The Race for the FIDE Presidency: A Peinful, Short Story?
Is there hope for competent, non-corrupt leadership at the head of FIDE? Maybe, but there's plenty of cause for concern. Here's an interview with IM Malcolm Pein (once known as the voice of Fritz; now known mainly as a chess organizer, e.g. of the London Chess Classic), who is running on Giorgios Makropoulos' ticket. Running against Makro will be someone from Russia (maybe quasi-incumbent president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, maybe Arkady Dvorkovich) and as of fairly recently, GM Nigel Short.
While Short has ruffled feathers in the chess world by being abrasive on occasion and, in years past, for expressing politically incorrect opinions about women's chess, he is scandal-free as far as I'm aware. Makropoulos has at least been controversial in his long tenure under Ilyumzhinov. (See the end of this article, for instance, and note too Makropoulos's response.)
"Do not put your trust in princes", writes the psalmist (Psalm 146:3), and it's good advice. But it's okay to hope for the best, and to support the best option of the bunch, as possible. If Ilyumzhinov manages to run again, I'd say support whichever alternative candidate has the best shot of defeating him. But otherwise I'm not entirely sure. Those readers who are more aware of, say, Dvorkovich, Makropoulos, and Short-as-a-possible-politician are invited to weigh in (non-libelously, it goes without saying).
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks as always for the nice reading. You mention Kotronias a couple of times, but that should be Makropoulos.
[DM: Darn it! I'll fix that right now, thanks.]
Think you mean Makropolous, not Kotronias.
Interesting interview with GM Short on Ben Johnson's Perpetual Chess podcast (guest host McCauley Peterson):
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2018/6/18/episode-78-gm-nigel-short
Im for a clean break. Arkady Dvorkovich will give Russia too much power, Pein has allies that at best tolerated Ilyumzhinov . Therefore, I hope it will be Short.
Main thing is we do not have Ilyumzhinov.
[DM: The words, "it will be Short" reminds me of Kasparov's old joke - I think you're the one who first told me about it. Q: "Who will be the challenger, and how will the match go?" Kasparov: "It will be Short, and it will be short." We could recycle the joke with this introductory question: Who will win the next FIDE presidential election, and how long will his tenure last? My suspicion is that he won't win, but if he does he'll manage to stay in office as long as he likes (unless he really messes things up). Anyway, I'm with you: no Ilyumzhinov is an improvement, and Short is at least a chance for something different and saner.]
Could a team-up make it peinfully short?