The Politics at Play in Chess: Three Decades of Russian Influence and Chess’ Political Nature
It is July, 1972. The Vietnam War rages on in Southeast Asia, with negotiations for U.S. withdrawal only a few months away from completion. In February, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon visited China in accordance with his administration’s policy of détente, easing relations with the Communist powers. And in the midst of it all, Henry Kissinger, the U.S. Secretary of State, places a call to 29-year-old professional chess player Robert James Fischer, then contending for the title of World Chess Champion against the Soviet player Boris Spassky. “This is the worst player in the world calling the best player in the world,” Kissinger famously began, encouraging Fischer by telling him, “America wants you to go over there and beat the Russians.”
That he did. Fischer defeated Spassky 12½-8½ in a match whose importance went beyond merely the chessboard.* In the heat of the Cold War, with both players symbolizing the systems and ideologies of their respective nations, it made the perfect American story: Fischer, the “boy genius” raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, managed a convincing victory over the Soviet chess “machine,” who, abetted by immense state-support, had dominated the professional scene since the end of the Second World War.
*Professional chess matches are scored by adding up the wins (counted as one point) and draws (counted as half-a-point) of the several games played to reach a final number. In the 1972 WCC, for instance, Fischer won seven games (7 points) and drew eleven (5½ points) for a total of 12½ points.
Bobby Fischer (left) taking questions with FIDE Chairman Max Euwe (right), March 1972.
Photo Credit: National Archive of the Netherlands
In the modern day, chess retains this great soft power where the victories of individual players can appear to demonstrate the cultural and intellectual prowess of their home countries. Consequently, governments throughout the world have invested huge swaths of money in chess education and professional play to bolster their countries’ prominence on the competitive scene, thus reaping the rewards of apparent national success. It’s a process well embodied in the nations of China and India, where state support for aspiring players has–in a manner promoting these nations’ images as ascendant global powers–resulted in their dominating roster at the highest levels of the game.
Far more sinister than this, however, is the apparent exploitation of chess organizations to further national interests, as has tragically occurred in the International Chess Federation (FIDE), professional chess’ governing body. FIDE organizes tournaments between the world’s greatest players; in essence, FIDE creates world champions, who constitute the pride and glory of their home countries. FIDE invests in chess education and professional development in countries without a traditional chess culture and supports fledgling chess federations that lack the financial ability to maintain themselves. These are all admirable pursuits, yet they simultaneously make FIDE a valuable instrument for exercising soft power, directing funds, and granting prestige to entire nations at the whims of FIDE officials. Furthermore, as professional chess has a relatively small audience, and consequently struggles to garner large sponsorships, FIDE and like organizations can easily become dependent on the money of anyone willing to cough it up.
The Russian Connection: Dirty Money, Diplomacy, and “Democracy” in the Ilyumzhinov Presidency
FIDE has, for decades, suffered from corruption issues stemming from its allegedly perverse relationship with the Russian government, beginning with the election of former FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in 1995. Ilyumzhinov, who waselected simultaneously as the President of the Russian Republic of Kalmykia, was instated, in his own words, “[because] FIDE was bankrupt then.” He closed FIDE’s debts, spending roughly $2 million of his fortune, and used his money power in a manner critics have alleged was to consolidate his control over the organization. Text messages implicate the Ilyumzhinov campaign in bribing national federations with material benefits, such as holding chess tournaments or funding chess programs in the countries of loyal delegations, in exchange for their electoral support.**
**FIDE Presidents are elected according to a plurality vote of national federations.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 2016.
Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency
His presidency thus secure, Ilyumzhinov acted as a sort of an “informal envoy” for the Russian government, visiting such regimes as Hussein’s Iraq and Assad’s Syria under the veneer of a sportsman’s neutrality. He represented Russia in a manner its own diplomats could not. To the world, he could profess himself an impartial “friend” to countries the world over–yet to the countries he visited, he could convey critical diplomatic information the Russian government wanted transmitted. “He can go like he is just there for chess,” his son David told FiveThirtyEight, “But he can deliver a message. And the message won’t get screwed up.”
In 2010, Ilyumzhinov faced a grave challenge to his reelection bid when the Russian Chess Federation (RCF), which had previously supported Ilymzhinov’s several campaigns, nominated his opponent, Russian Grandmaster*** and former World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Karpov clinched the nomination by an 18-14 vote in the federation’s Supervisory Board. The vote was, however, unattended by the board’s chairman, Arkady Dvorkovich, a staunch Ilymzhinov ally who subsequently declared the vote “illegitimate” and demanded that another vote, this time presided by him, be taken.
