Владимир Сметана, Vladimir Smetana
Chess in the Krasnodar Territory. Vol.1 The compulsion to chess the Kuban

Preface

In the beginning was the Hobby, and the Hobby was Chess.

Chess is simply a board game, nothing more, nothing less. Chess was an important part of my life throughout my childhood and adolescence, but it lost its meaning when the school curriculum ended. This occurs because the end of school, grades 9-11, signifies the start of adulthood, and there are already other games in adulthood, and chess, it initially appeared to me, has no place there. Everything has been put into order.

My father taught me how to play chess at the age of four, and indeed told me about the game – a board, pieces, and a checkmate. They used to play in the evenings, which was interesting to me. At times, I was taken to the Armavir Chess School, where I was a member of the group, and my first coach carried me away with this game for 17 years until the last official tournament in 2003, the results of which earned me the title of FIDE-Master. There was a second coach after that, and eventually I realized I was practicing with every chess coach in Armavir, but that is a different tale.

Somewhere in the 8-9 grade you start to wonder, what’s next? Chess is a game, life cannot be provided with a game. Unfortunately, it was not once possible to see chess players crippled by the game at competitions. At the same time, obviously, due to the tight schedule of tournaments at that time, there was a feeling that they were going on continuously. So, in the early and mid-90s there were only classics from 10-day tournaments. At some point, there were from 10 to 15 of them a year, with half going to other cities. The school program “hung up”, and frankly was not interesting. The grades became 3-4, I must say deservedly. The 10th school of the city of Armavir was strict to study. Sports successes did not count, and I decided to make a “castling”, to return to the 17th school in the city of Armavir, where sports successes improved learning outcomes. But this did not solve the main problem of how to find a profession and find yourself in real life. Chess is a game, an abstraction.

The real benefit of the chess game for human development is logic! We begin to think, and what will happen after chess? The answer is simple ― this is real life, grades after the 9th grade, which go to the certificate, and grades after the 11th grade, then the institute, family, children, etc. But the presence of logic in the “piggy bank of personal qualities” does not guarantee success in entering the university. You need to take exams, and if you are constantly at competitions, even if you take prizes, become a champion of the city and the region, they write about you in the newspapers, this will not guarantee admission to the university and does not affect the results of exams in any way.

The fork begins ― less chess, more classes. These included courses for admission to university. It is obvious that chess is slowly turning into a hobby format. But tournaments are held and every year there is another race: the city, the region, the Southern Federal District, Russia and beyond. Out of habit, you go to the start of the race, and it continues to take time and effort. And there is no special progress in training, everything is jerky and fragmentary, it is impossible to move systematically. At that moment, apparently, he still did not understand that it was too heavy to sit on 2 chairs. This is how the secondary school ends with grades 4 and 5, without much prospect of entering a university on a budget place. To be honest, chess did not allow us to prepare for the next stage of the educational process. But he gave me other qualities that have become key in my life – the ability to think and reflect, analyze, evaluate the situation, choose and make decisions, and be responsible for them. Additionally, due to long-distance trips to competitions, you can add – outlook and communication, as well as confidence that if you make the right moves, there will be a successful result.

The commercial university provided a solution to the issue of obtaining a higher education because it was impossible to enroll at the institute on a tight budget. The professional chess sport has reached its conclusion. A sport did exist? Chess instruction was offered in addition to the regular curriculum at the Youth Sports School. The club practices as a hobby and leisure activity on the weekends. Blitz games played in an unsportsmanlike manner with a time limit of 1 minute versus 5 minutes for the opponent without a rook for 5 rubles are more enjoyable. The competitions were legitimate, but they lacked a sporting atmosphere. Perhaps sports were not a priority in Russia in the 1990s, including in the provincial city of Armavir, Krasnodar Territory. People survived after the collapse of the Soviet Union; they did not live in the 1990s. Both I and everyone around me experienced it. Russians in the south experienced additional suffering as a result of the first and second Chechen Wars. Ten years of chaos.

My first year of study at a for-profit university presented me with a brand-new challenge: I needed money to support my academic endeavors. It was evident that a job was required, but how and where would one go about doing so? All the “chess” I had played throughout my life was informative in this situation. For instance, their friendship with senior comrades helped them to self-regulate during a trying time by teaching them how to work to earn money. I would like to remember with great gratitude the amateur chess player from Yerevan who moved to Armavir, the USSR Master of Sports in cycling Rafik Kolotyan, as well as his production company in Armavir. Then there is another story about production, logistics, distribution, etc. There is no place for chess due to the difficulty in one hand to afford to leave your workplace for 10 days for the sake of the tournament, on the other hand, it is almost impossible. Chess is becoming a hobby for the rest of my life.

