The head of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov suggested the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov should run for the President of FIFA at the FIDE Executive Committee meeting in Abu Dhabi on September 7.Mr. Filatov believes that FIDE should consider supporting one of the candidates or nominate some of its own. He suggested that Mr. Ilyumzhinov should join the presidential race, and referred to his extensive experience as the sports leader.
According to the President of the Russian Chess Federation, this nomination will allow chess to gain the considerable media attention. The initiative of Mr. Filatov was greeted with the applause of all the members of the Executive Committee.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said in response that he would consider the offer and mentioned that he had joined FIDE being relatively unknown in the chess world. However, during Ilyumzhinov holding the position of the President of FIDE, the International Chess Federation has overcome splitting up and become the financially stable organization with the most effective activity.
Today FIDE is one of the biggest sports federations incorporating 186 countries. Moreover, FIDE is very strict about the ethical issues, as evidenced by the indictment against Garry Kasparov and Ignatius Leong by the FIDE Ethics Commission at the meeting in Abu Dhabi.
