TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
FIDE Presidential Elections 2010 (Kalmykia)
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov jumps before he is pushed as leader of Kalmykia
Mark Crowther - Tuesday 7th September 2010
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov at the opening ceremony of Anand-Topalov in Sofia. | http://www.theweekinchess.com
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's leadership of the Russian Republic of Kalymkia will end on the 24th of October 2010. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been removing all of the longest serving leaders of Republics this year. Russian press reports based on Kremlin sources have suggested that Ilyumzhinov would leave this year for some time now. In an interview with Interfax Ilyumzhinov stated that he supported the policy of rejuvenation of leadership but more likely he made the announcement to avoid the political attacks that would inevitably follow if he tried to hang on to power. Indeed this public announcement seems to have been expected by the Kremlin, this is the way that many of the other leaders have gone this year.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's reign as Kalymkia's President started in 1993. He was finally re-elected in a close struggle in 2002. Then he was re-appointed by Vladimir Putin as head of the republic in 2006 without the title of President.
Ilyumzhinov's survival thus far has been something of a miracle. He survived a huge Government investigation into the off-shore status of Kalmykia in the early 2000s. The Republic is at the very bottom of tables of unemployment and financial health amongst the Russian Republics. However it has been reported that standards of living aren't quite as bad as they first appear as much of the business of the republic is "off the books".
One of the reasons for Ilyumzhinov's announcement is that he realised that consultations by the Russian Government on the nomination of new Candidates for the post of leader of Kalmykia have started without him. Ilyumzhinov himself would probably like one of his cabinet to take over he certainly still has plans for Kalmykia. He has stated "I am still a resident of Kalmykia. I've got a flat and I'm not going to leave.". It is also reported that he wants to organise a state visit to Kalmykia by the Dalai Lama and to make Elista the centre of the chess world. (There is a lengthy piece in Russian http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1499423&NodesID=2)
That Kommersant piece says that replacing Ilyumzhinov will be complicated (I've left the google translation as is, as the points it makes are clear enough).
The complexity of choosing a candidate for the post of head of Kalmykia, and explains the complexity of the region. George Chizhov noted that Kalmykia is doomed to be subsidised. "On the one hand, the huge territory of the steppe, sparsely populated, complex ethnic composition, and on the other - long-standing rule Ilyumzhinov, who led the republic manual control. Even by Russian standards, the normal system of government in Kalmykia is not built, but deliberately murdered because Ilyumzhinov feared at least some competition ", - explained the expert.
In a recent article in GZT.RU Vladimir Putin complained about the misappropriation of central state funds by the regions.
Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin claimed that in terms of economic growth and general financial situation Kalmykia was bottom of both lists.
In an even more detailed list of the pluses and minuses of his tenure http://expert.ru/articles/2010/09/07/kirsan_uhodit/ (in Russian). It is a tale of self-promotion, some minimal achievements and underlying failure. Almost exactly the same as his record with FIDE. This is the reason people need to pay attention to his record in Kalmykia.
Again I quote the google translation, it isn't perfect but again the points are clear enough.
Contrary to the declarations Ilyumzhinov from the first days of his tenure as president of Kalmykia and has remained one of the most backward of the Russian regions: while in 1996 it was the second since the end of the spot size of GRP, the year 2008 rose by only one step above. In the late 1990's in the regional rating of "Expert RA" Kalmykia provided among the regions with insignificant potential and moderate risk, but the study 2007-2008, the republic passed a verdict: the potential low risk of extreme. Especially rampant took exodus from the country: over the past 20 years the number of people in Kalmykia, the area is comparable with the Czech Republic and Ireland fell by 12% - from 322.6 thousand in 1989 to 283.2 thousand, according to latest figures . The rate of decrease in the number of Russian in the republic is even higher: from 121.5 thousand in the late Soviet era to 98.1 thousand (according to the latest census of 2002, ie 19%).
Ilyumzhinov also chose yesterday up the stakes in the FIDE Electoral campaign. In a lengthy posting on his campaign website: he complains about Karpov's election tactics. In part this seems to have been provoked by the Argentine Chess Federation switching sides at the behest of the General Secretary of Sport Claudio Morresi. He objects to the interference of Government, in spite of the fact that the Russian Government is up to its neck interfering in the election on his behalf. The fact is that this election, with its huge financial promises by the Candidates, and political horse-trading with the various Federations and its delegates, is following the agenda used by Campomanes and Ilyumzhinov in all the years of power. As was shown by Bessel Kok's campaign last time, this is the only thing that counts.
ChessVibes has also outlined that the Ilyumzhinov FIDE campaign has been mixing chess with the business interests of the Russian Government.
There is no doubt this is a vicious campaign. However the removal of a sitting president so entrenched as Ilyumzhinov was always going to be this way. Even those who don't support Karpov but do have FIDE ambitions of their own would do well to support Karpov to do their dirty work for them. Ilyumzhinov is never going to leave if he has anything to say about it. The coming deal with "Chess Lane" where most of the commercial rights are to be signed over to a private company may prove to be difficult to reverse for any subsequent candidate. If chess policies and qualification to do the job had been taken into account Bessel Kok would have won last time. If Karpov loses this time who would think it even worth the effort and money to try next time? It is pretty much now or never.
