Timur Turlov was one vote short of winning the first round of FIDE presidential elections

The representative of Kazakhstan, Timur Turlov, lacked one vote to be elected in the first round of the elections for the President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

The FIDE General Assembly is taking place on Saturday in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).

In the first round of elections, his competitors, Germans Vadim Rosenstein and Jan Henrik Büttner, received 76 and 20 votes, respectively. 96 delegates voted for Turlov - exactly half. Requires 50% + 1 vote to be elected. In this regard, a second round of elections will be held, in which only Rosenstein and Turlov will participate.

Initially, the Russian Chess Federation (RFF) nominated FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, who was first elected in 2018 and re-elected for a four-year term in 2022, as its candidate. In July, the European Union announced the inclusion of Dvorkovich on the 21st sanctions list. After this, Dvorkovich voluntarily suspended the exercise of his powers. The deputy head of the organization, the 15th world chess champion, Indian Viswanathan Anand, became the acting president of FIDE. Dvorkovich then announced that he would not participate in the elections, as this was associated with great risks for FIDE.