Is Kirsan Ilyumzhinov a lunatic or a psychologically astute self promoter?
As the President of FIDE faces yet another challenge to his 'kingship' over the world chess body, this question again seems sure to play a part in the cut and thrust of the electoral chess game.
When DR first heard Ilyumzhinov's story of being abducted by aliens in yellow spacesuits and taken to another planet, the reaction was not only hilarious but it also prompted speculation about the level of his sanity.
However, looking back over the 17 years since Ilyumzhinov first floated his alien kidnap story, DR is left to wonder.
For one thing, his alleged trip to another planet, however absurd it may appear, has really done the FIDE president and his administration no apparent harm. If anything, it seems to have brought him a charmed life as he was able to retain his office against formidable challengers, including ex-World Champion Anatoly Karpov, and this inspite of persistent charges of dubious dealings, including the bribing of smaller national delegations.
According to Karpov, the thought of replacing the Ilyumzhinov team still exists. "This should happen one day but, unfortunately, the system of elections in FIDE is built in a way that makes it very difficult. And it requires significant financial investment."
The ex-champion charged that the Chess Federation is "mired in corruption" and the electoral system –one voice per country–appears not to be efficient. Karpov feels that extra votes should be given to those countries which have more players and representatives in top level tournaments.
To make the point, he recalled that in 1975 the Virgin Islands had two votes, because they are islands, while Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom had only one vote each.
Now, as the FIDE president faces another electoral challenger, this time in the formidable figure of Garry Kasparov, regarded as the strongest chess player of modern times, the talk of his alien abduction happens to be gaining fresh currency.
According to Dylan Loeb McClain, writing in the New York Times of October 28, 2013, Ilyumzhinov has said he believes the game of chess was actually invented by extraterrestrials.
Now, DR would have thought the wealthy leader of the Russian republic of Kalmykia would now shy away from the sensation he has created by his story of inter-planetary travel. But no. In fact, he is still quite accomodating to requests from curious journalists and magazine correspondents.
In a video interview with Olimpiu G Urcan he relates: "I was taken from my apartment in Moscow and taken to the spaceship and we went to some star. After that I asked, 'please bring me back,' because the next day I should be back in Kalmykia, to Elista, and go to the Ukraine. They said, 'no problem Kirsan, you have time.'
"They are people like us. They have the same mind, the same vision. I talked with them. I understand we are not alone in this whole world. We are not unique.
"I am not a crazy man...but after that, when I gave the first interview to Radio Freedom in Russia five years ago, thousands, not hundreds, thousands of people wrote me letters and called me on the phone saying, 'Kirsan, you are a politician and you are not afraid to speak about it.
"From the United States every year, it is an official statistic, more than four thousand people are contacted in such a way.
"My theory is that chess comes from space. Why? Because the same rules, 64 squares, black and white, and the same rules in Japan, in China, in Qatar, in Mongolia, in Africa. The rules are the same. Why? I think, it seems, maybe it is from space."
In an interview over Radio Freedom (Czech Republic) Ilyumzhinov answers one question thus:
"We are having a frank conversation right now. I am saying that people fly while dreaming, but I was flying, and was in outer space and was describing everythng and, as far as I could tell I was awake. I saw every thing clearly and precisely."
When asked whether his alien abductors had programmed him for anything particular, the FIDE president said: "No, nothing. I did not understand and a few days later I was walking along, thinking, why did they take me?
"And I was cursing myself for not asking them any questions. But it is possible that it is still not the time for us to meet these extraterrestrial civilisations.
"By the way, in my book I deal with the question of whether it is necessary for us to meet them, and I consider it is not necessary. On the moral plane, we have not yet arrived at a level where we can meet these civilisations, these visitors."
According to Tom Parfitt of the London Guardian, the flamboyant boss of FIDE and the indigent republic of Kalmykia has two greast passions–self promotion and chess. Eccentric? Perhaps. A lunatic? Not really.
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