Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (Russian: Кирса́н Никола́евич Илюмжи́нов) (born April 5, 1962), a Buddhist millionaire businessman, is the President of the Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation, and the President of FIDE (a.k.a. the World Chess Federation), the preeminent international chess organization, since 1995. April 5 is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... The Republic of Kalmykia (Russian: ; Kalmyk: Хальмг Таңһч) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Chess is a recreational and competitive game for two players. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

Early life

Ilyumzhinov won the Kalmykian national chess championship in 1976 at the age of 14.[1] From 1979-80 Ilyumzhinov was a mechanic-fitter at the Zvezda plant in Elista. After two years in military service for the Soviet Army, he returned to the plant as a mechanic for a year, and then studied at the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations from 1983-89. From 1989-90 he was selling cars as Manager of the Soviet-Japanese company "Liko-Raduga" in Moscow, and from 1990-93 he was President of SAN Corporation in Moscow. Ilyumzhinov acquired his wealth in the economic free-for-all which followed the collapse of the USSR. He now owns a jet and six Rolls Royces; he has a black limousine in Moscow, but prefers his white one at home.[2] Elista (Russian: ; Kalmyk: Элст, Elst) is the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, an autonomous republic of Russia. ... Rolls-Royce car may refer to vehicles produced by: Rolls-Royce Limited (1906-1973) Rolls-Royce Motors (1973-2003), which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen. ...

President of Kalmykia

From April 1993 to the present Ilyumzhinov has been President, Head since October 2005, of the Republic of Kalmykia.

According to the BBC,[3] Ilyumzhinov's election platform for the presidency of Kalmykia included promising voters $100 each, a promise of a mobile phone for every shepherd, and the affirmation of his belief that he had previously been abducted by aliens. He once campaigned under the slogan "a wealthy president is a safeguard against corruption." He also pledged to introduce what he called an "economic dictatorship" in the republic. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... The abduction phenomenon is an umbrella term used to describe a number of hypotheses, claims or assertions stating that non-human creatures kidnap individuals—sometimes called abductees—usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. ...

Soon after his election, Ilyumzhinov introduced presidential rule, concentrating power in his own hands. He called early elections in 1995 and was re-elected unopposed - this time for a 7-year term. He won re-election in 2002.

He has striven to become an "Asian values" authoritarian like his Singaporean, Korean, and Chinese role models (even though his republic is in the southern European portion of Russia). He has spent millions of dollars on chess and religion, building a Catholic church at the instigation of the Pope John Paul II.[4][5] He has also built a mosque, a synagogue, 22 Orthodox churches, and 30 Buddhist temples. Chess was made a compulsory subject in the first three years of elementary school; the region now has numerous champions. Asian values was a concept that came into vogue in the 1990s, predicated on the belief in the existence in Asian countries of a unique set of institutions and political ideologies which reflected the regions culture and history. ... Bold text:This article applies to political ideologies. ... Chess is a recreational and competitive game for two players. ... It has been suggested that Ecclesia (Church) be merged into this article or section. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Pope (from Latin... Official papal image of John Paul II. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, né Karol Józef Wojtyła (born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland), is the current Pope — the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Masjid al-Haram in Mecca as it exists today A mosque is a place of worship for followers of the Islamic faith. ... A synagogue (from ancient Greek: , transliterated synagogÄ“, assembly; Hebrew: beit knesset, house of assembly; Yiddish: , shul; Ladino: , esnoga) is a Jewish house of worship. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Eastern Orthodox Church... Temple of Hephaestus, an Doric Greek temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) For other uses, see Temple (disambiguation). ...

He denies persistent accusations of diverting the republic's resources for his own use, as well as of human rights abuses and of suppressing media freedom. In 2004 police dispersed demonstrators who accused him of human rights violations and demanded his resignation.

Communication

After his reelection in 1995 he reportedly told a journalist from the Russian daily Izvestia, ``Irrespective of what I tell people, I give them instructions on a sub-conscious level, a code. I do the same thing when I communicate with Russian citizens from other regions. I am creating around the republic a kind of extra-sensory field and it helps us a lot in our projects.[6] Modern Izvestia logo Old Izvestia logo. ...

Opposition

On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina, a publisher of an opposition newspaper, was stabbed to death in Elista. Both people convicted in the murder were Kalmykian government aides, and one was an advisor to Ilyumzhinov. One other person was acquitted by offering evidence to help in the conviction. Ilyumzhinov denied any involvement with the murder.[7] [8] June 8 is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... On 8 June 1998, Larisa Yudina, a journalist and editor of the opposition newspaper, Sovietskaya Kalmykia Sevodnya (Soviet Kalmykia Today), was found dead with multiple knife wounds and a fractured skull in the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, Elista. ...

President of the World Chess Federation

From November 1995 to present Ilyumzhinov has been President of the World Chess Federation. He has been enthusiastic about attracting international tournaments to Kalmykia. His flamboyant plans to build an extravagant Chess City in the republic have led to protests by its impoverished citizens.