Our narrative will focus on how an idea—a project—can help you get more out of a pastime. How a project and an idea can turn you into a patron. how to pull off the seemingly impossible while convincing everyone else. Is How to turn chess players into functionaries and officials. We will discuss chess’ future in the Krasnodar Territory.

Chapter 1. Background

At the heart of any worldview should be an idea or some kind of “foundation”, something from which you can push off and jump up and forward, something that you can look back at if necessary, something that stays with us forever and will never leave us – this is our history, our life, our world.

We can live, create, meet, and move, but our gaze always stops at what is familiar to us, what we have lived, and what is impossible to forget.

Chess is the game in my storyline. There is no board or pieces in chess. Chess encompasses all the diversity that is present before the chessboard, during the game, during tournaments, and afterwards. You learned to play chess there; if it’s still possible, we’ll go inside as we pass. When we first walk into the club, we’ll sit down at the chess table because that is where tournaments are held. If you meet someone who has played chess with whom you have conversed, shared impressions, and analyzed games and tournaments, you will likely ask them about the game.

On a day off, residents of Moscow in the early 2000s could attend a tournament at a chess club on Yakimanka St. You could attend the Aeroflot Open in February if you were passing by the Red Square. You could touch brand-new chess in the gift shop while strolling through the shopping center. If you’re nostalgic for the past, you can drive to a friend’s house in Kaluga and recall the old conversations about chess and other topics. But living in a strange city, sooner or later we return home, to our small homeland, to historical places. And then, whether we want it or not, we will come to that chess school (Armavir used to be on Kirova St. 50, now on Gogolya St. 207), to that chess club and meet familiar faces.

In life, the sensations of what we have seen allow us to experience the influx of feelings and nostalgia for the perfect in a different way. First, we see what is, or rather what is left. One way or another, we compare what we saw with what happened. Then we try to find changes, if there are any and determine whether it is for the better. And as in the standard analysis of the current position, we can assess whether you are better or worse at the moment.

Every time we visit Armavir, visit the chess club at Kirov St. 50 or Postovay St. 69 in Krasnodar, observe the dynamics of the chess world in the Krasnodar Territory, listen to the elders of chess sports, discuss trends, draw different conclusions.

In this context, everyone compares the current situation with how it was before. And it’s not at all a fact that it was good. Not always realizing that the changes take place taking into account the position of the world, state, regional and municipal authorities; concepts, development plans, and strategic documents are being written and regulations are being published at every level. Further implementation, and execution by the head, for example, at a municipal chess school, he works according to the regulations, which are not always clear to the average chess player.

Imagine the situation in the 1990s when it was difficult to find a free table and chair at the Armavir Chess Club on Kirova Street 50 at one in the afternoon. Additionally, there weren’t enough watches, chess, or personal items that amateurs brought. There were tournaments held every weekend in which 20–30 people took part. In the small space, where tables were set up outside in the courtyard during the summer, there was nowhere to breathe. There were always matches, chess and other topics of conversation, preference was played there, checkers were played, and life was humming. And everyone was looking forward to getting together again over the weekend. When official tournaments were held on the weekend, displeased spectators either supported.

What happened in Armavir in 2010? Nothing has changed. The building on Kirova St. 50 Armavir is the same as it was. The tables and chairs are the same, the plaster is crumbling, and the curtains are probably the same. But the club is empty, from 4 to 6 chess players, a decent age. The weekend tournament barely gathers 15 people once a month. Silence.

Next year, 2011, no changes, Silence.

The city of Krasnodar, which is a village with narrow streets in the center; the capital of the Krasnodar Territory also chess capital of the Krasnodar Territory throughout a history of chess in the Kuban. Vladilen Trupan (chess writer, CMS, multiple champions of Kuban) mentioned about in his book “Kuban chess in the XX century”. A lot can be remembered. After the collapse of the USSR by Gorbachev and Yeltsin, in the 92nd year, the first regional chess federation in the new history of Russia, the Krasnodar Regional public organization “Chess Federation”, was created and registered on January 14, 1993. Alexander Sapfirov, an international chess master, recalls this in his interview.

On January 30, 2003, the federation is re-registered. Alexander Sapfirov becomes the General Director, founders: Alexander Sapfirov, Alexander Blekh (lawyer) and Igor Koptev (head of the Krasnodar Regional children’s public organization “Children and Chess”). The organization was liquidated on 30.03.2007 in connection with scandalous events, which we will talk about later.

In the 90s and early 2000s, all major chess tournaments of the region were held in Krasnodar at Postovay St. 59. I remember how international tournaments were held, which gathered 200-300 people. Moreover, there was a refusal to sign up for the tournament due to a lack of space and tables. Figuratively speaking, there was a battle for getting into the tournament.