Dvorkovich was, like Ilyumzhinov, a Russian politician–at this time, he served as senior advisor to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in the same cabinet with then-Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. Consequently, with the apparent acquiescence of the state, Dvorkovich ordered an armed raid of the RCF headquarters. This raid would essentially force the RCF to switch its nomination to Ilyumzhinov. As federation members hopelessly called the police for help, hired guards from the private security firm “Peper,” with a signed dictate from Dvorkovich, forcibly removed members from the building and seized organization records. Neither Dvorkovich nor the guards who perpetrated the unwarranted search were charged with any crimes. According to Karpov, the Russian government also closed federation bank accounts and shut down their website.
***Grandmaster is the highest chess title afforded a professional player.
Russian Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, 1976.
Photo Credit: National Archive of the Netherlands
After this, it seems, the RCF was forced to rescind its support for Karpov and instead nominated Ilyumzhinov. In a letterexpressing outrage at the raid, Karpov declared that “Mr. Dvorkovich has organized a hostile takeover of the [RCF],” furthering this phenomenon in metaphor that “Knocking the pieces off the board when you lose does not change the result.” Karpov also darkly hinted at the financial corruption of the Ilyumzhinov administration, writing, “Perhaps Mr. Dvorkovich can enlighten us all about the financial dealings of FIDE and his involvement.”
Ilyumzhinov’s 23-year-old reign of FIDE would die as it lived: In corruption and scandal. In 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Ilyumzhinov, “for materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria”; he had managed the Russian Financial Alliance Bank, which had close financial ties with the Assad regime. Then, in 2018, the Swiss bank UBS closed FIDE’s accounts because, as some FIDE officials have suggested, the organization’s financial dealings had become far too “toxic.” In his 2018 reelection campaign, Ilyumzhinov received a great boost to his candidacy in the form of an endorsement from Russian President Vladimir Putin–yet, so embarrassingly as to end his bid, it was revealed that his vice-presidential running mate, an American named Glen Stark, did not in fact exist. He was instead a Russian named Igor Schindler, falsifying an American identity in what commentators have suggested was an attempt to deflect attention from Ilyumzhinov’s sanctions and his closeness to the Russian government.
The so-called “KirsanGate” scandal, adding to what financial ruin he had put FIDE in, would end up sinking Ilyumzhinov’s presidency. In his place, Dvorkovich, the same Russian official who ordered the armed raid on the RCF, would run for and eventually win the FIDE presidency in 2018. Chess reporters and Kremlin critics perceive the switch as an attempt to maintain Russian influence in FIDE by switching out the scandal-ridden Ilyumzhinov with the far more pleasing personality that is Dvorkovich.
The Dvorkovich Presidency: Reform, at Last?
Dvorkovich has governed FIDE since 2018 with the vast support of member federations, who elected him in overwhelming majorities in both 2018 and 2022. Supporters credit Dvorkovich with restoring “transparency” to FIDE, presiding, for instance, over the passage of a presidential term limit to two four-year terms. Furthermore, under his leadership, FIDE’s income has increased roughly three-fold, from €3.5 million in 2018 to €10.8 million in 2022. This financial success has largely come from the profits of FIDE-organized tournaments and events, which have become increasingly successful due to the “chess boom” in popularity that has occurred in recent years.
Arkady Dvorkovich (center) in official capacity as Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, 2012.
Photo Credit: Government.ru
Fears of continued corruption were largely calmed by the perceived success of Dvorkovich’s governance, and many believe Dvorkovich has effectively turned the page from the shady affairs of the Ilyumzhinov presidency. A former Ilyumzhinov critic, British Grandmaster Nigel Short who served as Dvorkovich’s vice president, labeled Dvorkovich “the best FIDE president we’ve had in decades,” further describing a “transformation” in the internal ethics governing FIDE officials. Yet while it is true that Dvorkovich’s administration has proceeded without blatant scandal or corruption, concern for FIDE’s neutrality persists with his close relationship with the Russian government.
It remains that Dvorkovich was instrumental in ensuring Ilyumzhinov’s reelection in 2010 by ordering the raid on RCF headquarters. Furthermore, Dvorkovich is president simultaneously as he is the Chairman of the Board of Russian Railways, a position he has held since 2015. That company, it must be noted, is notoriously corrupt: implicated in money laundering and tax evasion schemes related to the Panama Papers leaks in 2016. Yet in 2021, FIDE received roughly 9% of its income from Russian Railways in the form of sponsorships, and until 2020, nearly half of FIDE’s income came from the donations of other state-run Russian companies.
