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Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (born 5 April 1962) is a Russian oligarch, administrator and politician. He was President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and was president of
FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
, the
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
international governing body, from 1995 to 2018. He has also been at the forefront of promoting chess in schools in Russia and overseas. He is the founder of Novy Vzglyad publishing house. He has been an honorary president of the former Kalmykian FC Uralan.


Personal life

Ilyumzhinov was born in Elista, Kalmykia. His parents were subject to the Kalmyk deportations of 1943 when the entire Kalmyk population was deported to Siberia – Kirsan's own family had an impeccable record fighting the Germans (he was named after a great-uncle who served in the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
during the
Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
and committed suicide after having been ordered to execute large numbers of captured
Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...
). He grew up in Elista, after the Kalmyks were allowed to return following
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
's death. From a young age he became interested in chess, and he won the Kalmykian national chess championship in 1976 at the age of 14. From 1979 to 1980 Ilyumzhinov worked as a mechanic-fitter at the Zvezda plant in Elista. After serving two years with the
Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...
, he returned to the plant as a mechanic for a year, and then studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations from 1983 to 1989. Between 1989 and 1990 he was a sales manager for the Soviet-Japanese automobile company "Liko-Raduga" in Moscow, and from 1990 until 1993 he was President of SAN Corporation in Moscow. Ilyumzhinov acquired his wealth with the emergence of the private sector which followed the collapse of the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Kirsan was married to Danara Ilyumzhinova (''née'' Davashkina) and they have one son, David. Ilyumzhinov also has two brothers, Sanal and Vyacheslav. He is now married for the third time. Third wife since July 27, 2021 — Diana Dmitrievna Ilyumzhinova (''née'' Gurova) In addition to his native Kalmyk and Russian, he is fluent in English, Japanese, and speaks a little Korean, Mongolian and Chinese.Илюмжинов, Кирсан
Lenta.ru. Retrieved on 28 July 2013.


UFO experience

Ilyumzhinov has drawn worldwide attention for claiming that in September 1997 he was taken from his flat by aliens and travelled in their spaceship, visiting another planet. He claims three of his staff searched his flat during this, failing to find him, and could not explain how he then reappeared in his bedroom an hour later. A ''Chess Notes'' feature article by Edward Winter provides a comprehensive collection of Ilyumzhinov's own words on his alleged encounters with aliens. These claims brought Ilyumzhinov a lot of media attention both in Russia and internationally and have been instrumental in making him better known outside the chess world.


Political career

On 12 April 1993, Ilyumzhinov was elected as the first president of the Republic of Kalmykia, and remained president until 2010. Soon after his election, Ilyumzhinov introduced presidential rule, concentrating power in his own hands. He called early elections on 15 October 1995 and was re-elected unopposed, this time for a 7-year term. He won re-election in 2002. Ilyumzhinov's election platform for the presidency of Kalmykia included promising voters $100 each and a mobile phone for every shepherd—much of the population of Kalmykia living from agriculture. He once campaigned under the slogan "a wealthy president is a safeguard against corruption." He also pledged to introduce what he called an "economic dictatorship" in the republic, as well as to continue to promote chess in Kalmykia, in Russia and to the wider world. After his re-election in 1995, Ilyumzhinov reportedly told a journalist from the Russian daily
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...
, "Irrespective of what I tell people, I give them instructions on a subconscious level, a code. I do the same thing when I communicate with Russian citizens from other regions. I am creating around the republic a kind of extra-sensory field and it helps us a lot in our projects." Ilyumzhinov has spent millions of dollars on
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
and supporting religion. He built a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church after a visit with Pope
John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
. He says has also built a mosque, a synagogue, 22 Orthodox churches, and 30 Buddhist temples. Chess was made a compulsory subject in the first three years of elementary school—the only place in the world where this is the case. The region now has numerous champions. The
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...
has visited Kirsan Ilyumzhinov on many occasions and has blessed a number of the temples in Elista, as well as Kalmyk Buddhist temples overseas. Ilyumzhinov denies persistent accusations of diverting the republic's resources for his own use and of suppressing media freedom. In 2004, police dispersed a small number of demonstrators who demanded his resignation. When Australian journalist Eric Campbell interviewed people in Elista about Ilyumzhinov, he found that many were happy that he had managed to gain widespread attention for Kalmykia through chess, although one was slightly critical of the money invested in chess projects. On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina, a publisher of an opposition newspaper, was stabbed to death in Elista. Both people convicted in the murder were Kalmykian government aides, and one was an advisor to Ilyumzhinov. One other person was acquitted by offering evidence to help in the conviction. Ilyumzhinov denied any involvement with the murder; the incident was investigated by the local and the Russian authorities. On 24 October 2010 Ilyumzhinov retired as Head of Kalmykia, being replaced by Alexey Orlov. On 12 June 2011, Ilyumzhinov appeared in public in Tripoli alongside the then-embattled, since overthrown and executed, Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...
, after having played a game of chess with him.


