Malaysia for Bessel or Kirsan?
If you have read the open letter by Dato Tan last week, it’s a vote for neither one but for both!!
We believe that a viable alternative is a joint Ilyumzhinov-Kok presidency. We are certain that the two candidates can create a heroic, historic moment in FIDE affairs by recognizing how their strengths complement one another and dovetail perfectly with FIDE’s mission. Unity is strength.
Dato Tan Chin Nam
ON WHY UNITY IS STRENGTH
The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) believes that the current election in which two tickets ¨C Ilyumzhinov vs. Kok ¨C are competing on a winner-take-all basis to be counterproductive for chess development. Instead, the MCF supports an alternative solution to that offered by this election.
The chess world has reached an impasse ¨C a period marked by stagnation, declining sponsorship, reduced news service coverage in the world press, serious talk about establishing a new world chess organization, deep and damaging uncertainty about the very nature of chess because of changing time limits, and widespread demoralization. The way out of the impasse must begin with a joint presidency of the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE), shared by incumbent president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and his challenger, Bessel Kok, the noted Dutch businessman.
President Ilyumzhinov possesses the passion to spread the royal game to chess-developing countries, and Bessel Kok complements this passion by offering strengths in business and sponsorship. Mr. Kok can remove part of the enormous financial burden borne single-handedly by the FIDE president. Unity is strength in their case.
TWO WORLD CHAMPION CHESS WORKERS
Over almost a quarter century, from 1982 to 2006, two towering figures have served as FIDE president: Florencio Campomanes, who served from 1982 to 1995, and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, also the president of Kalmykia, who has served from 1995 to the present. Any fair-minded rendering of their efforts for chess must assert that the two leaders are dedicated to promoting the royal game.
For nearly two decades, Mr. Campomanes ate, drank and breathed chess. Great chess matches, both inside and outside FIDE, took place during his watch, and the value of the world title increased several-fold. For both good and ill, chess became front-page news in the world press. “Campo” created a foundation for a fully modern chess world.
Yet no chess person has seriously argued that we have as yet entered this fully modern chess world. Current FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov inherited a divided chess community and a fractured title, which were the two unfortunate legacies of the Campomanes years. By the time of his accession to the presidency, mainstream interest in chess had peaked and then plummeted. The constant battling and the rattling of swords began to bore. Chess moved off the radar screens of news editors.
President Ilyumzhinov assumed the burden of raising an unprecedented amount of money for prize funds, providing hundreds of grandmasters with the biggest paydays of their lives. He has worked hard on projects ranging from putting chess into the Olympics to arranging the upcoming Kramnik-Topalov world title reunification match.
DISABLING INERTIA
This writer is not into the blame game. I cannot say of any one individual, “He is to blame.” Blame for what? Blame for the current unsatisfactory state of the chess world. Hard work and the best of intentions have, in truth, produced the impasse described at the beginning of this letter. Neither President Ilyumzhinov nor challenger Kok will be in a position to serve chess fruitfully if this election becomes a take-no-prisoners battle.
A JOINT PRESIDENCY
The MCF is certain that the election as it is currently constituted holds no hope for rescuing chess from the doldrums. It believes that business as usual will lead to organizational schism and two world chess federations.
We believe that a viable alternative is a joint Ilyumzhinov-Kok presidency. We are certain that the two candidates can create a heroic, historic moment in FIDE affairs by recognizing how their strengths complement one another and dovetail perfectly with FIDE’s mission. Unity is strength.
Once again, the MCF calls for a joint Ilyumzhinov-Kok presidency.
Dato Tan Chin Nam
Picture courtesy of Kristianus Liem of IndoChess.com
This open letter was recently presented personally to Bessel Kok on behalf of Dato by Encik Hamid Majid. Read here
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How do you do the big quotation marks? Is it a plug-in? I’d like to use in my blog instead of the blockquote tags.
Thanks. Can you pls email me at amielr at gmail dot com.