Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has started a dialogue with the administration of the US President-elect on lifting of sanctions imposed on him.
"My representative has already visited the US Treasury. We can say that it was a first contact with the new US authorities – on lifting of sanctions and the permission to enter the country. Still, I want to hold a chess tournament in America in memory of the great grandmaster Bobby Fischer," said the President of FIDE.
In November 2015, the US Treasury Department included the head of FIDE in the sanctions list, accusing him of supporting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ilyumzhinov does not have permission to enter the US and for this reason he was unable to attend the match for the title of world chess champion held in New York in November 2016.
