From: Larry Kaufman COMCAST NET> Date: 1 apr 2003 Subject: Re: Kunio Yonenaga Lifetime Kisei ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chiaki Ito" MAIL COM> To: TECHUNIX TECHNION AC IL> Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 12:35 PM Subject: Re: Kunio Yonenaga Lifetime Kisei > Wow! Did he win the election because of his chess fame? I don't think so. I believe he (Kirsan Ilyumzhimov) made a vast fortune with the collapse of communism (exactly how is a mystery, but apparently it relates to oil and/or natural gas), and used his fortune to get into power, both in Kalmykia and in FIDE. He became president of Kalmykia before getting involved with FIDE, so his great love of chess was probably not a factor in his rise to power in Kalmykia. I don't know how democratic his election was; in fact his main critic, a female journalist, was murdered when she refused to shut her paper, and employees of Ilyumzhimov were charged with the murder. So he is a very controversial person, to put it mildly. Do ordinary people > in Kalmykia know he is a chess player? > He has spent millions of dollars holding major world chess events in Kalmykia and building a "chess city" to hold them, so everyone knows now. But before he became president of Kalmykia, his status as a former Junior champion was probably just a minor biographical detail known only to politically active people and to chessplayers. As a remarkable aside, it has recently been reported that on the day that Pres. Bush gave Saddam his 48 hour ultimatum to leave Iraq, Kirsan Ilyumzhimov was summoned to Baghdad for urgent consultations with Hussein's son (the one in charge of sports, including chess, which is probably why they know each other). It is suspected that asylum was the topic, but Ilyumzhimov would only say in response to questions later that Hussein and family were determined to remain in Baghdad. Kirsan may be about the only person in the world with excellent relations with both the U.S. (he has promoted chess heavily here) and with Hussein (he once announced a top chess event would be held in Baghdad, but changed his mind). If the war does end with Hussein and family escaping, my guess is that they will be found in Kalmykia. Sorry for getting away from shogi, but I thought readers would want to know about this connection between chess and politics. > Chiaki Larry Kaufman