On 29 June, FIDE President, while in Bulgaria, supported the candidacy of former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. At a meeting with the president of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, FIDE master Ruslan Toshov Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that he does not intend to run for the post of the head of the World Chess Federation for another term."I support the candidacy of Arkady Dvorkovich for the post of FIDE President," Ilyumzhinov stressed. The Russian Chess Federation has elected the former Deputy Prime Minister Dvorkovich as its candidate for the post of FIDE President on June 27.
Ilyumzhinov has been heading FIDE since 1995. He managed to win twice in the struggle for the post of FIDE president against the world's strongest chess players: Anatoly Karpov in 2010 and Garry Kasparov in 2014.
During the past year, part of FIDE leadership tried to remove Ilyumzhinov from office, arguing that his presence on the US sanctions list allegedly prevents him from fulfilling the duties of the federation’s president in full.
FIDE Presidential elections will be held in Batumi on 3rd of October.