United States sanctions

On 25 November 2015, the
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...
named him a
Specially Designated National The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...
"for materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria, Central Bank of Syria, Adib Mayaleh, and Batoul Rida." Due to these sanctions, on 6 December 2015, Ilyumzhinov withdrew from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE until such time as he is removed from the list. Despite this, on 12 February 2018, UBS announced they would be closing all FIDE bank accounts.


FIDE career

In November 1995, Ilyumzhinov became President of the International Chess Federation, investing a large amount of his private fortune into the game. He has been enthusiastic about attracting international tournaments to Kalmykia, and many grandmasters have done so. His flamboyant plans to build an extravagant Chess City in the republic led to protests by some people, but have been praised by others for generating good publicity. The 1996 match between Gata Kamsky and
Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...
was originally scheduled to be played in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, but was moved to Elista due to the international reaction. In other developments during that time, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov encountered opposition from rivals in the European chess federations, the U.S., and Canada. Some of these managed to a special meeting in
Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
, Netherlands, on 27–28 April. The meeting called for equal treatment for Kamsky and Karpov, the restoration of the traditional FIDE cycle of qualifying contests leading to the world title match, and a shake-up in FIDE. To reinforce this reformation the Utrecht partners supported a candidate to challenge Ilyumzhinov at the FIDE Congress that took place alongside the
Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
. The candidate was Jaime Sunye Neto, a grandmaster from Brazil. Ilyumzhinov was successful in mustering support from the
Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
and from Russia, and he won the election 87–46. There was no restoration of the traditional qualifying cycle, and Ilyumzhinov's own preference for a $5 million knockout contest for the world's top 100 players was deferred from December 1996 until December 1997, with no definite sponsor announced. In the summer of 1998, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced his possible candidacy for the Russian presidency. This coincided with Anatoly Karpov being critical of the annual knockout FIDE world title system. Karpov argued that his contract with FIDE stipulated that the winner of the 1998 Karpov- Anand match would hold the title for two years. Karpov's successful advocacy of his rights led to the cancellation of a planned world title knockout series in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, later in that year. Since Karpov had an unsuccessful year, apart from his match against Anand, and he was unable to resist the plan that he would have to enter this knockout, whenever it came to be organized, at a far earlier stage. Ilyumzhinov managed to persuade the 140 member countries of FIDE to take part in the main team event of the year, the Chess Olympiad, scheduled to start in late September 1998, in Elista. However the event started late due to the failure to complete the new venue in time. In the end, it attracted 110 teams to the main event, a Swiss system contest shortened to 13 rounds to allow for the delay. On 2 June 2006, Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as FIDE President by a margin of 96–54 against his opponent Bessel Kok. In an October 2006 ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' article
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...
, who backed a rival to Ilyumzhinov, criticized Ilyumzhinov FIDE's leadership stating: "(Ilyumzhinov) has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today."
Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...
, the British grandmaster who also supported Kirsan's rival for the leadership of FIDE, joined Kasparov's misgivings at Ilyumzhinov's victory. On 29 September 2010, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as President of FIDE defeating his rival,
Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...
decisively – winning this election by 95 votes to 55. However, there were bitter accusations of cheating and corruption about the voting system with CJ de Mooi, the president of the English Chess Federation, saying: "This was a farce of a vote...There wasn't even a pretence of fairness and free speech." In 2014, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as President of FIDE after defeating
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...
, winning 110–61. On his 20th anniversary as FIDE president in November 2015, Ilyumzhinov listed his major achievements as: recognition of chess as a sport, unification of the world chess championship, stable financial situation of FIDE, complete FIDE calendar, the number of people playing chess increased more than ten times, the FIDE family has substantially increased, and development of women's chess. In an interview on the same occasion, he mentioned that while not currently aspiring to become
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
president, he might well become a candidate in the future, saying "I have a vision of how to make football still more popular and cleanse the organisation of corruption, like we did it with FIDE." Due to OFAC sanctions, on 6 December 2015, Ilyumzhinov withdrew from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE until such time as he is removed from the OFAC list but he remains in control of FIDE. In a subsequent interview, he said the USA sanctions were either a mistake or a provocation, with his lawyers planning to file a US$50 billion lawsuit, based on their estimated damages. Previously in June 2014, Ilyuzmhinov had noted that his name was floating around concerning sanctions regarding
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. On 27 March 2017, FIDE stated through its website that Ilyumzhinov had announced his resignation, and that the extraordinary meeting will be held next month to review and accept the resignation. Ilyumzhinov later denied his resignation in Russian media, as did his assistant when contacted by Chess.com; FIDE executive director Nigel Freeman replied that Ilyumzhinov had verbally resigned during the Presidential Board Meeting in Athens, and called an Extraordinary Presidential Board Meeting to discuss the issue. At the meeting, it was confirmed that Ilyumzhinov had not formally resigned, however he was criticized for making misleading statements to the media. In May 2018, Chessdom.com reported Ilyumzhinov to have applied for the new FIDE election with a virtual candidate on his ticket called "Glen Stark". On 13 July 2018, the FIDE ethics commission sanctioned Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for violating the FIDE code of ethics. The FIDE president, who was banned from "holding any position" effectively for six months, initially announced his intentions to fight this decision. However, shortly after, he desisted from running for a new term as FIDE President. After having been in office for 23 years, since 1995, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was finally ousted, clearing the path for a successor. The Greek Georgios Makropoulos, who had been General Secretary since 1990 and number two in the organization under Kirsan's presidency, was the first to announce his ticket. He was followed by the Englishman
Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...
, a world title contender in the World Chess Championship 1993 against
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...
. The last to announce his candidacy was Arkady Dvorkovich, who had served as Russian deputy prime minister and was also a member of the supervisory board of the Russian Chess Federation. Dvorkovich was also one of the chief organizers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In the elections, held in Batumi (Georgia) in October 2018, Dvorkovich won by 103 votes to 78 against Makropoulos, thus becoming FIDE's 7th President in history.


