Jamaica Delegate asks FIDE to ask FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to Resign BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
11 September 2016

At the FIDE General Assembly this morning, Ian Wilkinson, the Delegate from Jamaica and an attorney, made a resolution calling upon FIDE to ask FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to resign.
The basis of this proposal was that the FIDE President has been placed under sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury, because he has maintained relations with and has recently visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Obama Administration has demanded the removal of Bashar al-Assad from being President of Syria. On 25 November 2015, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was designated for materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria.
However, in a lengthy speech this morning, Kirsan maintained that he only visits Syria and its president for the sake of the promotion of chess. He pointed out that World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer had also been the subject of sanctions, but neither
Iceland nor Japan had recognized them and it was only due to the generosity of Iceland that Bobby had been able to live out his life there.
In response, Ian Wilkinson started that the allegations against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov were serious and could have a detrimental effect of the ability of FIDE to hold major chess events including the match for the World Chess Championship scheduled to be
held in New York City this November, 2016.
This issue was debated for over two hours in the FIDE General Assembly. However, nobody else other than Ian Wilkinson seemed inclined to ask Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to resign as president.
FIDE is the World Chess Federation. It has 187 Member Federations plus 6 more admitted to membership today.
The FIDE General Assembly meeting will resume tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM
Sam Sloan

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