"Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced his resignation as FIDE President"

[NickFaulks]

A long overdue revolt by the insiders then.

Why does everything have to be so dramatic? What's wrong with the simple explanation given that he said he was resigning, they believed him and had to decide what to do next?

[Roger de Coverly]

I suspect the PB have been watching Game of Thrones.

The writer of which is a former USCF controller/organiser/arbiter. Given that chess tournaments took place at weekends, that left time for writing.

[Roger de Coverly]

What's wrong with the simple explanation given that he said he was resigning, they believed him and had to decide what to do next?

Given the claim that he hasn't resigned, it would be simple enough to explain that it was just a translation error and there was no story. As it stands it's liable to end up being resolved at enormous expense in CAS.

[Roger de Coverly]

However, Makro and the Presidential Board didn't see it that way, they now have the power and are seizing the chance to get rid of him once and for all.

They could have saved themselves the trouble by backing Bessel Kok in 2006.

[NickFaulks]

it would be simple enough to explain that it was just a translation error and there was no story

But that would have been a lie, requiring a large number of people to say they hadn't heard what they knew they had heard. Nobody would have believed them, and I'm sure you would have pounced on this evidence of duplicity.

The "translation error" approach really isn't a runner. Kirsan's English is very good.

[NickFaulks]

They could have saved themselves the trouble by backing Bessel Kok in 2006.

Some of them did!

[Roger de Coverly]

The "translation error" approach really isn't a runner. Kirsan's English is very good.

So when he turns up in press conferences with Filatov and claims he hasn't resigned, he's fibbing then?

Isn't it a dual key though? Kirsan ceases to be FIDE President only when both the FIDE insiders and the Russian government lose confidence in him. so far it's only 1 of 2.

If you Google "Kirsan resigns" or similar, you find stories of when Putin told him he wasn't Kalmykia president any more.

https://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0 ... ykia/?_r=0

[Chris Rice]

Russian Chess News has two articles on this. The first entitled The Ides of March argues that this is a revolution by Makro and the PB using Marxist principles. Only Filatov remains loyal and even Putin is distancing himself.

The second article is about Ilyumzhinov naming Nigel Freeman and Georgios Makropoulos as the people behing the putsch. There is a TV interview on a channel called "Rain" where Ilyumzhinov answered the questions of Pavel Lobkov about the scandal. Here there is an interesting exchange:

Lobkov: The presidential council [April 10] - is it something like a putsch?
Ilyumzhinov: Well, behind my back they made a provocation.
Lobkov: And who can you name?
Ilyumzhinov: FIDE posted a posting on the FIDE website - Nigel Freeman, executive director, FIDE first vice president Georgios Makropoulos lives in Athens When they posted this announcement, I immediately wrote a refutation, and they did not publish it yesterday. They disconnected all the phones and until today they did not answer, only today they hung my refutation. Pressure and threats have been going on for a year - since I was included in the sanctions list. Go away, go away, Go away ... "

Chess Drum also carries the story but it's this sentence in particular that really caught my eye: "The truth of the matter is that FIDE has been in limbo and is suffering from tremendous brand erosion with his sanctioning."

[Roger de Coverly]

The Washington Post gives an American perspective.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/ ... signation/

[Chris Rice]

Makropoulos makes a move, "no one asked Ilyumzhinov to resign and the meetings were recorded". Judging by the letter Makro wrote it looks like Ilyumzhinov is finished, Kirsan to move... http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... hinov.html

[Nigel Short]

A long overdue revolt by the insiders then.

Why does everything have to be so dramatic? What's wrong with the simple explanation given that he said he was resigning, they believed him and had to decide what to do next?

Nick Faulks apparently thinks we are all idiots.

[Chris Rice]

Zurab Azmaiparashvili with his Continental President of Europe hat on has made a statement. It doesn't add a lot to what we already know but does reinforce the view that the sanctions against Ilyumzhinov were crippling FIDE and even though they may not have told him to resign the expectation was that he would. The fact that he was hesitating, presumably wanting the PB to campaign for him against the sanctions in some way which they rightly refused to do, just made the whole thing worse.

[shaunpress]

They could have saved themselves the trouble by backing Bessel Kok in 2006.

Some of them did!

Nick, what is the signal for everyone to change sides? "We have always been at war with Eastasia" is apt but not original, while "London Bridge is down" has recently been taken. "The Battleship Potemkin has been sunk" perhaps?

[AustinElliott]

They could have saved themselves the trouble by backing Bessel Kok in 2006.

Some of them did!

Nick, what is the signal for everyone to change sides? "We have always been at war with Eastasia" is apt but not original, while "London Bridge is down" has recently been taken. "The Battleship Potemkin has been sunk" perhaps?

"The Flying Saucer has landed" ...?

[Nick Grey]

Lost in translation? I've had enough? Retirement or resignation?

Reminds me of "The Prisoner". Kirsan does not make a good Number 1 let alone a Number 6. No way out of the Village.

If James Bond (Spectre/Smersh) analogy has he announced his own elimination?

I lost any respect for him when his associate apologised for his junior team not fulfilling a fixture at Surbiton because they were meeting the President.

I said it would have been better if he got the President to come to Surbiton for where these juniors were due to play.

That his associate could not be bothered to inform Surbiton in advance of an important engagement was my main issue with his organisation.