The United States has imposed sanctions against President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and former Russian regional governor Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, owing to his alleged assistance to the government of Syria. Ilyumzhinov is among four individuals and six entities the US Treasury penalized for supporting the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
According to Bloomberg, Ilyumzhinov said he has no business activities in Syria and that he’s surprised by the decision to put him on the US financial sanctions list.
According to Chess News, in a television interview in Moscow, Ilyumzhinov stated: “I think this is a provocation. On Sunday, in just a few days, I have a scheduled visit to the USA to negotiate and sign the agreement on the world championship that will take place in New York in November 2016. It is yet to be sorted out why they added me in that list. I will go to the Treasury to ask them what’s wrong and what questions they’ve got [for] me. In general, of course this is unexpected. I’m a bit surprised.”
Ilyumzhinov stated the last time he was there was two years ago, and that he supplied the nation with a thousand chess sets and three thousand chess books for children. Additionally, the FIDE boss opened chess clubs in Aleppo and Damascus, which were unfortunately destroyed by bombs. Ilyumzhinov celebrated his 20th year in office recently, administering chess. He defeated former world champion Garry Kasparov in a race for the president of FIDE last September, thereby ensuring an additional four-year term. Ilyumzhinov, a former president of Kalmykia, a republic in Russia, transmitted an email to the New York Times on the current subject of his sanction. The statement read in part: “ I didn’t have any commercial relationship with Syria and all of my connections with that country and many others are purely humanitarian. As head of a large sport federation, I use all opportunities I have with heads of state to promote chess.” The New York Times has described Ilyumzhinov as “wealthy and eccentric,” since he claimed to have been “transported by aliens in a spaceship to another planet in 1997.” This was otherwise widely publicized.
The Russian Financial Alliance Bank which is co-owned by Ilyumzhinov was also blacklisted by Washington. The assets of the blacklisted individuals and companies in the US have been frozen, with American citizens prohibited from doing business with them. The FIDE president has confirmed to RT.com that he visits around 100 countries annually, and added, “There’s no politics in chess; we promote our sport in many states and talk to everybody.”
In other chess news, China’s greatest talent and promise, the 16-year-old grandmaster Wei Yi , won the strong China Kings Match in Taizhou, an eight-player knockout tournament. Tan Zhongyi won the Queens match. Wei won the brilliancy prize with a stunning combination against his final opponent, Bu Xiangzhi. The game will be featured next Sunday.
Chess games
The games represented here were played last month at the Kings and Queens knockout tournament in Taizhou, China.
White: Wei Yi
Black: Zhao Jun
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Re1 Bd7 8. Nbd2 h6 9. Nf1 Re8 10. Ng3 Bf8 11. h3 Ne7 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13. d4 Ng6 14. Qc2 Nh7 15. Be3 Be7 16. Nf5 Bf6 17. Rad1 Qe6 18. d5 Qd7 19. c4 Ne7 20. Ng3 Bg5 21. c5 b6 22. Nxg5 hxg5 23. cxd6 cxd6 24. Rc1 Rac8 25. Qd2 g4 26. h4 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Rc8 28. Rxc8+ Qxc8 29. Qb4 Qd7 30. h5 f5 31. exf5 Nf6 32. Bg5 Nxf5 33. Nxf5 Qxf5 34. Bxf6 g3 35. fxg3 Qxf6 36. Qh4 Qxh4 37. gxh4 Kf7 38. Kf2 Kf6 39. g4 Kf7 40. Kf3 Ke7 41. Ke4 Kf6 42. g5+ Ke7 43. Kf5 Kf7 44. g6+ Kf8 45. Kg5 Kg8 46. b3 1-0.
White: Lu Shanglei
Black: Ding Liren
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. c4 c6 12. Qc2 Bb7 13. Nc3 b4 14. Na4 c5 15. d5 Nh5 16. Qd1 Nf4 17. Bc2 Ng6 18. b3 Bc8 19. a3 a5 20. Be3 Nf6 21. Nh2 h6 22. Nf1 Nh7 23. Ng3 Bg5 24. Nb2 Bd7 25. Nf5 Qf6 26. Qf3 Bxe3 27. fxe3 Ne7 28. Nxe7+ Qxe7 29. Qg3 Rfb8 30. Reb1 h5 31. Kh1 h4 32. Qf2 Qg5 33. Nd3 Nf6 34. Ne1 a4 35. axb4 Rxb4 36. Nf3 Qg3 37. Qxg3 hxg3 38. Nd2 Rb6 39. Ra2 Rab8 40. bxa4 Rxb1+ 41. Nxb1 Bc8 42. Kg1 Ba6 43. Nd2 Rb4 44. Bd3 Kh7 45. Kf1 Kh6 46. Ke2 Kh5 47. a5 g5 48. Kd1 g4 49. Be2 Kg5 50. hxg4 Nxg4 51. Bxg4 Kxg4 52. Kc2 Kg5 53. Kc3 f6 54. Rb2 Ra4 55. Rb6 Rxa5 56. Rxd6 Kg6 57. Rc6 Kf7 58. Kb2 1-0.
White: Jiner Zhu
Black: Ju Wenjun
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Nd5 Nbd7 10. Qd3 O-O 11. O-O Bxd5 12. exd5 Nc5 13. Nxc5 dxc5 14. Bf3 Re8 15. c4 Bd6 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bxf6 Qxf6 18. Be4 g6 19. Qd2 Kg7 20. f3 Qe7 21. Rae1 f5 22. Bc2 Qf6 23. b3 h5 24. Re2 Re7 25. a3 h4 26. g4 hxg3 27. hxg3 Rh8 28. Rh2 Rxh2 29. Qxh2 Re8 30. Qf2 Qg5 31. Kg2 e4 32. fxe4 f4 33. Qf3 Rh8 34. Rh1 Rxh1 35. Kxh1 fxg3 36. Kg1 g2 37. Qf2 Be5 38. Qxc5 Qc1+ 39. Kxg2 Qxc2+ 40. Kg1 Qh2+ 41. Kf1 Qf4+ 42. Kg1 Qg3+ 43. Kf1 Qd3+ 44. Kg2 Qxe4+ 45. Kf1 Qd3+ 46. Kg2 Qe2+ 47. Kg1 Bf4 48. Qd4+ Qe5 49. Qd1 Qe3+ 50. Kh1 Qh3+ 0-1.
White: Tan Zhongyi
Black: Tingjie Lei
- d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Qb3 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Be6 6. Qb5+ Bd7 7. Qb3 c5 8. d5 b5 9. Nxb5 Na6 10. Nc3 Bg7 11. e4 Rb8 12. Qd1 Qa5 13. Bd2 Rxb2 14. Qc1 Rb8 15. Nf3 O-O 16. Bc4 Rb4 17. Be2 Bg4 18. O-O Nd7 19. d6 e6 20. a3 Rbb8 21. Nd5 Qa4 22. Ne7+ Kh8 23. Bc3 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Rb6 25. Rd1 Bd4 26. Rd2 Ndb8 27. Bd1 Qd7 28. Rxd4 cxd4 29. Qh6 Qd8 30. Bxd4+ e5 31. Bxe5+ f6 32. Nxg6+ Kg8 33. Ne7+ Kf7 34. Qxh7+ Ke8 35. Ba4+ Nd7 36. Qh5+ Rf7 37. Nf5 1-0.
