Arkady Dvorkovich re-elected as President of the International Chess Federation; Viswanathan Anand his Deputy

Chennai, Aug 7: Arkady Dvorkovich has been reelected for a second term as President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) with 157 votes, against 16 for his electoral opponent, the Ukrainian chess Grandmaster Andrii Baryshpolets. A third candidate, the French Bachar Kouatly, withdrew his candidacy after giving his speech, before the voting started.

Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, who was part of Dvorkovich's ticket, is the new FIDE Deputy President.

The elections took place during the FIDE General Assembly in Chennai, held alongside the Chess Olympiad, one of FIDE's flagship events. The Olympiad is a team competition where countries are represented by their four best players. This year, despite the notable absences of Russia and Belarus (banned), and China (citing logistic difficulties derived from the pandemic), the Olympiad reached record participation, with 186 nations represented in the open competition, plus 160 more in the Women's Olympiad.

Born in Moscow on March 26, 1972, Arkady Dvorkovich was first elected as FIDE President in October 2018, succeeding Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Despite being questioned by some due to his nationality and to the fact that in the past he held important positions in the Russian government, Dvorkovich's landslide election victory shows that he has earned the trust of FIDE's member federations - and the wider chess community.

"Yes, I am Russian, and I have served the people of my country, including to Russian chess community as Chairman of the Board of the Russian Chess Federation", said Arkady during his speech before the votation. "I have been trying to do it professionally and with the highest possible level of integrity. And I took a strong position on the tragic events in Ukraine as well as supported FIDE Council decisions regarding scaling down Russia's involvement in FIDE. Moreover, while abandoning Russian partners, we have been able to find new ones around the globe, organise this Chess Olympiad [in India] and ensure financial stability for FIDE. It is far from easy for me personally, but hope that chess can re-unite people again."

Dvorkovich's second term will also be the last, as one of the first tasks that he undertook shortly after being elected in 2018 was to renew the FIDE Charter, introducing term limits, along with other democratic reforms. Among them, the "FIDE Presidential Board" was replaced by the "FIDE Council", effectively limiting the President's powers.