Kirsan Ilyumzhinov re-elected as FIDE president
TROMSO, Norway. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The World Chess Federation (FIDE) on Monday re-elected Kirsan Ilyumzhinov as its president for another four-year term.
Ilyumzhinov received 110 votes from national chess federations at FIDE's current general assembly in Tromso. Garry Kasparov, representing Bhutan, got 61 votes. Four ballots were declared invalid.
"I want to support the development of chess in all countries of the world. Brothers and sisters, we are all one family, and we will help each other," Ilyumzhinov said in a presentation before the vote.
In response to promises in Kasparov's presentation, he said he had decided to set up a chess development fund for Africa.
"Not tomorrow but today," he said in reference to a promise by Kasparov. "I have now transferred the first $500,000 to FIDE's African fund.
Ilyumzhinov offered English chess grandmaster Nigel Short, who represents England at the assembly, the job of heading the new fund, and earlier urged FIDE to show greater transparency in financial matters.
Ilyumzhinov also said he was in a position to invest $20 million in FIDE development projects today. He mentioned that he had financed one of Kasparov's first few games with a super-computer and that he planned to transfer $110,000 to Kasparov's fund.
Kasparov said in his presentation that he would attempt to raise investments of $5 million into FIDE if elected president, that he would start working on this the next day, and that "all the [fee] arrears that [national] federations owe to FIDE would be written off" and the fees themselves would be halved "as of tomorrow and disappear as of 2016."
"I know how to attract sponsors. I am ready to do 10 times as much as I do at the Kasparov fund," he said.
The assembly heard FIDE's accounts for 2013 and approved an audit report. FIDE Treasurer and Executive Director Nigel Freeman said the federation's revenues for 2013 exceeded its expenditures by 150,000 euros or 4.5%.
Tromso is also currently hosting the 2014 World Chess Olympiad.
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