Sunday, April 09, 2006

Rogers Pessimistic

Grandmaster Ian Rogers exudes pessimism over the upcoming elections for the FIDE presidency. In his column today for Sydney's Sun Herald, the Aussie number one says:

Bribery has been an integral part of FIDE elections dating back to the 1980's.

However, apart from the 1986 elections in Dubai when federations were offered air tickets for their Olympic teams in exchange for votes, modest offers such as a dozen chess clocks have been sufficient to sway votes.

In 2006, with FIDE fees so high, the incumbent has a new weapon: his ability to forgive debts owed by federations to FIDE. Unless Kok is also able to address the fees issue - perhaps by offering a fee moratorium after he is elected - Iljumzhinov seems likely to scoop the pool of the many poorer federations from Latin America and Africa and with it secure his re-election.

We share GM Rogers' pessimism.

No comments: