"Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced his resignation as FIDE President"

[Chris Rice]

Extraordinary PB meeting is over. Went ‘peaceful’ and the decision was anonymous. @Fide_chess statement to follow but major change unlikely.

https://twitter.com/ChessVibes

[JustinHorton]

Went ‘peaceful’ and the decision was anonymous.

Says who?

[NickFaulks]

Went ‘peaceful’ and the decision was anonymous.

Unanimous, perhaps?

[Angus French]

Went ‘peaceful’ and the decision was anonymous.

Says who?

Also, what is an anonymous decision? Could they have meant unanimous?

[Chris Rice]

Guess it could have been anonymous if English is someone's second language and what they want to say is the decision hasn't been announced yet. However, as suggested it could be 'unanimous' as well which would make sense if they've all decided what they want to do. Also I don't know who is giving the information. "Sources close to Chess Vibes" are now reporting that the FIDE officials are having lunch and preparing a press statement. Also that Kirsan didn't make it and will be leaving Athens soon. One assumes a PB attendee is leaking info. https://twitter.com/ChessVibes

[Angus French]

Chessdom are saying the Presidential Board has decided Ilyumzhinov will remain as President until the end of 2018 but with restricted powers.

[Chris Rice]

The official FIDE statement has come out now. Looks like Kirsan was there and apologised for his behaviour. Seems to have been heavy legal briefing dominating the meeting. Kirsan has been withdrawn as a signatory at the UBS Bank so he is very much a ceremonial President with all his powers now transferred to Makropoulos. One can assume that the legal advice was that the PB can't get rid of him just like that as the resignation wasn't in writing and he clearly wasn't intending to resign. http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... sions.html

[NickFaulks]

Complete climbdown by Kirsan. He apologises for everything he has done in the past few weeks and won't do it again. Most crucially ( in my view )

"3. Statement of Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov regarding revocation of his powers

Mr Ilyumzhinov withdrew his statement of 6 April regarding the revocation of his powers."

It should suit FIDE quite well that he remains President, with no powers. The last thing they need at the moment is an argument about who should be President instead.

[Mick Norris]

I assume he can stand again in 2018 though?

[IanCalvert]

Like many, I don't understand these things but...should the ECF (enthusiastically?) welcome Mr Makropoulos as Acting President ?...or should Malcolm Pein's team have a cunning plan?

[NickFaulks]

I assume he can stand again in 2018 though?

Only if he can find a seconder.

[Mick Norris]

So, yes if the Russians either want to keep him in place, or want to defeat another challenger

[NickFaulks]

So, yes if the Russians either want to keep him in place, or want to defeat another challenger

But it's an election, and you need more than one vote.

[Mick Norris]

If he stands, with the Russians behind him, then anything is possible in a FIDE election

[David Sedgwick]

I have to confess that, prior to the meeting, I thought that a peace deal was the least likely outcome. However, sometimes it is the unexpected that happens.

Complete climbdown by Kirsan. He apologises for everything he has done in the past few weeks and won't do it again. Most crucially ( in my view )

"3. Statement of Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov regarding revocation of his powers

Mr Ilyumzhinov withdrew his statement of 6 April regarding the revocation of his powers."

It should suit FIDE quite well that he remains President, with no powers. The last thing they need at the moment is an argument about who should be President instead.

Oh, come on. Surely you can see that that won't wash.

None of this would have happened:

1. If those who owe their positions to Ilyumzhinov had remained loyal rather than turning against him during the last few months.

2. If Makropoulos and Freeman had recognised that Ilyumzhinov was upset and emotional at the end of the earlier PB meeting and had not rushed to issue their first statement.

3. If they had been prepared to contact Ilyumzhinov and sort things out when the latter made it clear that he was not seeking to resign.

Why did they not do that?

Because the plotters thought that they would be able to get rid of Ilyumzhinov at today's meeting. They failed to do so.

I never thought that I would feel sorry for Ilyumzhinov, or that I would be pleased to see him continuing in office as FIDE President. But I do and I am.

To paraphrase what Neil Kinnock once said about Margaret Thatcher, Ilyumzhinov amounts to more than those who have turned against him in recent days.