Round-robin tournaments were held with the awarding of master and grandmaster titles. Traditionally, the semifinals and finals of the region among men and women were held in Krasnodar. Rarely, with a good sponsor, at sea. The surge of chess sports in the region became possible with the development of chess in the capital of the region – Krasnodar, and absolutely everyone understood this. Then in ‘93, the Armavir Chess Federation was created, which united chess players at the municipal level. But everyone aspired to Krasnodar because that was where the chess life of the region was, there was both creativity and skill.

In his book V. Trupan “Kuban chess in the XX century” recalls:

“In the autumn of this year, the 5th International Chess festival “Krasnodar-97” was held (the organizer is the president of the city Chess Federation G.S. Kupalyan … Only in 1997 seven international tournaments were held in the region…”

What happened in Krasnodar in 2010 was not entirely clear to me at the moment, but every visit is an empty school, with new faces, a security guard and silence. At some points, they began to say that soon there would be dancing in the building at the Postovay St. 59. And what about the tournaments in Krasnodar? After the scandalous change of the leadership of the regional federation, all tournaments spread to other cities and villages of the region. At some point, the village of Bzhid in the Tuapse district became the capital of Krasnodar chess. It should be noted that 571 people lived in the village of Bzhid in 2010. At some point, the brilliant leaders of the federations began to hold regional competitions of all ranks, both children and adults in the village of Bzhid. This situation has been going for years. There was a lot of talk about it.

Chapter 2. Bacchanalia in regional and Russian chess

The noughties became a fatal period for Russian chess.

After Kasparov’s defeat by V. Kramnik, Kasparov suddenly dreamed that he could become an opposition politician in Russia. And then Kasparov rushed through the waves of politicking and “pouring out the slop of criticism” on the authorities. How will the authorities treat chess players if the 13th world chess champion, hiding behind the chess community, became an oppositionist?

We know the result. Chess has been downgraded in the status in the internal qualification of sports of the Ministry of Sports of Russia. As a result, attention and funding decreased. This means that the number of bets on the chess team, the financing of training camps, the financing tournaments, business trips, etc. have been reduced. And how to assess the reputational losses for the sport of chess? In Rostov-on-Don in the 90s, there was a very good expression that would be appropriate to apply now to such characters: “And who will call him smart after that?”.

Krasnodar

In Krasnodar, since 2005, there has been a parental orgy in the chess of the Krasnodar Territory, which ended with the complete collapse of the regional federation, from which the founding father of post-Soviet chess, A.A. Sapfirov, left. At some point, they simply looked for someone to give the seal of the federation to, symbolically, of course, but this only confirms the stupidity of that situation.

Alexander Sapfirov recalls:

“I rented to head the regional federation of Kupalyans. I believed Ertel then, which I regretted many times later. He presented himself to the chess players as either an FSB ensign or an FSB colonel and tried to solve something there…”

It all started with complaints from parents to the Department of Education, followed by throwing letters of complaint at instance CES. The culmination was a loud article in the newspaper “Kuban News”, in the column journalistic investigation of December 1, 2,006 under the bright title “PAWN CHECKMATES THE KING”. In the newspaper, the names are written in bold:

“Yuri Doroshenko, Igor Gorovih, Viktor Sirotin, whose children study at chess school No. 7, recall: …”

It is worth assuming that these are the ones who launched this article in the newspaper and destroyed chess in Krasnodar and the region for years.

And what’s next? Then the parents of chess-playing children create their regional federation. In the list of founders, we will see some students of the Youth Sports School of the city of Krasnodar. Register the Public organization “Regional Chess Federation of Krasnodar Kray”, President Andrey Didenko from 12.11.2014. Founders: Igor Gorovih from 29.05.2007, Samvel Pogosyan from 29.05.2007, Alexander Pashkov from 29.05.2007, Lev Orlov from 29.05.2007, Vladimir Atrushkevich from 06.04.2018, Yuri Doroshenko from 12.04.2018. Interestingly, this federation does not conduct activities, but rotation in the founders takes place until 2018.

And what did it change? If someone thinks it is possible to come from the street and become a chess functionary, he is deeply mistaken. And so, it turned out.

At the end of the article, Galina Simkina special correspondent of KN writes strange things in general:

“So, the coach of chess school No. 7, a member of the praesidium of the regional chess federation Eduard Fomichenko managed to hold an international (!) chess tournament with the other world in Sloviansk-on-Kuban. In the database of the international chess Federation – FIDE – there is a digital rating of Krasnodar Valentin Ivlev, a four-time champion of the Kuban in chess. But he’s been dead for two years. Fomichenko launches a non-existent tournament into the database, in which he allegedly beats Ivlev and takes away his rating points…”

Lyudmila Chernova, head of the Department of Physical Education and Sports of the regional administration, commented on this in the same newspaper:

“From the moment when we became aware of numerous complaints about the organization and conduct of chess competitions, the department stopped funding all sports events related to the name of Sapfirov. Neither he nor his subordinates in the federation will receive a penny from us…

As for the tournament with the deceased champion, we have informed the head of the Agency for Physical Culture and Sports of the Russian Federation. I think, for his part, he will make an appropriate decision on this fact.