Ilyumzhinov scheduled the 1996 bout between Gata Kamsky and Anatoly Karpov for Baghdad, after negotiations with Saddam Hussein. The international response was so harsh, however, that FIDE moved the match to Elista. Ilyumzhinov away then arranged to hold the 2004 World Championship in Tripoli, Libya, at the urging of another friend, Muammar Qaddafi. Gata Kamsky (Tatar:Äžataulla Kamski) (born June 2, 1974) is an American chess grandmaster. ... Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian: ) (born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. ... Tripoli (population 1 million, Arabic: Ţarabulus) is the capital of Libya. ... Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qaddafi 1 (Arabic: معمر القذافي Mu`ammar al-Qadhdhāfī) (born 1942), leader of Libya since 1970 and a controversial Arab statesman. ...

Libya controversy

Grandmaster Boris Gulko was denied the ability to play chess at the world championship because of his Jewish faith, and he appealed to Ilyumzhinov. The 2004 World Championship was held in Libya, and Gulko qualified to play. He accepted the invitation but President Qadafi’s son, who was also the President of the Libyan Organizing Committee, announced: “We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemies to this championship.” Gulko, along with other Jewish players from Israel and the United States, therefore could not participate in the tournament. Gulko sent a strong letter[9] to Ilyumzhinov, saying “I implore you not to be the first president of FIDE to preside over the first world chess championship from which Jews are excluded. Our magnificent and noble game does not deserve such a disgrace.” The tournament went on as scheduled, without Gulko and the other Jewish players.[10] Boris Gulko Boris Gulko (b. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi1 (Arabic:   ) (born c. ... A bilingual poster in Romanian and Hungarian promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s. ...

Re-election controversy

On June 2, 2006, Ilyumzhinov was reelected as FIDE President by a margin of 96-54 against his opponent Bessel Kok. [11]. In an October 2006 Wall Street Journal article Gary Kasparov harshly criticized Ilyumzhinov FIDE's leadership stating: "(Ilyumzhinov) has created a vertical column of power that would be familiar to any observer of Russia today. He runs the chess world in the same authoritarian way he runs his impoverished republic. After a decade of such mistreatment, the only place that could be found to host the (chess world champion unification) match was his own capital. Serious sponsors rarely want anything to do with Mr. Ilyumzhinov and his organization."^[1] Nigel Short, the British grandmaster who also opposed him, warned before the vote that "either FIDE stays a cowboy organisation mired in sleaze and shunned by corporate sponsors, or it becomes a modern, professional sporting body." [12] “Even a dickhead would do a better job than Ilyumzhinov,’’ Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion, said, when he was asked whom he supported.[13] Bessel Kok (b. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ... Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Гарри Кимович Каспаров) (born April 13, 1963) is a chess grandmaster and the strongest chess player in the world. ... Nigel Short MBE (born June 1, 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire) is widely regarded as the strongest British chess player of the 20th century. ... Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian: ) (born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. ...

Abduction by UFO

Ilyumzhinov maintains that in 1997 while he was on a business trip to Moscow he was forced onto a UFO. "They took me from my apartment and we went aboard their ship. We flew to some kind of star. They put a spacesuit on me, told me many things and showed me around. They wanted to demonstrate that UFOs do exist."[14]

He predicts that, "The day will come when [the extra-terrestrials] land on our planet and say: 'You have behaved poorly. Why do you wage wars? Why do you destroy each other?.' Then they will pack us all into their spaceships and take us away from this place."[15]

Autobiography

Ilyumzhinov called his autobiography, published in 1998, “The President’s Crown of Thorns.’’ Chapter titles include “Without Me the People Are Incomplete,” “I Become a Millionaire,’’ and “It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed.”

Mentions in literature

Ilyumzhinov features prominently in three recent books, Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld, by Sarah Hurst (ISBN 1-888690-15-1), The Chess Artist, by J. C. Hallman (ISBN 0-312-27293-6), and Absurdistan: a bumpy ride through some of the world’s scariest, weirdest places, by Eric Campbell (ISBN 0732279801).He also has a whole chapter devoted to him in "The Lost Cosmonaut" by Daniel Kalder. ISBN 9780571227815 (faber)

References

External links

• Biography in "New Times"
• Chess Base biography
• Two part documentary by Al Jazeera English on Youtube --- part 1 and part 2
• Chessfidelity bio
• (Russian) Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov in comics, 1995
• The President's Crown of Thorns, by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 1998
• "Planet Kirsan," by Michael Specter in New Yorker, 4/24/06
• "King of Kalmykia," 9/21/06
• "Kalmykian Leader Makes Farce of Chess Championships," 10/12/06
• "The man who bought chess," 10/29/06
• "Regions and territories: Kalmykia; Head of the Republic: Kirsan Ilyumzhinov," 1/28/07
• "An Open Letter to the President of FIDE, Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, from Grandmaster Boris Gulko"