[i]President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi told him over a game of chess in Tripoli on Sunday he had no plans to stand down or leave his country.
As fighting between Kadhafi’s forces and Libyan insurgents raged across western Libya, the Russian eccentric who once claimed he hosted extraterrestrials, also sat down for a game of chess with Kadhafi’s eldest son Muhammad and the two played the Sicilian defense, Russia’s Interfax news agency said.[/i]
Why is there no response from the USCF office? For FIDE president to politicize chess in this by associating with this despot while the the world is condemning him for crimes against humanity is outrageous. Why haven’t we spoken out against this? Why is Ilyumzhinov still president of FIDE? Why do we tolerate this clown on the world stage?
Chess is supposed to be non-political. But Ilyumzhinov’s action are overtly political and totally unacceptible.
Because for anyone who knows Kirsan, this hardly raises an eyebrow. He’s like a Lady Gaga of the chess world. He’s done so many loony things its hard to be surprised or outraged at this point
This short video made it to the mainstream media this morning. The commentators got to take snarky shots at chess as well as Ghaddafi. We can thank Kirsan for making chess look foolish and trivial once again. He is becoming more of a court jester every day as he dances before his Russian masters.
Ilyumzhinov returned to Libya for a second visit, as you can see from the latest news accounts. They also show that he was representing Dmitry Medvedev and this was part of the Russian peace initiative, encouraged by NATO, to get Khadafy out of power without further bloodshed.
So is this still supposed to be a black eye for chess?
Muamar Ghadaffi’s options are limited. He might attempt to go to the south overland to another country to which he has given money or has hired mercenaries from. This is a very risky course of action as he would be exposed to aircraft sorties. Another possibility is to have a friendly country with an embassy in Tripoli take him in temporarily until they can fly him out on a plane. Given the NATO no-fly zone, this latter tack might not be possible, even if diplomatic immunity was asserted. Another big question is that even if he can get out of Libya, who would take him in? The entire Arab world treats him as a pariah. Venezuela? Kalmykia? South Africa? The number of countries who take in dictators has grown smaller. With the fall of Tripoli to the rebels, he is in zugswang. The game is almost over. I expect he will die before allowing himself to be captured by those he has called “dogs” and “unclean”.
Knowing Ilyumzhinov, I would not be suprised if he were in Kalmykia. IMO, the chess game may simply have been a way to explore conditions of his exile there.
I doubt that the Russians want to see Ghadaffi anywhere near their soil. It would disrupt their relationships with several Mideast nations as well as the western alliance. The Russians agreed in the UN and with the G-20 to the mission to unseat Ghadaffi and the imposition of the NATO no-fly zone as part of the process. It is not in their present economic or political interest to take him in or allow Kalmykia do so either. I would expect him to go south into the heart of Muslim Africa, where he has given money and support over the last several decades.
