At a joint press conference, the Moldovan leader called the President of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov "my good friend" and didn’t spare his generous expressions of gratitude.
It should be noted that due to the support of Ilyumzhinov, including the financial, the hundreds of the ancient game classes were opened in Moldova. His assistance in the opening of regional chess organizations in 25 regions of the country is also worth mentioning.
Ilyumzhinov and Dodon played a game of chess on the opening day of the Championship. They played with the expensive chess set "Batalia" presented by the President of Russia to the President of Moldova. Nobody, of course, did lose: a mini-contest ended with "a triumphal draw". Igor Dodon commented in social networks: "We talked and played a game of chess with the set donated by Vladimir Putin."
After that they made a trip to Gagauz autonomy, where the Bashkan (Governor) Irina Vlah has provided them with a warm reception. Another chess tournament was opened there, and an initiative to hold the first international chess tournament among Turkic peoples was voiced. This issue would be probably discussed in May at the Gagauzian World Congress that will take place in the capital of the autonomy Comrat, which the President of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan is going to visit.
Hardly the attention of anyone, who watches what happens in Moldova, could escape a surge of activity between the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and Russian political beau monde. During Dodon’s landmark visit to Moscow, followed by a meeting with a delegation from the Russian Federation in Chisinau, the Gagauz Bashkan recently hosted partners from a Moscow region. Incidentally, the good relations of Irene Vlach with Russia have greatly contributed to her victory in the local elections, same as to Igor Dodon’s victory in his electoral campaign.
Ilyumzhinov has not stood aside and promised to assist Dodon in the implementation of introduction of chess into the school curriculum. The Russian politician, who visit Moldova quite often, congratulated his colleague with his victory on behalf of 188 FIDE members and expressed his liking for the country during a press conference: "I like your country, here is a good aura and local people like chess and revere chess traditions ".
Ilyumzhinov reinforced his words by the gift of one and a half thousand chess sets, which Dodon distributed between the countries’ regions: 200 will stay at Gagauzia, some will remain on the right bank of the Dniester, and 800 will be sent across the river to Transnistria. In addition, the President of FIDE made a decision to reserve two nominees among Moldovan chess players to directly take part in the World Cup without preliminary participation in the European Championship.
The head of the Moldovan state allocated one reservation to the players from Transnistria, stressing: "There are traditionally very good players in Transnistria. We will certainly go to Tiraspol to hold a championship during the next visit of Mr. Ilyumzhinov. I think chess will play an important role in the unification of our country." In the light of Dodon’s resonant statement about the solving of the Transnistria problem by referendum, the chess initiative of official Chisinau can be interpreted as a power move.