"Open Letter on Ilyumzhinov's Visit to Chicago"

USCF Executive Director Bill Hall speaks on behalf of USCF.

That's enough inside baseball for now.

Noted without comment

I used to wonder why GM Larry Evans stopped writing about chess and became obsessed with chess politics.

President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (left) 
and President of Syria Bachar Assad

From FIDE's website:

The 1st President of Kalmykia, President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov visited Syria on 28-29 April 2012. As Mr. Ilyumzhinov noted, on the 29th April he had a three-hour talk with the President of Syria Bachar Assad in Damascus. Mr. Assad underlined during the discussion, that he tasked the Syrian Ministry of Education to sign an Agreement to join the "Chess in Schools" project with the World Chess Federation. Mr. Ilyumzhinov informed the "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" that "in early June, as a dedication to the International Day of Children, we are planning to organize the first international youth chess tournament, where young players of Arab countries, will participate, in Damascus". The FIDE President did not exclude the possibility that Mr. Assad might participate in the opening of the youth chess event. According to Mr. Ilyumzhinov, "The Syrian President plays chess very well - since his studies in London".

[....] During the discussion the Syrian President informed Mr. Ilyumzhinov of his intention to invite H.H. the Dalai Lama to Syria on an official visit. Ilyumzhinov said: "President Assad said that on the Syrian territory there is one of the most ancient Buddhist temples erected about two thousand years ago. He would like to invite H.H. Dalai Lama to sanctify this temple".

With Qaddafi, June 2011

With Saddam Hussein, 1998

With Max von Sydow, 1957

 Back to chess shortly!

Saddam, Qaddafi, and Tom Dart?

Left to right: Sevan Muradian, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Mikhail Korenman 

Check out this story currently featured on FIDE's home page. The U.S. Secret Service (we know how diligent and task-oriented these fellows are) did let Kirsan meet former Presidents Clinton and Carter. So perhaps I shouldn't be so uptight....

And I don't want Chicago to get a reputation as an ungracious host.  It's important to talk to people with whom we don't agree. Some of them will be in town next month for the NATO summit.

Having said that, I can only reiterate my earlier post.

Both Sevan and Mikhail are friends of mine, so I feel rather awkward posting this.  I would feel even more awkward if I were silent.

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is in Chicago tonight

Meanwhile, Larisa Yudina remains dead.

First as tragedy, then as farce

No comment.

cheap publicity dept.

We already knew that Donald Trump needs attention. I don't know what to say about silliness like this, however.  (Here's the proposal on Kirsan's own site.)  For those of us who have grown sick of both the manufactured "Ground Zero mosque" controversy and the 2010 FIDE election, I suppose we can save time expressing our contempt.

Back from hiatus shortly...not with links to music videos or fashion shows or contrived contretemps, but with notes about the game of chess.

ChessVibes: "FIDE elections: Karpov suggests link between Ilyumzhinov and Yudina murder"

Interesting reading. One is reminded of Sayre's Law: "The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low." Had Prof. Sayre ever met "chess politicians," he might have proposed a corollary.

However, I don't wish to imply that Karpov's suggestion is unfounded: this 2006 profile of Ilyumzhinov provides some context.

I feel unclean. Back to chess itself....