Bengaluru: Following a quick turn of events, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand seems poised to run for Fide deputy president for a second time. Late on Thursday, Anand stepped in to take on the duties of interim president of the International Chess Federation, Fide, after its Russian head Arkady Dvorkovich, was placed on the latest European Union sanctions list.
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The sanctions issued in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, impose punitive measures against 170 entities and 48 individuals. Measures could include asset freezes, travel and transaction bans. The official EU sanctions entry notes that “in his position as president of Fide, Arkady Dvokovich has publicly supported the annexation of Crimea and called occupied Ukrainian cities ‘new territories’ of the Russian federation.”
Anand becomes the second former world champion to assume the Fide top role, after Max Euwe.
“Following the decision by president Arkady Dvorkovich to suspend the exercise of his /duties, and in accordance with the Fide Charter, I have assumed the responsibilities of interim president…Together with the Fide Council, the administration and our member federations, my focus will be on ensuring continuity and serving the global chess family, “ Anand wrote on X.
Dvorkovich has held senior positions in the Russian government, including that deputy prime minister between 2012-2018. He was seeking a third term as Fide president in the upcoming Fide elections in September with Moscow-born Turlov, as his deputy.
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Dvorkovich was seeking a third term in office, with Kazakh billionaire Timur Turlov as his running mate for deputy president. Soon after the sanctions were imposed, however, Turlov announced his candidacy for presidency on Friday, replacing Dvorkovich. Anand, who was elected deputy president in 2022 and had planned to step back from the upcoming elections, is now back in the race.
The Fide presidential election currently has four candidates – Turlov, Jan Buettner, Wadim Rosenstein and late entrant and former president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov who the Russian federation is backing, in the running. The election will take place during the Fide Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The sanctions against Dvorkovich comes less than two months before the election.
