Three-way battle for power in world chess: Who will be elected FIDE president in Samarkand?

Three-way race: Who will win power in chess?

"Gens una sumus" ("We are one family") is the motto of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Yet when officials from some 200 countries gather for their congress in Samarkand on Saturday, September 26, it is not likely to feel like a joyous family reunion.

A new FIDE president is to be elected in Uzbekistan , and a three-way, politically charged race for the post has erupted, with the outcome uncertain. It has been clear since July that the incumbent FIDE president, Arkady Dvorkovich, would not be standing for re-election . The European Union had placed the former Russian deputy prime minister on its sanctions list due to his support for Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.

The candidates standing for election are Kazakh billionaire Timur Turlov and two Germans: investor Jan Henric Buettner and entrepreneur Wadim Rosenstein, who is running as the official candidate of the German Chess Federation (DSB).

For the first time in over 30 years, FIDE will not be led by a Russian . Nevertheless, the three contenders repeatedly face two questions: What are their ties to Russia? And where do the millions come from that FIDE uses to finance itself and its competitions? For the Kremlin, chess remains a component of Russia's soft power, and little happens within FIDE without financial backers linked to Russia.

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