Kirsan Ilyzumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation, announced Friday that he is personally putting up $1 million to finance a series of 10 tournaments in Asia over the next 10 years to honor Florencio Campomanes, his predecessor as president. Campomanes, who was from the Philippines, died in May at the age of 83.
The tournaments will be in 10 countries: the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei.
Ilyumzhinov is running for re-election this year and the campaign against his opponent, Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion, has become highly competitive and even bizarre. The federation uses a one country, one vote system, so each country’s vote is equally important.
Tournaments with $100,000 prize funds are not unheard of (there are a few each year in the United States that meet or exceed that amount, notably the World Open in Philadelphia), but they are also not common. They will likely attract large and talented fields of players. And, because the national chess federations will not have to provide the prize funds out of the entry fees (unless they want to supplement the prizes), they could be lucrative events.
The origin of Ilyumzhinov’s personal wealth has always been a bit murky. Though many top chess players have grumbled about his stewardship of the federation — particularly how it has organized the world championship during his tenure — they have been happy to accept his money. That is true even if it has meant traveling to Elista, the capital of Kalmykia — the poor Russian republic that Ilyumzhinov rules — to play. For all but the top players, making a living at chess can be hardscrabble.
Ilyumzhinov’s pledge to finance the 10 tournaments may be born of altruistic motives and a desire to honor Campomanes (his mentor). Why else would he do it? It is hard to imagine that he is becoming richer by being president of the federation, particularly if he is giving away so much money. Still, the timing probably does not hurt his re-election chances.
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