On September 9, 2026, debates among candidates for the presidency of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) took place on the Chess.com platform. Chairman of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation Timur Turlov presented his strategy for transforming the organization, focusing on large-scale financial investments, corporate transparency, and technological development. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The foundation of the candidate from Kazakhstan's election program was the formation of a development fund to support national federations. The funds will be aimed at eliminating financial inequality and creating infrastructure in developing countries.
"I expect this fund to exceed six million dollars and cover the holding of open tournaments, training of arbiters and coaches in each specific federation. We will help chess players travel abroad and participate in tournaments within the country. All these measures combined can give a huge boost to many developing federations around the world," Timur Turlov said during the debates.
As confirmation of the effectiveness of such investments, he cited the results of Kazakh athletes who, thanks to targeted funding, won more than 140 medals last year.
Turlov paid special attention to issues of financial independence and transparency of the federation. Having experience managing a company with more than ten thousand employees and 12 million clients, he intends to introduce into FIDE the transparency standards applied to public companies.
"The main guarantee is my reputation, because it is my biggest asset, and I certainly do not intend to put it at risk due to any conflict of interest. I run a public company on NASDAQ and report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. I know how to work with independent directors and auditors, how to maintain transparency in our reporting," the candidate emphasized.
Turlov also proposed investing in advanced anti-cheating technologies and considering the possibility of introducing biometric identification for official online tournaments. At the same time, he supported the idea of holding competitions in "rapid classics" to maintain spectator interest, while preserving the traditional classical format.
"My goal now is to make the beloved game of chess greater and more visible, and also to bring real benefit to society. I want to end my career at FIDE, leaving the organization much stronger, more independent, and richer," the speaker summarized.
The representative from Kazakhstan was competed with by European entrepreneurs Jan-Henric Buettner and Vadim Rosenstein. Founder of WR Group Vadim Rosenstein made a short opening statement about the need for full accountability of FIDE leadership to more than 200 national federations, after which he left the broadcast early.
Co-founder of the Freestyle Chess tournament Jan-Henric Buettner built his campaign on the idea of strict commercialization. He promised to attract sponsors from the Fortune 500 list and introduce a model in which 20% of all FIDE aggregate revenues would be mandatorily distributed among national federations.
Recall that in an interview with Kursiv on July 24, Timur Turlov said that he had decided to nominate his candidacy for the post of FIDE president.