The new head of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), Timur Turlov, called his victory in the Samarkand election the result of work to develop chess in Kazakhstan. The CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. wrote this on his Facebook page. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

According to him, during his election campaign for the FIDE presidency, he told other federations about how the chess system in the country had grown in recent years and how new sporting results had emerged.

Timur Turlov thanked President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for supporting Kazakh chess.

“A special role here is played by our President Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich Tokayev – his authority throughout the world and his all-round support for Kazakh chess. Before the elections in Samarkand, my team and I went a long way. We managed to make chess even more visible and popular in our country and to seriously develop the entire chess system. New sporting results are gradually coming as well. It was precisely this experience that I presented during the campaign,” Timur Turlov wrote.

According to him, the more than 200 national federations that are part of FIDE have different interests. Disagreements between them can be serious, so it is important for the new head of the organization to be able to negotiate.

“The way Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich builds Kazakhstan’s relations with the most diverse countries commands enormous respect from me. It is precisely this approach that I want to apply in FIDE as well,” admitted the new head of the federation.

He also stated that he now has to fulfill the promises he made to national federations during the election campaign.

Recall that during the debates before the FIDE elections, Timur Turlov presented plans to create a special fund and invest more than $6 million in the development of chess, including to support small federations around the world.

According to the CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., one of the tasks of the new leadership will be to strengthen FIDE’s authority and preserve its neutral status.

On September 26, in the elections in Samarkand within the framework of the organization’s General Assembly, he won in the second round, receiving 110 votes out of 196 possible. Timur Turlov replaced Arkady Dvorkovich, who had headed FIDE since 2018.

And on the eve, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sent Timur Turlov a congratulatory telegram.