Timur Turlov elected FIDE President: reaction of Anatoly Karpov

The twelfth world chess champion Anatoly Karpov told RIA Novosti that he is not sure of the benefits for Russian chess from the election of Timur Turlov as the new president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Earlier on Saturday, the representative of Kazakhstan, Timur Turlov, was elected president of FIDE at the organization’s general assembly in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Turlov's opponents in the elections were Vadim Rosenstein and Jan Henrik Büttner from Germany.

“He had something to do with chess. I was not aware of his position on the decisions of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport - ed.) on Russia. This may not have the best effect on Russian chess. It cannot be said unequivocally that this is a plus for us, but we can congratulate you on the election of a representative of a neighboring country,” Karpov said.

Before his election, Turlov told Western media that FIDE would continue to follow the decisions of CAS, due to which the membership of the Russian Chess Federation (RFF) was temporarily suspended.

Before Turlov, FIDE was headed by Arkady Dvorkovich. He was forced to stop exercising his powers and refuse re-election due to EU sanctions.