Viswanathan Anand eyes FIDE function, throws weight behind president Dvorkovich’s re-election bid

Viswanathan Anand, the five-time world champion, has thrown his weight behind the re-election bid of FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, a former deputy prime minister of Russia. Though Anand and Dvorkovich didn’t give particulars of Anand’s function in FIDE if Dvorkovich and his group are reelected, the Indian Grandmaster’s help for the Russian can be seen as vital with campaigning to start out within the first week of May.

The FIDE Congress and the General Assembly can be held in Chennai from July 28 after the All India Chess Federation was awarded rights of the forty fourth Chess Olympiad. “I am committed to run for the next term for FIDE presidency. It is not the start of the campaign yet, the campaign will start only in May. I am happy now that our team will be strengthened by the participation of Viswanathan Anand. Anand will be a huge part of our team if we win,” Dvorkovich mentioned at an occasion the place the official handover of the internet hosting rights was performed.

When requested in regards to the function he would play in FIDE Anand mentioned a ‘general agreement’ had been reached however the particulars have been nonetheless being labored out.

“For the moment we haven’t decided yet what shape this will take but I know the great work president Dvokorvich and his team have accomplished and I was willing to work beside them. When we find a specific role we will let you know. But for the moment it is just a general agreement. So basically Dvorkovich offered that we can work together as part of his team in FIDE and I would be happy to do so. I have seen the good work and I am happy to contribute. We didn’t yet nail down what role and so on,” Anand mentioned.

Dvorkovich was elected as FIDE president in 2018 and is thought to be near the Kremlin. He was additionally the pinnacle of the native organising committee of the FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia 4 years in the past. The earlier president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was additionally Russian however in the direction of the tip of his two-decade reign, he was hit by US sanctions for his alleged dealings with the Bashar al-Assad authorities in Syria.

Dvorkovich had obtained the higher of Georgios Makropoulos of Greece, the then FIDE deputy president.

Recently Dvorkovich has been in a difficult state of affairs when the FIDE council determined to withdraw Moscow’s internet hosting rights of the Chess Olympiad after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian and Belarusian groups have additionally been suspended from occasions, whereas gamers from these two nations can’t play underneath their nationwide flag.

FIDE additionally banned one of many greatest names in Russian chess Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin for his pro-war feedback.

Karjakin’s suspension was adopted by a press release from Dmitry Peskov, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Chess Federation. Peskov, as reported by Chess24, advised the Russian information company TASS: “We regret this. We call on FIDE to reconsider this decision and still remain out of politics, thereby confirming the international prestige of this chess organization. Naturally, we disagree with this decision.”

When requested in regards to the current choices of FIDE, Dvorkovich mentioned, ” (Our intention) Is to guard the curiosity of gamers, and unite gamers all over the world and do no matter is required to realize this objective. We needed to take some steps, troublesome for me additionally personally however it was within the curiosity of the chess group and within the curiosity of FIDE and gamers. I’ll maintain the stance like that, so I’m trying ahead to the Olympiad as will probably be a possibility to reunite the chess household.”