) Recognition of Chess as a Sport
In 1999 the International Olympic Committee recognized FIDE as an international sports organization, confirming the fact that chess is a sport. The FIDE President's present aim is to include chess in the Winter Games and to join the family of Olympic Sports in the future and he is working hard in this direction. So far chess has been participating in continental (Asian, African), regional (Games of the Caribbean, South-East Asia), Arab Games, Universiade and Maccabi games and many others.
During the last meeting in June 2015 IOC and FIDE representatives made a decision to meet on a regular basis in order to discuss issues of mutual concern.
Chess federations are full or affiliate members recognized by the National Olympic Committees in 127 countries, and chess as a sport is recognized in 155 countries.
2) Unification of the World Chess Championship
Since 1993 the chess world fell apart and there had been two different organizations representing chess players with two different world championship cycles and two different world champions. It was unacceptable for the image of chess and FIDE, therefore Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has done his best to unify the chess world. Over years several attempts to re-unify the world championship failed for various reasons. In 2002 the unification agreement has been signed in Prague and in 2006 a unification match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov was played. Since then the only chess federation representing chess players from around the world is FIDE and only FIDE has exclusive rights to organize the World Championships.
3) Stable financial situation of FIDE
It's not a secret that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov donated millions of dollars from his own funds for chess development. He was helping chess well before he had become FIDE President, including the sponsorship of the Moscow Chess Olympiad 1994. When Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became FIDE President, there were very few events in the FIDE calendar and FIDE could hardly find sponsors for these events.
Thanks to the efforts of the FIDE President, the prize funds reached an absolutely different level. Prizes for players and stipends for principles as well as organizational costs have been increased tremendously. The FIDE President managed to attract many sponsors from around the world and at the moment, FIDE has a stable income to its budget also by introducing new events and continuously finding new organizers and sponsorship. Only in the last two years the total amount of the prize funds for the FIDE events reached approximately 10 million dollars. The FIDE budget has also increased accordingly and nearly doubled in 2014 as compared to 2008.
4) Complete FIDE calendar
The moment when Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became the FIDE President the calendar included only few events (World Chess Olympiads and World Championships). Being a huge chess supporter, numerous events were introduced by the FIDE President to the FIDE calendar not only for chess professionals but also for amateurs and young players, including absolutely new events as World School Championships, World Cup, Grand Prix series, World Rapid and Blitz Championships etc. Nowadays the FIDE calendar is full of tournaments.
5) The number of people playing chess increased more than ten times
In July 1995 there were 18162 FIDE rated players and in November 2015 the number reached 227751 players, thus, the number of active chess players increased more than 10 times in the last 20 years. In November 2015 there are 547747 registered players.
In 2010 the FIDE President announced his main target - to reach 1 billion people who can play chess. (According to a study of British company YouGov, more than 600 million people play chess in the World (March 2012)). Every year he visits many countries promoting the ‘Chess in Schools’ programme, inspiring people of all ages to play chess.
Since the FIDE President launched the knockout system a lot of players have been taking part in all knock out events during all these years. The new World Championship cycle system allowed many more chess players to make their living and benefit from chess. This was not possible before 1995, when only a dozen of top players were enjoying the advantages of elite players.
6) The FIDE family has substantially increased
In 1995 in Paris, France 149 federations were present. In 2015 there are 186 federations members of FIDE, making FIDE one of the largest sports organizations in the world.
In 1996 during the 32nd Olympiad in Yerevan 114 teams representing 111 nations participated in the Open section and 74 teams representing 72 nations in the women’s section took part.
In 2014 in Tromso there were 177 teams from 172 countries in the open section and 136 from 131 countries in the women's section.
However, the FIDE President doesn't intend to stop at this stage: he believes all nations should join the international chess community. The main target is to achieve a significant growth in the number of people of all ages participating in chess events at all levels and to develop chess by increasing the level of tournament participation globally.
7) Development of women’s chess
The data of Elista FIDE office shows that the number of women players increased from 1650 women players in 1995 to 22046 in November 2015! The number of female players with titles was 545 in July 1995 and reached 3056 in November 2015.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is a huge supporter of women’s chess. He has done a lot to attract the sponsorship and media to the women’s chess. The current Women’s championship circle system, which includes a knockout tournament, Women Grand Prix series and the Women World Championship Match with a decent prize fund always attracts the strongest women players.
November 24, 2015
Certainly a controversial President and a man about whom many have strong opinions. Putting aside one’s personal feelings for him, we ask, “Has FIDE and world chess made progress under him?”
The FIDE website lists his achievements and I give the complete text below. The press release is at:
http://www.fide.com/component/conten...-in-fide-.html
20th anniversary of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's Presidency in FIDE 20 years of progress
With 20 years anniversary of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s accession to the office of the FIDE President this November, 24, it is proper to recall his achievements as FIDE President, whose contribution in the history of the world chess cannot be underestimated.
When Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected as FIDE President in 1995, the issues he faced, had been primarily a divided chess world (after Kasparov and Short created the "Professional Chess Association" (PCA) and started to organize their own world championships), a poor FIDE chess calendar, FIDE permanent financial problems and a few major achievements are as follows.
1) Recognition of Chess as a Sport
In 1999 the International Olympic Committee recognized FIDE as an international sports organization, confirming the fact that chess is a sport. The FIDE President's present aim is to include chess in the Winter Games and to join the family of Olympic Sports in the future and he is working hard in this direction. So far chess has been participating in continental (Asian, African), regional (Games of the Caribbean, South-East Asia), Arab Games, Universiade and Maccabi games and many others.
During the last meeting in June 2015 IOC and FIDE representatives made a decision to meet on a regular basis in order to discuss issues of mutual concern.
Chess federations are full or affiliate members recognized by the National Olympic Committees in 127 countries, and chess as a sport is recognized in 155 countries.
2) Unification of the World Chess Championship
Since 1993 the chess world fell apart and there had been two different organizations representing chess players with two different world championship cycles and two different world champions. It was unacceptable for the image of chess and FIDE, therefore Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has done his best to unify the chess world. Over years several attempts to re-unify the world championship failed for various reasons. In 2002 the unification agreement has been signed in Prague and in 2006 a unification match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov was played. Since then the only chess federation representing chess players from around the world is FIDE and only FIDE has exclusive rights to organize the World Championships.
3) Stable financial situation of FIDE
It's not a secret that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov donated millions of dollars from his own funds for chess development. He was helping chess well before he had become FIDE President, including the sponsorship of the Moscow Chess Olympiad 1994. When Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became FIDE President, there were very few events in the FIDE calendar and FIDE could hardly find sponsors for these events.
Thanks to the efforts of the FIDE President, the prize funds reached an absolutely different level. Prizes for players and stipends for principles as well as organizational costs have been increased tremendously. The FIDE President managed to attract many sponsors from around the world and at the moment, FIDE has a stable income to its budget also by introducing new events and continuously finding new organizers and sponsorship. Only in the last two years the total amount of the prize funds for the FIDE events reached approximately 10 million dollars. The FIDE budget has also increased accordingly and nearly doubled in 2014 as compared to 2008.
4) Complete FIDE calendar
The moment when Kirsan Ilyumzhinov became the FIDE President the calendar included only few events (World Chess Olympiads and World Championships). Being a huge chess supporter, numerous events were introduced by the FIDE President to the FIDE calendar not only for chess professionals but also for amateurs and young players, including absolutely new events as World School Championships, World Cup, Grand Prix series, World Rapid and Blitz Championships etc. Nowadays the FIDE calendar is full of tournaments.
5) The number of people playing chess increased more than ten times
In July 1995 there were 18162 FIDE rated players and in November 2015 the number reached 227751 players, thus, the number of active chess players increased more than 10 times in the last 20 years. In November 2015 there are 547747 registered players.
In 2010 the FIDE President announced his main target - to reach 1 billion people who can play chess. (According to a study of British company YouGov, more than 600 million people play chess in the World (March 2012)). Every year he visits many countries promoting the ‘Chess in Schools’ programme, inspiring people of all ages to play chess.
Since the FIDE President launched the knockout system a lot of players have been taking part in all knock out events during all these years. The new World Championship cycle system allowed many more chess players to make their living and benefit from chess. This was not possible before 1995, when only a dozen of top players were enjoying the advantages of elite players.
6) The FIDE family has substantially increased
In 1995 in Paris, France 149 federations were present. In 2015 there are 186 federations members of FIDE, making FIDE one of the largest sports organizations in the world.
In 1996 during the 32nd Olympiad in Yerevan 114 teams representing 111 nations participated in the Open section and 74 teams representing 72 nations in the women’s section took part.
In 2014 in Tromso there were 177 teams from 172 countries in the open section and 136 from 131 countries in the women's section.
However, the FIDE President doesn't intend to stop at this stage: he believes all nations should join the international chess community. The main target is to achieve a significant growth in the number of people of all ages participating in chess events at all levels and to develop chess by increasing the level of tournament participation globally.
7) Development of women’s chess
The data of Elista FIDE office shows that the number of women players increased from 1650 women players in 1995 to 22046 in November 2015! The number of female players with titles was 545 in July 1995 and reached 3056 in November 2015.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is a huge supporter of women’s chess. He has done a lot to attract the sponsorship and media to the women’s chess. The current Women’s championship circle system, which includes a knockout tournament, Women Grand Prix series and the Women World Championship Match with a decent prize fund always attracts the strongest women players.
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