Now all appointments of judges and financially responsible persons will be under the direct control of our department. Now, in my opinion, there has been a positive shift in the chess life of the region.”

I think that this situation, connected with scandals and “ferment” in chess, on the one hand, and the tough position of the head of the Ministry of Sports, on the other hand, made the chess federation of the region, even the newly created one, a “slave of the ministry”. This is exactly what I observed when I came to the regions. All intimidated, they enter the ministry with trembling legs. On this occasion, I recall the words of Alexander Sapfirov concerning one such character, briefly and succinctly: “The fool.”

At the same time, the Krasnodar Regional public organization “Chess Federation”, registered as early as January 14, 1993, with re-registration on January 30, 2003, was liquidated on March 30, 2007. Instead, a new public organization “Krasnodar Regional Chess Federation “Kuban” was opened, headed by Anatoly Ertel, with founders: Alexander Kazakov, Alexander Sapfirov, Alexey Vakhnov, Anatoly Ertel, Yuri Velichko. In the future, this public organization received accreditation from the Ministry of Sports of the region and existed until February 4, 2019, after which it was liquidated.

At that moment there was a general meeting, the President of the Krasnodar Chess Federation,” Georgy Kupalyan, recalls:

“… there was a meeting at the University of Physical Education, Chernova was a minister and San Sanych (Sapfirov) was not given the floor, the situation was not very beautiful, I don’t want to remember when everyone saw that chess players could not find a common language among themselves, this is unacceptable. Chernova did not come to the meeting, I think specifically so as not to lead this difficult meeting, there was Nikolay Serbin… she did not come, although she should have come, we were waiting for her.”

The President of the Armavir city public organization “Chess Federation” – Nikolay Shirshikov was also at the meeting, recalls:

“At this meeting, I sat next to Alexander Sapfirov, and his lawyer was there. At the meeting, it did not give him the floor. He was offended. The parents who arranged all these scandals called him a thief. The lawyer recorded this: there was a court against these parents. It awarded them fines. That was the end. Sapfirov left Kuban for the Southern Federal District.”

A year earlier, Alexander Sapfirov talked about the current situation related to the federation in the region and the holding of tournaments to the Independent Sports Newspaper No. 3 of 31.01.06 – Anton Tikhy:

“Alexander Sapfirov:

“We emigrated. To Sochi and Poltava”

Alexander Sapfirov today is like a king in exile. The head of the Krasnodar Regional Federation was dismissed from the post thread teacher of the chess school, as a result of which the federation itself is now based … nowhere. Such a serious organization simply did not have a “spare airfield”. Inanimate chess

Meanwhile, troubled times continue in the Krasnodar chess kingdom. In full accordance with the laws of the genre. Not much changed since October when we first touched on the “black and white” problem.

There were no severe tournaments in Krasnodar, and there were none. I immersed the chess club in a soft twilight. Only timid sounds are heard in some places in the corners. Teachers are engaged with the young Kasparovs.

– Checks? They continue,” one coach shakes his head sadly”; – Last week, it seems, there was another one. Some people have already quit. The rest work with little enthusiasm. And what kind of enthusiasm can there be – in such conditions?

In the main tournament hall, around which so many copies have been broken (they say, competitions interfere with the educational process), brand-new chairs are blackening alone. There is no one to sit on them. And there’s no need. The fact that some competitions are at least supposed to be evidenced only by the announcement on the door: “During children’s tournaments, parents are not allowed to enter the game room!” However, neither of them is visible yet.

– Do you notice? – the coach waves his hand around the empty hall. – it’s all inanimate. Dead. Previously, everything here was boiling, moving, was imbued with the spirit of big chess! And now… do you feel what kind of air? The smell of sweetness…

The impression of “charm” and dull stagnation develops. However, Nezavisimaya Sportivnaya Gazeta will return to the problems of chess in the capital of Kuban. And – in the foreseeable future.

And again – the invincible Lastin!

One way or Gallatin about with the arrival of the cold weather, most of the regional chess went to a rather attractive “link”. In Sochi. To the sea, the sun, warmth and … the complete absence of organizational problems. Alexander Sapfirov told about what has been happening in the chess world in recent months in an exclusive interview.

– Alexander, let’s start with the autumn tournaments. Or rather, from the open championship of the Krasnodar Territory. Previously, it was usually held in Krasnodar, but now, due to well-known events, it has relocated to Sochi. Did the move go well?

– I think so. Sochi knows how to organize high-ranking competitions. A huge chess club, everything is clean, order is everywhere… The leading participants of the championship were accommodated in the hotel “Moscow”, and they held the tournament without a hitch, without a hitch. There was someone to see: international grandmasters Alexander Lastin, Alexander Polulyakhov, Vladimir Malanyuk, and Nikolai Pushkov. Several international masters and many talented young guys came to Sochi.

