Karpov to vie for FIDE Presidency
Peter Doggers relayed a report from a Russian website that 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov will seek to win the FIDE Presidency. This comment comes after much grumbling about FIDE temperamental policies. “It is necessary to restore order,” said a resolute Karpov. He continued to strengthen his argument, “The problems with the World Championship, the calendar, changes of decisions, changes during a cycle, this didn’t happen before. Besides, the prestige of the World Champion should return to its old level.”
The current President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ran in 2006 on the platform of unifying the World Championship and providing more visibility for professional chess. While the championship cycle had been mended with the ascendancy of Viswanathan Anand, the process was fraught with a number of midstream changes. Ilyumzhinov and his cabinet are also responsible for a number of unpopular changes including the “no tolerance” rule.
It is not clear what Karpov’s platform will be, but leading up to the 2010 Olympiad in Siberia, he will certainly have one laid out. It is ironic that an interesting interview can be found on the Chess Fidelity site that Ilyumzhinov used for his campaign. Karpov predicted that Ilymuzhinov’s chances were 100%. In this interview Karpov talked about his championship days, Bobby Fischer, his FIDE candidacy in 2005. In that view he made some interesting comments about the FIDE elections.
Source: https://www.chessvibes.com/reports/karpov-candidate-for-fide-president/#more-22636
FIDE Electoral Regulations: https://www.fide.com/fide/handbook?id=4&view=category
Interview: https://www.chessfidelity.com/elections.php?txt_id=75
It all depends on what Karpov, Bessel Kok et al are able to give to African countries. They can’t just talk. Asia has stormed the scene, they even got the current world champion. Africa is just waiting in the wings. I think European chess is on a downward swing and 50 years from now Asia and Africa will be dominating the chess scene on and off the board. It’s a no brainer. I think the likes of Karpov and Kok are not evolving with the times. I believe Magnus Carlsen may be the last ‘western’ chess champion if he does achieve that goal eventually. After that it’s all Asia and Africa.
Currently I like the approach the Turkish boss Yazici has…he has recognised and respected the power of African countries voting as a bloc. He recognises these countries need to be supported. And this support will be reciprocated. Some guy like McClain will then claim that this reciprocation is an example of African countries being bought. What bunk.