Ilyumzhinov Kirsan Nikolaevich (05.04.1962)

President of FIDE 1995-2018, a Russian citizen.

Former President and Head of Republic of Kalmykia (Russia) between 1994 and 2010. A former Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federative Republic and Member of the Federation Council of Russian Federation. Graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations.

Ilyumzhinov has spent millions of dollars supporting chess. He organized the World Championship final match Anatoly Karpov vs. Gata Kamsky in Elista in 1996 then reformed the world championship cycle and sponsored the “Knock out” World Championship in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2001. He secured in his hometown Elista the ‘Reunification Match’ between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik in 2006, the Candidates matches in 2007 and the Chess Olympiads in 1998. He also sponsored other major chess tournaments which includes President’s Cup (International Super tournament) in 1998, Lausanne Young Masters Tournament in 1999 and 2000, FIDE Grand Prix 2002, Russia vs. Rest of the World in 2002, Children Olympiad in Ukraine 1999 and 2000, Kasparov vs. Deep Junior in 2003, Grand Prix in Elista 2008 and 14 Russian championship finals for men and women.

After the resignation of Florencio Campomanes in Paris in 1995, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was nominated by the General Assembly as FIDE President for a year when he was reelected 5 times. On November 25, 2015, the United States Department of the Treasury named him a Specially Designated National “for materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria, Central Bank of Syria. On July 13, 2018, the FIDE ethics commission sanctioned Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for violating the FIDE code of ethics. The FIDE president, who was banned from “holding any position” effectively for six months decided not to run for a new term.