– Who got lucky in the end?

– The former champion of Russia Alexander Lastin from Zheleznovodsk won. Remember this one? From the national championship held in Krasnodar, he left in a brand-new Lada… The second was another regular of our tournaments – U Sapfirov nian Vladimir Malanyuk. A half-red-haired man already, one might say. And the third position was taken by the international master from Novorossiysk Mikhail Panarin. I would also like to mention two representatives of chess youth: Murat Magomedov from Anapa and Alexey Gusarchuk, a native of the Tikhoretsky district. They finished in the top ten.

Heroic Kamensk-Shakhtinsky

– The next stage of the “autumn marathon” in Sochi is the children’s championship of the Southern Federal District…

– The tournament turned out to be very extraordinary. Six age groups, over 360 participants… it supposes supposed the ship into two parts. One to be held is in Sochi, and the other is in Azov. But Azov refused in favor of Sochi. And what do you think? Everyone liked it so much that there are already proposals to organize a tournament in the resort city next year!

– 360 chess players. In the conditions of such competition, the struggle, apparent up seriously?

– Of course! The ho. dress of the first six places were selected for the Russian Championship – for this the main battle enfolded. There were plenty of surprises. For example, from the town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky alone, in the Rostov region, three at once became champions of the Southern Federal District. Two boys and one girl. And there, by the way, there are no grandmasters, no international masters. Only candidates train the guys. We believe that if grandmasters are not involved, then there will be no results…

– I am curious to know how the Krasnodar chess players performed?

– Only four girls add to the Russian Championship. Not a single boy! Failure, of course. I think this is a consequence of all the troubles that Krasnodar chess got into. The mood of the coaches was passed on to the students.

– Did you have any difficulties with the organization?

– Nothing. Although it turned out that there was poisoning at a nearby base – then all of Russia talked about it. The children were poisoned by the cake; it seems… But fortunately, the trouble has passed us by.

– The last of a series of autumn starts is a tournament with the norm of an international master. It’s been a long time since such a thing has been observed in Sochi…

– As far as I remember, there was nothing like this for ten years. But here, they did. The rank of the tournament turned out to be low because in order to complete it was necessary to score a considerable amount – 9.5 points out of 12. Such heroes were found in our fatherland. Sochi’s David Gochelashvili finished brilliantly with ten points – that is, he even exceeded the plan! He became the winner of the tournament.

In second place with a two-point (!) The lag was Alexander Shemyakin from Simferopol. And the third-fourth position was shared by Murat Magomedov and Krasnodar student Denis Erashenkov.

Krasnodar was left without chess

– Winter is coming into our conversation. So, it’s time to talk about the southern region Rapid Chess championship, which took place in the Armavir House of Officers.

– What I would like to note first of all is that it was organized great. Clearly, without the slightest delay. Regulations? 25 minutes per game-two tournaments. A classic c of fast chess. The prize fund is 50 thousand rubles…

– And who got the lion’s share of this amount?

– The same Denis Erashenkov finished first. But Vladimir Malanyuk, the only grandmaster, did not perform successfully. The sixth position is not the limit of his dreams.

– The long-awaited January is in the yard. And chess life migrates to the village of Poltava…

– … where the tournament with the norm of the international master takes place. The longest – eighteen games! At the current rate of twelve. This is the so-called “long” score. Very profitable, by the way. One such score, one ordinary one, a rating of 2400 points – and you are an international master! It’s that simple. In words.

– But what happens?

– Everything is also not well. Five chess players fulfilled the required standard at once. For Yuri Piskunov, the score scored was already second: he only lacks a rating to submit documents. About twenty points. But David Gochelashvili and Kostya Ryabtsev have an order with the rating, so soon, a replenishment is expected in the regiment of international masters. Eduard Gorovih earned an important “long” score for himself. Four guys named by me shared first place in the tournament.

– However, it seems, about the five lucky owners of the coveted score?

“That’s right. The fifth was the Krasnodar Sasha Kim. She fulfilled the women’s norm of the international master.”

– Needless to say, it was a fruitful tournament! But this is not the end of chess life in Poltava…

– It’s just the beginning. The sense that chess in Poltava is gaining more and more popularity. Which is largely facilitated by the head of the local administration, Vladimir Pobozhy. With his support, we held another traditional tournament – “Poltava Meetings”; He may not be very personable, but in some moments, he is quite curious. Sergey Sorokotyagin from Slavyansk-on-Kuban excelled in it. The second was Krasnodar Boris Bondarev, the third was Maxim Lugovskoy from the village of Kurganinskaya. I would like to highlight the latter especially. Judge for yourself: the kid is not even ten years old yet; he is already playing the strength of a master candidate! Wisely, maturely, without unnecessary risk. It’s been a long time since we’ve had such former stars.

