The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE, is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. FIDE was founded in Paris, France, on July 20, 1924. Its motto is Gens una sumus, Latin for 'We are one Family'. In 1999, FIDE was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As of May 2022, there are 200 member federations of FIDE.
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and 2021, with a rapid time control that affected players' online ratings.
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov is a Russian business oligarch, administrator and politician. He was President of the Republic of Kalmykia in the Russian Federation from 1993 to 2010, and was president of FIDE, the chess international governing body, from 1995 to 2018. He has also been in the forefront of promoting chess in schools in Russia and overseas. He is the founder of Novy Vzglyad publishing house.
Boris Franzevich Gulko is a Soviet-American Grandmaster in chess. Gulko is noted to be the only person to win both the Soviet Chess Championship and the U.S. Chess Championship, and for having a positive score against Garry Kasparov.
Bessel Kok is a Dutch businessman and chess organiser living in Prague. He has served in top management positions in telecommunications companies in Belgium (Belgacom) and in the Czech Republic. He was also President of the Belgian-based Banking communications company SWIFT and responsible for SWIFT's sponsorship of several major International chess events.
Ignatius Leong is a professional chess organizer in Singapore and has been one of Asia's leading organizers for more than 20 years. He was awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as an International Arbiter in 1979, International Organiser in 1995 and FIDE Senior Trainer in 2004. He was also the president of the Singapore Chess Federation from 2007-2015, Founding President and president of ASEAN Chess Confederation from 2000 to 2015, FIDE Vice President from 2002 to 2006 and FIDE General Secretary from 2005 to 2014.
Jaime Sunye Neto is a Brazilian chess player. Awarded the International Master title in 1980 and the Grandmaster title in 1986, he was Brazilian champion seven times, in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. Sunye Neto was also president of the Brazilian Chess Confederation from 1988 to 1992.
Chess City is a large complex devoted to chess and chess competitions located east of Elista, Kalmykia, in Russia. The neighborhood-size development consists of a central, four-story domed City Chess Hall surrounded by an Olympic-style village of Californian-Mediterranean Revival Style architecture. The site has a conference center, public swimming pool and a museum of Kalmyk Buddhist art. The complex features sculptures and artwork devoted to chess, including a statue of Ostap Bender, a fictional character of popular books written by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov, who proposed the creation of a world chess capital. The complex has been used to host visiting dignitaries like the Dalai Lama.
The 33rd Chess Olympiad, organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, took place between September 26 and October 13, 1998, in Elista, Kalmykia, Russia. There were 110 teams in the open event and 72 in the women's event.
The FIDE World Chess Championships from 1998 till 2004 followed a similar knockout format, radically different from previous World Chess Championship events. Previous events had had long qualifying cycles, spread over more than a year, culminating in a long match between the incumbent champion and a challenger. From 1998 to 2004, however, FIDE organised its World Championship as a single event over about a month, with many players playing short knockout matches, rather in the style of a tennis tournament such as Wimbledon.
Ernesto Inarkiev is a Russian chess grandmaster, the first ever from Kalmykia. He was European champion in 2016.
The 39th Chess Olympiad, organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place from September 19 to October 4, 2010, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. There were 148 teams in the open event and 115 in the women's event. In total, 1306 players were registered.
The Pearl Spring Chess Tournament was a double round robin chess tournament event featuring six super-GM players that took place in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The first edition in December 2008 was won by Veselin Topalov. According to ChessVibes website, Silvio Danailov - the manager and coach of Topalov - said the Pearl Spring tournament has been "guaranteed for five years and will enter in Grand Slam [in 2009]." The second and third tournaments in 2009 and 2010 were both won by Magnus Carlsen, with his first win being rated as one of the best performances in chess history.
Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich is a Russian politician and economist, currently chairman of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. He was Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from 21 May 2012 until 7 May 2018. He was previously an Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation from May 2008 to May 2012. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
Gaguik Oganessian was an Armenian chess player, chess official, journalist and writer. Born in Yerevan, he was awarded the title of FIDE International Organizer in 1996 and served as president of FIDE Zone 1.5, chairman of FIDE Chess Information, Publication and Statistics Committee (CHIPS), member of the FIDE Executive Board, general secretary of the Armenian Chess Federation. Oganessian won the 4th World Amateur Chess Championship, held along the 1998/99 Hastings International Chess Congress, and as a result he was awarded the title FIDE Master.
The 41st Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event that took place in Tromsø, Norway, between 1–14 August 2014. The organiser was Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014 AS on behalf of FIDE.
Sébastien Feller is a French chess grandmaster. He was found guilty of cheating by the French Chess Federation (FFE) and sanctioned in 2012 by not being allowed to participate in FIDE tournaments for 2 years and 9 months. He denied the charges and said they were motivated by a dispute over the direction of the French Chess Federation.
The 42nd Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an open and women's tournaments, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 1 to 14 September 2016. It was the first time that the Chess Olympiad had been hosted in Azerbaijan, the birthplace of former world champion Garry Kasparov; however, Azerbaijan had previously hosted strong tournaments, including the annual Shamkir Chess super-tournament in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014) and the Chess World Cup 2015.
The FIDE Online Arena is the International Chess Federation's (FIDE) official exclusive Internet chess server devoted to chess playing and related activities. A test version of the server began on August 8, 2013; the fully operational version was announced for October 2013. FIDE Online Arena is the only official online chess platform of the World Chess Federation where Online Official games, tournaments and World Championships can be played, with Official International rating and titles.
The 43rd Chess Olympiad, organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising open and women's tournaments, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, was an international team chess event held in Batumi, Georgia, from 23 September to 6 October 2018. This was the first Chess Olympiad to take place in Georgia with the Georgian Chess Federation also hosting the Chess World Cup 2017 in Tbilisi.
