Sorry to disappoint you, but it is chess related. Consider:
- Kasparov is deeply involved ininternational chess politics as an adversary of Kirsan.
- Kasparov is a staunch opponent of Putin who has supported Kirsan. It is unlikely that Kirsan’s visits to the late Lybian war criminal were not backed by Putin.
- The links between the Russian Chess Federation/Kirsan and the Kremlin were made very clear when private security thugs were allowed to take control of the RCF in support of Kirsan’s FIDE presidential nomination.
4. I found the link to this story this morning as a chess news article on Chessbase.
chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7733 - The article discusses the poisoning of Alexander Litvenko in London. Litvenko claimed to have evidence of Putin’s murder of a journalist. What famous FIDE official abducted by aliens also had problems with another journalist who was murdered?
Sawmiller, if you’re going to keep taking shots, at least try to make some sense instead of typing nonsense. 
Kirsan was the last visitor to see Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi,
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov’s legal adviser, Sergey Vaskin and Vladimir Shanukov, were jailed for 21 years, in 1999 for murdering journalist Larisa Yudina, editor of the Sovetskaya Kalmykia, after she leveled corruption charges at the president.
One of the few Western journalists who have written about the murder, Martin van den Heuvel, wrote a book in Dutch (Checkmate in Kalmykia, 2000) about Ilyumzhinov and the murder in Elista. He makes two observations that have rarely been mentioned in non-Russian publications. During the trial, an eye-witness report mentioning Ilyumzhinov’s brother Vyacheslav at the place and time of the killing - Yudina’s flat - was handed on tape to prosecutor Tkachiev, but for some reason it wasn’t used in the trial.
Last year, after Ilyumzhinov described his night with aliens in an interview on prime-time state television, Duma deputies asked President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate whether the president of Kalmykia had leaked any secret data to other civilizations. Concerned about his credibility, the Kalmykia leader hurried out a public statement: “I declare categorically that I am not working for any alien intelligence service.”
I had not heard about Kirsan’s brother being present at the murder. Thanks for the information.
Vyacheslav Ilyumzhinov is now the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kalmykia . Funny how the United Russia party works.
Gary Kasparov is the leader of the United Civil Front. Kasparov also called on potential voters to go out into the streets and protest against the fact that the elections are sure to be neither free nor fair.
Am I correct to assume that this position is now also appointed from the Kremlin?
Kirsan was removed by Putin in response to protests, but he was not forgotten. Now Putin faces some of the same protesters. Does Russia have a 99%?
Kasparov appears to be interested in being a chess teacher. With students like Magnus Carlsen and
Hikaru Nakamura is he trying to hold on to the past or does he have something to offer?
It really isn’t clear what Kirsan’s relationship is to Putin. Given that Kasparov isn’t yet 50 years old, it would be nice to see him play some real tournament chess.
Putin is the chairman of United Russia since 2008. I am sure you understand political machines.
Kirsan delivered high returns for the ruling party, United Russia
The question is Kasparov still relevant ?. Why is he attaching himself to the rising stars? Has computer learning passed him by?
Take a look at Nakamura’s comments here
chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7746
I found Naka’s comments truly…let’s say, amazing. Am I reading correctly that he claims the only way Kasparov achieved his rise to the top of the chess world (historically) was due to immense opening knowledge? Wow. Kasparov ain’t gonna be happy with that!
Another theory held by Fischer early on suggests that Kasparov and Karpov conspired to draw 150 World Championship games.
Maybe I’m overreacting to some cross-talk on FICS, but I don’t see Mr. Nakamura’s statements as saying that the only reason Kasparov was World Champion was openings at all. Rather, it was Mr. Kasparov’s immense openings prep that were his primary strength and ultimately brought him over the top. Perhaps the conclusion would be that without that work, he wouldn’t have been champion. But I think Mr. Nakamura’s statements were made in the context of his study with Mr. Kasparov - what they studied, what he gleaned from it.
At any rate, I know his statements aren’t something I’m qualified to judge. (Other than it strikes me that assuming that any player could be the expert in the world at openings, middlegames, and endgames sounds naive. Even when discussing Kasparov or Fischer.) It would be interesting to hear Kasparov’s reaction, but I would hope that his reaction would be much ado about nothing.
One of my Facebook friends from Italy is at the event in London. She has said that Nakamura is now Kasparov’s ex-student.
You are right. I’d add that if the uscf is to play a role in world chess, its leaders have to be aware of true political considerations lest it be used as a pawn and not even know it!
Don Schultz
Good point.