05.01.2016

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov: "The main thing for me - an inner harmony"

- Recently celebrated 20 years since you were elected president of FIDE. What has changed during this time?
- Now I lead the largest sports federation in the world. But 20 years ago it was a small organization. When in 2010 I led the fight for the presidency of FIDE with  Kasparov and Karpov, I thought, that's probably all in his post did correctly when the legendary champions who are always very harshly criticized FIDE wanted to lead this organization.

Now my goal - to one billion people playing chess. This is the idea of rank Change the World. Change the world through intellectual development. A chess, from my point of view - that is the fulcrum without which Archimedes could not  change the world. 
I am convinced that all the current problems - financial, political, religious - do not arise from the fact that the world is short of oil or money, but because of the fact that not enough thoughtful people. People who first think, and then make decisions. A chess - the only sport that trains the brain. Because in chess, before making a move, you need to think.
That is as it should be in politics. No wonder Albert Einstein said that chess  is the exercise for the mind. In 1994, I introduced chess as a compulsory subject in secondary schools. After just one year progress of pupils has increased by 40%.
- There are four presidency on your account. Which of them can you name the most important thing in your life?
- It's like the face of one stone: on which side you look that side is sparkling. I was the president of Kalmykia and the Russian Chamber of businessmen. Now - President of FIDE and IMSA (International Mind Sports Association), and I like it all.
It makes no difference what I do: chess, Kalmykia or investment. The place does not make the man. What is important is how you feel. And this is not necessarily to be the president. I feel good where my heart comfortable. I don't look at myself in the mirror in the morning and I do not think what I was a great president.
- If it is not a career, what is the important thing for you?
- Inner harmony. Our life is short. We are born to die. All of us will die and go to another life. We were given time to realize. And it can be, for example, meditation.
I have a friend who is five years meditating in the mountains. A day she eaten a single grain of rice and drank a glass of water. He did not need diamonds, cars, apartments, new iPhone, or new clothes. Eating a single grain of rice, he was happy. More fortunate than many of my friends who have billions and constantly worried about what to do with money. He found inner harmony, and it was good. So no matter where the person is and what he does. The key is how he feels.
Once I've made much in business, I got bored. I bought a diamond crown at Kasparov, I had a house in Los Angeles and six Rolls-Royces. The most beautiful one belonged to Edith Piaf.
I bought them because of the beauty and quality. In Kalmykia, hot, and I loved to ride on white. In Moscow, you need to look presentable, and I prefered the black. Somewhere to go for the soul, relax, shoot archery, horse riding - red. Chuck Norris hang photos of our trips home to Rolls-Royce. He was surprised that Hollywood does not find such a model in which we traveled across the steppes among shepherds and camels.
And I'm grateful that I got it all in his younger years. But then I began to wonder, what's next? And I'm 28 years old became the youngest member of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, and in 30 years - the president of Kalmykia.
You know, the Kalmyks - the only Buddhist nation in Europe, but in Kalmykia was not a single Buddhist temple. Not a single Orthodox church was not there. Not a single mosque. For 20 years I have built them. I had a plane Falcon. I sold it and built the largest Buddhist temple in Europe. Earlier in Kalmykia was no asphalt roads. Now it is. Before each locality. Kalmykia was 90% not gasified. Now, in every village there is a gas.
In all this I have invested their money - around half a billion dollars. When I was a businessman, I had about 50 companies. And everything I earned, I spent on the republic. Furthermore, it attracted investment. They were originally sunk ... It still had to repair schools, hospitals ...
- And was not it sorry?
- My friend asked about it. They said that it would be better yacht itself bought or a house in Monaco. I had a very big house in Los Angeles. But I sold it, and all the money invested in the temple.
If I had been focused on creating wealth for yourself, then, of course, it would be a pity. And I would have thought that instead of the largest Buddhist temple in Europe, you can buy the largest castle in England. They say we are naked to the world come naked and leave. I'm not going to ask to put into the coffin ten costumes. And Bentley will not take with me - into the coffin would not fit. Important for me to leave a name.
- Can the politics be a "pure" business?
- It should strive to do so. Aspiration is important, even if they never will achieve the result.
- Every life is given to learn a certain lesson. What lesson should be learned in this life you have?
- All our lives, we are working on 109 karma. This will determine what will be your next life. If you hurt cats, the cat will be born next life. So I spoke as a child. As for me, I'm in a previous life must have done something so that this has to learn to be useful to people. In fact, for myself I need a minimum - lunch and then, in that you can get dressed. But I always had to work like a squirrel in a wheel to the other.
- Your attitude toward money?
- We need to treat them with care and respect.
- You talked to famous people. Which of the meeting was for you the most iconic?
- Everyone - it is the world, the universe. But there are not ordinary people, which is equal to the world. Such as Vanga. We were friends, she named me the grandson. For a year she foretold to me that I will be the president of Kalmykia, and for two years foretold dual presidency. He gave me before he died pitcher and two cups. She said, I'll remember. I do not think that the Arab sheiks and British bankers are just waiting for months for their turn to meet with blind and semi-literate woman...
John Paul II was a man of the great heart. We have been friends with him since December 1993. He was a chess player. I gave him a chess, and he set up the position and said, "Young man, solve chess problem" mate in two moves ". It turns out that when he was a priest in Cracow, on Sunday in the newspaper "Pravda Krakow" left column "chess tasks and etudes by Wojtyla priest."
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama from Tibet - he is now living in India - also a wonderful person. It is difficult to identify someone one. Each person is unique.
- What qualities are important for the head of state?
- Honesty and self-sacrifice. Any head of state who is elected by the people - this is a milestone in the history. And if he was elected, he must be prepared to make sacrifices. Do not climb on the fire, but to give all their time, energy and health service of his people. Of course, there are those who come to take more, but they are going. They do not leave a good mark in the history and folk memory.
- What qualities are important for a successful businessman?
- The work. Other the recipe has not yet been invented.