The whole epoch in the world of chess is coming to an end. Ilyumzhinov headed the International Chess Federation for 23 years since 1995. His reign happened to be at the most troubled times in the chess kingdom. First, he had to resolve the split initiated by Kasparov, then for many years he tried to patch up the damage caused by Kasparov and finally he managed to restore the unity of the chess world.
The split was totally Kasparov's fault. Ilyumzhinov tried hard to achieve reunification, which, I believe, even considering all claims against him, redeems his mistakes.
His legacy is organizing the tournaments for the most important chess titles, the growth of chess popularity around the world (especially in the third world countries) and overcoming the consequences of Kasparov’s riot...
Editorial note. Here comes the cherry on the top, which is the reason why we cite this post. It is the selection of photos of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. All of them were taken at different times and with different people. We just reprint the author’s post including his comments on photos. Because this is history and epoch for everyone who loves chess and may not even like Ilyumzhinov.
At school
Sergeant of the Soviet Army
The end of the 80's
Ilyumzhinov with Vice President of the Russian Federation Rutskoi. Ilyumzhinov was one of those who opposed the shooting of the White House during the 1993 coup d'état.
Ilyumzhinov with Ruslan Aushev at the White House after the shooting. Aushev said: "Viktor Stepanovich, they could be good or bad deputies but we saw women and children there. There are 500 of them there, you must stop the slaughter." The answer was: "They should be wiped off the face of the earth."
Boris Nemtsov from Nizhny Novgorod jumped up: "Press them, Viktor Stepanovich! Time is against us. Destroy them!"
And other governors shouted: "Shoot!" I said: "Today, you ordered to shoot the Supreme Council, but you will be shot one by one tomorrow." He wrote about these events in detail at http://asiarussia.ru/articles/532/
Ilyumzhinov with Dzhokhar Dudayev
Ilyumzhinov  with Shamil Basayev
Twenty years later. Ilyumzhinov with Ramzan Kadyrov
Ilyumzhinov with Vanga
1995. Ilyumzhinov becomes the President of FIDE replacing Filipinos Florencio Campomanes
Boney M in Kalmykia
Ilyumzhinov with Yeltsin
Ilyumzhinov led Kalmykia as President until 2005 and as head of the Republic until 2010
Construction of the "chess capital" in Elista
Their struggle lasted a quarter of a century.
And I would say that Ilyumzhinov won it. He proved to be as stronger than Kasparov as an apparatchik and politician as Kasparov was stronger than Ilyumzhinov as a chess player.
And even the famous pragmatist Anatoly Karpov could not crush Ilyumzhinov in the elections.
Ilyumzhinov with the strongest female chess player in history Judit Polgar
Ilyumzhinov with her successor, the Chinese Hou Yifan
Ilyumzhinov with Soviet champion Nona Gaprindashvili and the last Russian World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk
Ilyumzhinov with the chess king Magnus Carlsen
Zhukov, Dvorkovich, Peskov and Ilyumzhinov
Ilyumzhinov with Putin
Leaving the post of the President of Kalmykia, Ilyumzhinov said: "There is the vertical of power in Russia. I will work where Kremlin wants me".
Ilyumzhinov with Medvedev
Ilyumzhinov with Lukashenko
Ilyumzhinov with the actual owner of Georgia, billionaire Ivanishvili
Ilyumzhinov with the honorable citizen of Kalmykia, Russian citizen Stephen Seagal
Ilyumzhinov with the Pope
Ilyumzhinov with the Dalai Lama and Gorbachev
Ilyumzhinov at the end of the championship match with Hou Yifan. Presidents of the Turkish and Albanian Chess Federations, Ilyumzhinov, Gorbachev and Makropoulos
Awarding of Zhores Alferov
Ilyumzhinov with Kuchma
Ilyumzhinov with Yanukovych
Ilyumzhinov with Klitschko
Ilyumzhinov with Poroshenko
Ilyumzhinov with Saddam Hussein
North Korea. Ilyumzhinov was an active supporter of North Korea joining FIDE
Ilyumzhinov with Colonel Kaddafi. At the corner of the photo you can see Makropoulos, who will betray Ilyumzhinov ten years later
Ilyumzhinov playing chess with Gaddafi
Ilyumzhinov with the recently overthrown Serzh Sargsyan
Ilyumzhinov with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
Ilyumzhinov with Bashar Assad
2016. Olympics in Thessaloniki. Dvorkovich, Zhukov and Ilyumzhinov

06/29/2018