– And what about Krasnodar? Did chess leave the regional center irrevocably?

– (Waving his hand wearily) I think about him less and less often. How long can you bang your head against the wall? They left Krasnodar without chess. We would be happy to organize something in the capital of Kuban, but while the problems in the chess school continue, it is simply impossible. So, we are moving the tournaments to Sochi, Armavir, Poltava. Regions benefit from discord in the center. Also, not well in its way…”

It is necessary to mention the Chess Federation of the Southern Federal District. They created it in 2001 in the city of Azov, Rostov region, without registration as a legal entity. At the head of this organization was Aslan Beshukov, executive director Nikolay Pushkov 2001-2008, whose powers they transferred first to Alexander Sapfirov 2008-2013. and then to Nikolay Shirshikov 2013-2022.

February 15, 2010 is, registered in the Ministry of Justice of the Interregional, the public organization “Chess Federation of the Southern region” at the address Krasnodar Kray, Belorechensk, Lenin St., 64/1 in the person of the founders: Anatoly Ertel, Aslan Beshukov, Alexander Sapfirov, Sergey Chashchev, Ruslan Kudaev. Anatoly Ertel becomes the director of the “Chess Federation of the Southern region”. And they say that A.G. Ertel was offended by something, and he was imprisoned exclusively for money, and did not submit a report to the Minister The organization was liquidated on 29.04.2013.

At some point, there was the 2nd federation of the Southern Federal District in the district, and they rumored that A.G. Ertel registered an organization with the Ministry of Justice so that it would be possible to work with sponsors or for something else. For example, Nikolay Pushkov did not even know that this federation was registered and liquidated. But there was the most important thing, and no one had any doubts about it. Aslan Beshukov is the only head of the “Chess Federation of the Southern region”; and it was like that until October 8, 2022. Aslan Beshukov, at some point, became the most important patron of chess. Someone even rumored that he did not refuse anyone who asked for help from him. I know about dozens of people who are grateful to him, and I think I don’t know about thousands.

Moscow

In 2010, we observed outrage and bacchanalia in the Russian Chess Federation. One group of members of the Supervisory Board of the Russianness Federation nominates A.E. Karpov as a candidate for president of FIDE. By the way, from the Krasnodar Territory, this meeting was attended by: A.A. Sapfirov, A.G. Ertel and A.G. Beshukov. The other group nominated K.N. Ilyumzhinov.

The processes that took place after this meeting was described in great detail by journalists Daria Pylnova and Dmitry Shkrylev in an opposition newspaper on June 2, 2010, which was later recognized in Russia as a foreign media agent and deprived of a media license in Russia.

«The elections of the president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) scheduled for autumn unexpectedly for many led to a fierce confrontation within one of the largest national chess federations – the Russian Federation (RCF). The split line was drawn on the question of who will be officially nominated as a candidate from Russia – provided that each national federation has the right to nominate only one candidate according to the FIDE charter. The situation became extremely complicated when it turned out that both candidates who decided to run for the FIDE were from Russia, and each had good reasons not to give up their positions.

Thus, on one side of the “barricades” was the world chess champion and current UNICEF ambassador Anatoly Karpov, and on the other – the current FIDE president and head of the Republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Anatoly Karpov was supported by another world champion, Garry Kasparov, and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was supported by Arkady Dvorkovich, assistant to the President of Russia and head of the Supervisory Board of the RCF.

On May 14, a meeting of the split RCF Supervisory Board took place. One part of it met under the chairmanship of Arkady Dvorkovich, but without a quorum (8 people) and outside the headquarters of the RCF. The other – with the majority of the council members (17 people), but without Dvorkovich’s participation – gathered in the building of the official headquarters of the Russian Federation on Gogolevsky boulevard. At the meeting where the majority was present, it was decided to nominate Anatoly Karpov. However, before these meetings, a letter signed by Dvorkovich was sent to the national federations of the world about the support and nomination of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

On May 21, armed men broke into the building of the RCF on Gogolevsky boulevard …

In this issue, world champions Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov represent their positions in the current situation. In one of the following – an interview with Arkady Dvorkovich, who has already been sent questions from Novaya Gazeta.

The police do not interfere with Dvorkovich’s program

World champion Anatoly Karpov told Novaya Gazeta about his vision for the development of chess sports, as well as about the unsportsmanlike interest of the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation in the presidential elections of FIDE

– How and why did you decide to run for president of FIDE?

