Léo Battesti (born 6 November 1953) is a

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

n chess enthusiast, activist, and retired politician and militant.

Political career

Léo Battesti was born in

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

. He earned a Master of Law at

Université Paris-Sorbonne Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it merged with Pierre a ...

. He served as General Secretary of Corsican Students (CSC) from 1976 to 1978, in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million National Liberation Front of Corsica The National Liberation Front of Corsica ( or ; , Abbreviation, abbreviated FLNC) is a name used by various Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla and paramilitary organizations that advocate an Independence, independent or Autonomy, autonomous state on t ...

, a year after having partaken in the Aleria standoff in 1975. He was imprisoned at

La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) ( or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice (France), Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the 14th arr ...

from 1978 to 1981 for his militant activities, and developed a fascination with chess after overhearing two imprisoned

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

spies playing it in morse code. He was amnestied in 1981 by President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

, and disavowed militancy as a method of achieving Corsican independence. He worked as a journalist from 1981 to 1992, chief Editor of a Corsican weekly. He was elected to the

Corsican Assembly The Corsican Assembly or Assembly of Corsica (; ) is the unicameral legislative body of the territorial collectivity of Corsica. It has its seat at the , in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio. After the 2017 territorial elections, the assembly was ...

twice, in 1986 and 1988, and served until 1992. He first served as a member of ' before later joining '' A Cuncolta Naziunalista'', both Corsican nationalist parties led by

Alain Orsoni Alain Orsoni (; born 27 September 1954) is a Corsican politician and former FLNC militant and former president of AC Ajaccio. Founder of the FLNC-Canal Habituel (Corsican: Canale Abituale, FLNC-CA) and its political wing, the Movement for Self-D ...

. In his capacity as a member of the Corsican Assembly, was vice-president of the Culture and Sports Commission from 1990 to 1992. He was also Bastia town council member from 1988 to 1992.

Chess

He is vice-president of

French Chess Federation The French Chess Federation (French : ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' – ''FFE'') is the national organization for chess in France. The president is Éloi Relange, the vice-presidents are Laurie Delorme and Jean-Baptiste Mullon and the ...

since January 2005, in charge of communication and thus, chief-editor of the quarterly "Échec & Mat". On 16 June 2012, Battesti launched a bid to the election of the Presidency of the French Chess Federation. This bid sparked a debate on one side with a certain enthusiasm from aficionados who are amazed by the spectacular success of chess in Corsica. Whose dithyrambic échecsinfos.com And on the other side, measured circumspection, which worries about a democratic deficit for some time in the organs of the FFE directional. With for example the blog of Christophe Bouton: échecs 64. A decision also shows the extreme delicacy of Mr. Leonard Battesti regarding conflict resolution has been given in the last international open chess Corsica in 2011 and led to the exclusion of Iranian player; Ghaem Maghami that refused to play against an Israeli player ... A summary of the event at chess vibes. And a comment bittersweet by Steve Giddin on his chess blog.

References

1953 births University of Paris alumni People from Bastia Members of the Corsican Assembly Corsican nationalists French chess players Living people Chess officials {{France-chess-bio-stub