The Russo-Ukrainian War: FIDE’s Forced Response and Challenges to Dvorkovich’s Rule
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, fears of Russian influence in FIDE once again rose to the fore. As chess is deeply ingrained in Eastern European culture, the war has been especially traumatic for those players–Ukrainian and Russian alike–whose personal and professional lives have been devastated by the conflict. Many Ukrainian players’ professional careers have been derailed by the fighting, either due to their service in the Ukrainian military or fulfilling necessary logistical or organizational roles. They’ve called on Dvorkovich to resign, calling his leadership “morally bankrupt,” and some have even demanded that FIDE ban Russian and Belarusian players from play. “Men in Ukraine cannot leave their country, so they cannot play competitions due to a war with Russia. So, why Russians can play?” asks Ukrainian Grandmaster Alexander Moiseenko. Then, in April of 2022, 44 top Russian players–including Ian Nepomniachtchi, Russia’s highest-rated player, currently contending for the title of World Chess Champion–signed a letter pleading with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an immediate ceasefire. “We are sure that chess and sports in general should unite people,” the letter states–it ends, “We support peace. Stop this war.”
The pressure was therefore on FIDE to take a stand against Russia’s invasion which, on February 27th, 2022, it did. FIDE issued a formal condemnation of the Russian invasion begun three days prior. FIDE expressed its “grave concern about the military action started by Russia in Ukraine.” The federation barred tournaments from taking place in either Russia or Belarus and has prohibited players of those countries from representing their respective flags in tournaments, though it allows them to play under the FIDE flag. More significantly, FIDE refused the sponsorships of Russian and Belarusian companies which had previously constituted a good share of the federation’s income.
Ukrainian students playing chess underground during a Russian rocket attack, November 23rd, 2022.
Photo Credit: GPE/Dmytro Maksymenko
Dvorkovich himself has expressed his opposition to the war, telling Mother Jones in a March 2022 interview that “FIDE stands united against this war and all wars, and condemns any use of military means to resolve political conflicts.” He decried not only the death and violence inflicted on Ukraine but its debilitating effect on Ukrainian players, for whom he said: “FIDE will do everything possible to get [...] back to chess.” Yet in the same month in an address to the Skolkovo Foundation, a Russian technology organization, he struck a far more nationalist tone. He said that he, “like all post-war children, was brought up on patriotism,” and that he was “sincerely proud of the courage of [Russian] soldiers.” He labeled Western sanctions against Russia “senseless,” and echoed anti-Ukraine propaganda in invoking the USSR’s fight against Nazism in the Second World War, implying that a similar moral cause justified Russia’s invasion. Furthermore, as the war has progressed, Dvorkovich has seemingly shied away from his initial moral condemnation of the war, branding himself as a middleman “between the two fires” of the West and Russia. Asked in a 2024 interview how the war has personally affected him, Dvorkovich said that he had to find a way not to “separate people, not to put people on different sides,” and neglected to speak on the war’s justness or destruction.
Consequently, in 2022, Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Andrii Baryshpolets challenged Dvorkovich for the presidency, believing that Dvorkovich was subjecting FIDE to undue Russian influence. “FIDE is being used to whiten the reputation of the Russian Federation,” alleged Baryshpolets, claiming that since Dvorkovich’s election, 11 out of 20 “major tournaments” had been hosted in Russia. Baryshpolets also criticized the allegedly anti-democratic reforms of the Dvorkovich administration, for instance, forcing voting members of the FIDE Council to sign a confidentiality clause that prevents them from disclosing information regarding internal decision-making. He called out Dvorkovich for failing on his campaign promise to make public FIDE’s sponsorship contracts and lambasted Dvorkovich for cutting Russian sponsors only now, with the invasion of Ukraine. “The way I see it, Dvorkovich is simply cutting the ties to make himself more popular for the world and pretend that he has no ties to the Kremlin,” Baryshpolets told chess journalist Peter Doggers. “It’s not about how we see FIDE in one year, but how we see it in five or 10 years,” he continued. “Are we still going to have these conversations about whether we have Russian influence or not?”
It’s likely we will. Dvorkovich was resoundingly reelected for a second term, receiving the votes of 157 national federations compared to Baryshpolets’ 16. Then, only a year later, the FIDE assembly moved to scrap the two-term presidential limit instituted as one of Dvorkovich’s campaign promises in 2018. The motion’s supporters passed the resolution for the express purpose of ensuring that Dvorkovich could run for a third term in 2026. Several key figures in the chess world denounced the action as undemocratic, including Baryshpolets’ former running mate, Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen, who tweeted “A bad day for chess, a good day for Russia.”
Chess and its surrounding organizations, ever exploitable for soft power, can often appear to be hopelessly mixed up in international politics–such entanglements are, after all, a part of the game’s history, spanning the decades to Bobby Fischer’s symbolic “defeat” of the Soviet Union. That Cold War feud, however, is fundamentally different from the present situation, where FIDE–facing the dilemma posed to several other sports organizations–is in an existential fight for its neutrality. Chess in itself remains characteristically a force for unity: It’s a fun, intellectual game that can make friends just across the board–and the world, for that matter. It remains to be seen, however, whether FIDE can break from decades of Russian influence and promote chess for its own sake, and not itself be a pawn in the political games world powers play.
Cold War-themed chessboard.
Photo Credit: pixabay.com