Sean Hewitt gave a
link to an article in the grotesquely misnamed
Nezavisimaya (i.e.
The Independent. It has nothing to do with the UK newspaper of that name). The Russian
Independent is controlled by the Kremlin.
Towards the bottom of that January interview, as highlighted by Sean, there is:
Nezavisimaya wrote:Ваши оппоненты утверждают, что за Ð²Ð°Ñ Ð³Ð¾Ð»Ð¾Ñуют в оÑновном ÐÐ·Ð¸Ñ Ð¸ Ðфрика, то еÑÑ‚ÑŒ Ñтраны, далекие от шахмат...
i.e. "Your opponents allege that your votes are drawn mainly from Asia and Africa, that is countries on the chess periphery ..."
Ilyumzhinov wrote:Ðто не ÑовÑем так. Ð¡ÐµÐ¹Ñ‡Ð°Ñ Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð¿Ð¾Ð´Ð´ÐµÑ€Ð¶Ð¸Ð²Ð°ÑŽÑ‚ федерации Франции, Ðнглии, Швейцарии, ИÑпании... Они же видÑÑ‚ мою работу. Я денег от шахмат не получаю, только трачу Ñвои. И Ñвое времÑ... ПоÑещаю более 100 Ñтран в год. Ð Ð´Ð»Ñ Ð±Ð¸Ð·Ð½ÐµÑа одни неудобÑтва – куда ни приеду, а там уже КаÑпаров ÑовÑеми переÑÑорилÑÑ...
In English:
Ilyumzhinov wrote:That is not quite correct. We are supported by the federations of France, England, Switzerland, Spain ... they can see my work. I do not make money from chess, I spend my own. And during my term I have visited more than a 100 countries a year. And I encounter nothing but awkward situations in this business - for no matter where I go, Kasparov has already quarrelled with everyone ...
Andrew Paulson has been kind enough to volunteer:"I'm always happy to answer questions." Let's hope so.
Everyone interested knows that Andrew Paulson or his companies have effectively received money from Ilyumzhinov or parties related to him; for instance, there is the unpaid $500,000 due to FIDE for Agon's rights. Is that not a gift of sorts? Incidentally, for what it's worth, it's not entirely clear to me that the money is now owed. However, one thing's for sure, FIDE is light of that half million.
One can certainly envisage that that would cause conversations to occur between Andrew and Ilyumzhinov. Which brings me, illogically, to the Bible. Some will recall Portiphar's wife's words to Joseph: "Lie with me". Fewer that Thomas Mann commented: "She must have said more than that!" Thus that half million, plus Lord knows what else (for instance, there's the mysterious hiring, sacking and rehiring of Malcolm Pein at the London Grand Prix event), could have resulted in Kirsan believing he had Andrew in his debt. That is certainly one explanation as to how Kirsan claimed, with less justification than William the Bastard, to have conquered England!
So, Andrew, can you provide an alternative account?
Incidentally, Andrew, I can't find a retraction of Ilyumzhinov's words in the Russian sites on the Internet. As that's probably incompetence on my part, can you do better? A curiosity is that, although the FIDE presidential election is of interest in Russia, I can't see any articles about your local difficulties on the excellent ChessPro website, whereas they are reported on chess-news.ru, run by the opposition minded Yevgenii Surov. Am I missing something?