Awards

* Order of the Golden Fleece (Georgia)


Publications


Autobiography

Ilyumzhinov called his autobiography ''The President's Crown of Thorns''. Chapter titles included "Without Me the People Are Incomplete" (a quote from a short story by Andrei Platonov), "I Become a Millionaire" and "It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed"—the latter being about the problems with rising crime in some parts of Russia.


Mentions in literature

Ilyumzhinov features prominently in these books: *''The History of Kalmykia: from Ancient times to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov'', by Justin Corfield. [Chapter 4: pages 119–193 is about Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. This is the only book that draws on several meetings with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, interviews with his father, teachers and colleagues, and it also has an extensive family tree of the Ilyumzhinovs.] (). *''Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld'', by Sarah Hurst () (privately published by Russell Enterprises Inc.). *''The Chess Artist'', by J. C. Hallman (). *''Absurdistan'', by Eric Campbell (). *''King's Gambit: A Son, A Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game'', by Paul Hoffman (). *''Novodvorskaya. The last vestal of the revolution'', by Yevgeny Dodolev (). Ilyumzhinov also has a whole chapter devoted to him in ''The Lost Cosmonaut'' by Daniel Kalder. () (Faber, 2006). There is also a brief biographical account on the website for the Embassy of Republic of Kalmyki.


References


Notes


External links


"All about Kirsan"
— ChessBase.com, 17 July 2004 *A two-part documentary by
Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is ...
on YouTube �
part 1
an
part 2

Letter from Russia: "Planet Kirsan"
by Michael Specter, ''The New Yorker'', 24 April 2006

by Tom Parfitt, ''The Guardian'', 21 September 2006

by Mark Grossekathöfer, ''Spiegel Magazine'', 12 October 2006

by Ed Vulliamy, ''Observer Sport Monthly'', 29 October 2006
Novy Vzglyad Publishing House
�� Official site
Russian president asked to investigate alien claims
Richard Galpin, BBC News, Moscow

''Chess Notes'', Chess History Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilyumzhinov, Kirsan 1962 births Living people People from Elista Kalmyk people Russian Buddhists Kalmyk Buddhists Tibetan Buddhists from Russia Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Chess officials Presidents of FIDE Russian newspaper founders Heads of Kalmykia Honorary members of the Russian Academy of Arts Contactees Communist Party of the Soviet Union members United Russia politicians Members of the Federation Council of Russia (1994–1996) Members of the Federation Council of Russia (1996–2000) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List