Pressure Mounts on FIDE President Not to Seek Re-election
Arkady Dvorkovich, 50, a former Russian deputy-prime minister, is having a really, really hard term as a FIDE president. He had to steer the organization during the Covid pandemic and now is campaigning for the second term amid the war with Ukraine. He is the only Russian who heads an international sports organization.
Last week, the Swiss Ministry of Sport called on the International Olympic Committee for the Russian officials and athletes to be banned from sports federations. This demand is especially important given that FIDE, chess governing body, has its head office in Switzerland and is recognized by the IOC.
Dvorkovich was one of the few Russian officials to denounce the war in Ukraine. He also allowed the FIDE Committee of Ethics to ban an elite Russian player and outspoken Putin supporter Sergey Karjakin from a top chess tournament. The decision turned out to be controversial as FIDE was criticized both in the chess world (notably, by the world champion Magnus Carlsen who believes that players should not be banned for opinions) and in Russia, where Dvorkovich was blamed for not stepping up to protect his country’s interests. In a recent interview, Dvorkovich distanced himself from the decision and stated that he was not involved.
Ukraine, whose many players enlisted into the army to fight the Russian invasion, has opened a criminal case against Dvorkovich and other chess players and officials who appeared to support Russia in some of their statements. The criminal case against Mr. Dvorkovich has ceremonial significance at the moment but is likely to be used by his opponents while the FIDE President and his team are campaigning for the second term. And the job is getting harder by the day.
To be re-elected, Mr. Dvorkovich has to deploy all of his brinkmanship to ensure that his team is supported by Russia and the countries that traditionally vote for a Russia-endorsed candidate (such as former USSR republics), as well as the European chess federations, most of which are busy supporting Ukraine and calling on Russia to stop the war. Mr. Dvorkovich also needs to enlist support of the Americas, as well as Asia and Africa. In FIDE, like in other sports federations, one country gets one vote, and Mr. Dvorkovich’s team is busy with building alliances while it’s increasingly hard for a Russian citizen to travel, let alone have meetings on the government level.
FIDE elections are scheduled for July 2022, and the candidates have only a month to officially file their election tickets. At this moment, Mr. Dvorkovich is the only candidate who publicly announced that he will run for FIDE President. He has not announced his ticket.
