Batumi Chess Olympiad 2018 Round Nine Press Report
3 October 2018 Arkady Dvorkovich of Russia won the election for FIDE President over Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos by a vote of 103 to 78.
The final vote count was not a surprise and was similar to the votes by which Kirsan Ilyumzhinov won the last three elections in 2014, 2010 and 2006.
What was surprising was the way in which Nigel Short of England withdrew his candidacy at the conclusion of his final campaign speech today. In his speech, Short said that he had defeated thirteen world champions in tournament games.
This certainly sounded like a campaign speech but then he said that he is a lot stronger chess player than Arkady Dvorkovich, who is a beginner at chess, but he and Short will work together in establishing a new chess organization. This made it seem
like Dvorkovich and Short had made a deal that Leonard Barden had said was in the works two weeks ago.
I would have been angry if I had been a member of Short's campaign.
In his speech, Arkady Dvorkovich gave the “chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” typical campaign speech. Arkady Dvorkovich promised to eliminate all the annual membership dues that FIDE members have to pay ever year and he would also
eliminate the entry fees that parents have to pay to bring their children to play in chess tournaments.
I hope somebody has made and kept a tape of all the promises Arkady Dvorkovich made. A year from now we should play the tape to see if he has kept any of his promises.
If Arkady Dvorkovich can eliminate all these fees, he must have the kind of money behind him that only one man in Russia has and you all know who that is.
My view is that Arkady Dvorkovich is going to have to have experienced chess organizers such as Georgios Makropoulos and Israel Gelfer behind him to deal with the unusual and difficult personalities of the people who inhabit the world of chess.
There are now 47 African Delegations and they tend to be a problem. FIDE has spent a lot of CACDEC money getting these African Chess Federations going. Now they spend their time fighting each other over the money they are supposed to get.
On the chess board, the USA lost to Poland 2.5-1.5 with Nakamura losing and the other three dames drawn. China defeated Azerbaijan and Armenia defeated Italy also by 2.5-1.5
The USA women defeated the Hungarian women 2.5-1.5
The super-star of the USA women's team is Jennifer Yu who has scored 7.5 out of 9 !!! This might be the best result of anybody in both Olympiads. She is also the best dancer too.
The two leading candidates for election held parties last night. Georgios Makropoulos held a somber affair at the Hilton Hotel. The party seemed to break up at about 10:30 PM because most of the guests there came to the Arkady Dvorkovich party at the
Jasmine Restaurant next to a swimming pool near the Sheraton Hotel. There were beautiful singing and dancing girls on stage plus mermaids in the swimming pool. The singers sung “Hit the Road Jack” and other famous American pop tunes. They were so
good I had to wonder if they were lip syncing. I watched them in one of the back rooms practicing their dance steps in revealing skirts before going on stage. I was skeptical that they would bring in any votes for FIDE President as I could only see a few
FIDE voting members there, but I guess they came in, in view of the victory by Arkady Dvorkovich.
Sam Sloan

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)