– Now there is a unique situation when most of the leading chess players in the world have one position – it is necessary to radically change both the methods of governing the federation and the leaders. I can’t say that I have friendly relations with everyone, especially since we have encountered many in chess life, say, with Korchnoi (grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi. – Ed.), – but he also understood and supported my candidacy. And most of the iconic chess federations also support me, because they understand that chess is on the edge of the abyss.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, being the president of FIDE for 15 years, practically did not work with the Russian Chess Federation. Only at the beginning of his activity, he held three Russian championships and in Kalmykia spread chess in schools. And I know chess not only as a professional chess player but, a world champion also as an organizer of the world children’s chess Olympiads, as a specialist engaged in chess education around the world. I am directly connected with Russian chess life, as I have opened dozens, if not hundreds of chess clubs. In the most difficult periods, he defended them – like, say, the Chigorinsky Club in St. Petersburg or the Voronezh Chess Club. In Voronezh, the chess club was attacked by the head of the regional property department, who wanted to take away the premises from the chess players. We fought for a very long time, the largest newspapers joined that campaign, and 63 thousand of signatures were collected in Voronezh to defend the use of the school and the club.

– When you put forward your candidacy, did you expect to meet resistance?

– Such fierce, probably not. That the situation in Russia is so tense, of course, I could believe it

– And what is the main reason for t the current confrontation, how did it develop and from whom should chess be protected now?

– Chess should be protected from Dvorkovich’s attempts (Arkady Dvorkovich, assistant to the President of the Russian Federation. – Editor’s note) to usurp power in the Russian Chess Federation, from the terrible pressure that he organized throughout Russia. From Ilyumzhinov’s emissaries, who go and threaten people or hand out handouts (say, 100 or 150 thousand rubles – so that people vote properly).

The years when the Russian Chess Federation, was headed by “Alexander Zhukov” Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, President of the Olympic Committee of the Russian Federation until November 2009 – President of the Russian Chess Federation. – Editor’s note), they were successful, a good team was formed, and Russian chess came to the forefront in relation to activity. They held international tournaments. We restored children’s tournaments – we revived the competitions for the “White Rook”; which had not been held since the USSR.

All these years, the director of the federation was Alexander Bach, who is now not allowed to work with the team. Armed men broke into our chess club. The offices were sealed; they seized documents; and removed hard drives from computers; they paralyzed activity. There was neither a prosecutor’s sanction nor a court decision. That is arbitrariness, arbitrariness, and maybe even a criminally punishable action.

– Have you managed to identify these people somehow?

– Yes, this is a private security company claiming to be acting on behalf of Dvorkovich, who allegedly signed a contract for protection. But even if they are guarding, they do not have the right to prevent employees from reaching their workplaces. There is a violation of labor legislation, the law on the activities of public organizations.

– Have you tried to somehow transfer the struggle to the legal environment, to contact lawyers, law enforcement agencies, and the prosecutor’s office?

– They sent a statement from the federation to the police about the seizure of premises and to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

– What is the reaction?

– Nothing. The police said that this is a conflict of economic entity that the security is based on bastion of a document signed by Dvorkovich. He signed up as deputy chairman of the Chess Federation of Russia, and in October he wrote a letter of resignation, which was granted in December. He has not been the deputy chairman of the federation for six months. Moreover, the congress held in February abolished this position altogether.

– By writing an open letter about what is happening in the Russian Chess Federation, you have earned the internal conflict into a public discussion. What did you expect and did these expectations come true?

– I had to reveal the deception because our opponents sent the news around the world that the Russian Chess Federation supported Ilyumzhinov. But it wasn’t. Now all over the world are following the developments in Russia and understand that the information that leaves here is not always, to put it mildly reliable.

– What does Anatoly Karpov’s program on FIDE reform suggest?

– We will change the methods of leadership and the practice of decision-making. Now it is being done frivolously, thoughtlessly, I think, semi-legally. Issues that were not on the agenda may be submitted to the congress, and delegates are encouraged to express support on issues that were not discussed by national federations. It turns out that this is not the opinion of federations, but of individuals. We will change our relations with the federations and offer a long-term cooperation program to developing countries. We will make certain changes in the World Cup – we will give up short matches. The minimum contender matches, I think, will be eight games, and the World Championship match will be ten or twelve, which is more reasonable from a professional point of view.

Now chess is on the verge of big trouble. The chess player’s profession as such is under threat because financial conditions have changed dramatically. If earlier the title of grandmaster guaranteed some kind of prosperity, now many grandmasters are dragging out a miserable existence. This is said to be changed. With the arrival of a new team, we have opportunities for contacts with corporate sponsors.

If my program wins, it will increase the opportunities for the development of chess in the world. Especially among young people, among schoolchildren. Now, on my initiative halves in 23 regions and republics of Russia and 26 countries of the world. If I become president of FIDE, I will bring chess to children all over the world. And Russia will be at the head of this process.

– It is known that for many years your relationship with Garry Kasparov could hardly be called cloudless. But then you supported him at the time of his arrest. And now he supports you. Why did you take that first step then and what is Kasparov’s support for you today?

“I didn’t like the way he was treated. I understood the state he was in. Therefore, it seemed to me that it would be important to him as a human being. At the same time, and then they asked: have your political positions become closer? I said: one has nothing to do with the other, don’t drag me into politics. In chess, of course, the largest chess players must unite sparrow’s support significantly because at some tie the chess world was divided into two camps – Karpov’s camp and Kasparov’s camp. Such a union of two champions is both symbolic and extremely important for chess.

Politics in chess and chess in politics

Garry Kasparov believes that there may be quite tangible interest behind the persistent attention of the top officials of the state to the election of the president of the International Chess Federation

– What is happening in the chess federation now, is it, in your opinion, a dispute between economic entities, a confrontation between two systems, two people, a struggle for spheres of influence, for an administrative resource?

– Well, probably a little bit of everything. But there is no dispute of economic entities – there is the aggression of an economic entity. Because in this case, we are still talking about the subject, this is the International Chess Federation (FIDE), which has been headed by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for 15 years. And those people who support his re-election now. First of all, this is Arkady Dvorkovich. And if you look at these lines of changes, the center of chess activity has shifted from Europe to a Caspian-Caucasian region with major tournaments in Baku, Jermuk, Nalchik, Elista, and Astrakhan. That is, chess has gone to this periphery. On the other hand, a certain financial management system FIDE has been built. And the idea of such a link between the Russian Chess Federation and FIDE, it at some point captured the minds of Russian innovators. But then it was not the economic entity that intervened, but the former world champion Anatoly Karpov, who also wanted to become president of FIDE. Because he did not like the situation, he believed that it could be changed by returning from FIDE to the chess path. And from this moment, just the same story begins, in which there is already an administrative resource and raider seizures and, of course, the interests of various kinds of farms are affected.

– What are you and Anatoly Karpov, people whose names have long been recognized in the chess world, fundamentally not satisfied with the way the situation has developed over the past 15 years in the chess federation?

– The last 15 years are the moment when corporate money comes into professional sports. That I the app appearance sponsorship. This did not happen in chess. Commercial sponsorship is directly related to the reputation of the game and its management. Under Ilyumzhinov, people like him had minimal hopes of receiving such sponsorship, but today they are simply zero. Because any sponsor will demand, of course, transparency, transparency. Karpov is certainly the man whose reputation should help chess to return to the forefront. That is, to some extent, if we can say globally, this is the transformation of FIDE from such a feudal dictatorship into a joint-stock democracy.

– How is what is happening inside the Russian Chess Federation connected with the election of the president of the international federation, which “Anatoly Karpov”; is nominated for?

– FIDE presidential elections are held at the FIDE Congress. The Congress takes place during the Chess Olympiad. The Olympiad will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk. Accordingly, the side that won in the Russian Federation has huge opportunities to influence this. One of the most important issues is not only the nomination also who will be selected for the Chess Olympiad. Who will control the entire organizational process – from the allocation of seats in hotels to the organization of charter flights?

– Is the Russian Chess Federation legally registered at all?

– For a public organization, it does not matter whether it is registered with the Ministry of Justice or not. Without these documents, it is impossible to open a bank account sealing dousers old, but it does not matter for the internal activities of a public organization. There was a congress. No one disputed these results of the congress. The Congress chose the Supervisory Board, and these people decided to nominate Karpov from the Russian Federation. 17 people, even under the most severe pressure, still supported Karpov. As you know, after Medvedev’s statement that high-ranking officials should not head sports federations, Alexander Zhukov (Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation, concurrently President of the Russian Chess Federation) and Arkady Dvorkovich (assistant to the President of Russia, who was the first vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation) left their previous posts in the Russian Chess Federation. Then the congress discusses the new chair and the Supervisory Board and the Management Board appear, the chairman of which is elected Alexander Bach. Dvorkovich is also elected to the council, as well as 32 other people. The documents of this congress are not registered with the Ministry of Justice. I can’t imagine that Zhukov and Dvorkovich can’t register documents in a few days, they would have done it if they wanted to. And although it was known that Karpov wanted to run, the question of his nomination was not raisin in congress. The Supervisory Board did not meet for two months. And only in the second half of April Dvorkovich writes his letter to FIDE about Ilyumzhinov’s nomination. Virtually single-handedly. Only he has no right to sign it because Alexander Bach has to sign it. So, he just lied and violated the law and instructions, including his boss, President Medvedev. Because he got directly involved in the management process. I do not doubt that the registration of documents will be carried out secretly because they were taken from everywhere again. And the chess club was captured for a reason. Bach’s office was sealed, hard drives were removed from the computer, and accounting was sealed. A criminal offence has been committed, because a certain private security agency, based on a piece of paper signed by an assistant to the president, seizes a public organization, and pulls out documents on its financial activities.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

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