FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced that he will run for another term as President of the World Chess Federation at the upcoming elections in Norway next year. Moreover, he promised a hefty 1 million euro for the Chess In School program that already gains speed under the auspice of FIDE.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been President of FIDE since 1995. He managed to reunite the chess world with the Elista World Championship match in 2006, ending a schism that started back in 1993, in a split initiated by Garry Kasparov.
In the course of his Presidency, Ilyumzhinov invested tens of millions of dollars into chess tournaments ranging from the World Championships to the local national events in the small countries like Hong Kong.
On June 2, 2006, Ilyumzhinov was re-elected as FIDE President by a margin of 96–54 against his opponent Bessel Kok. With another re-election he continued the reign in office, as on September 29, 2010, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov defeated his rival Anatoly Karpov decisively, winning this election by 95 votes to 55.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
