FIDE presidential candidate slated to visit Guyana

…Grand Master advocates for his opponent

The Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) will have a difficult decision to make when they are called on to cast their ballot for the next president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) at the 43rd Olympiad slated for Batumi, Georgia next month.

Georgios Makropoulos who is one of the presidential candidates has already made advances for a visit to Guyana sometime in the near future. This revelation was made by the GCF President Attorney-at-Law James Bond during the visit of Moldovan Grand Master Victor Bologan.
“Georgios Makropoulos, he is also scheduled to visit us and this is whether or not he wins or loses in the FIDE congress in the elections coming up,” Bond boldly stated.
On the other hand, as a part of the Grand Master’s visit, he took the time to make a case for Makropoulos’ opponent in the presidential race Arkady Dvorkovich. Dvorkovich who has an impressive resume in both chess and politics, stood as the deputy prime minister of Russia, heads an organizing committee for FIFA, and has family ties in the world of chess. As such Bologan is a part of his team and presented some of the plans that Dvorkovich has for chess.
“Dvorkovich is a very well connected person he knows prime ministers, presidents, CEOs of most global corporations and he already has commitment from them for 3M Euros budget for a development fund.”
He went on to explain, “If he distributes it to 150 countries who are in the development stage, then you will have about 20,000 Euros per year as support. And this is the minimum he’s guaranteeing if he’s elected for the next four years.”
Bologan blatantly admitted that there has been speculation about Russian ties, and took the time to clear the air on that issue as well. “There is a big concern about Russian money, Russian influence, Russian politics, our opponents they love this rhetoric. But if you look at his team, it’s completely international. The team is strong not only from a management point but also a grand master point of view,” the grand master said.
Touching on the civility that the Federation wants to uphold President Bond noted that he is planning on upkeeping a great relationship with both sides. “And that is the relationship I intend to establish with Grand master Bologan. That even if Mr. Dvorkovich does not win there is still that relationship between us.”
Not allowing himself to disclose who the Federation would be voting for, Bond concluded that the decision will be based on what is best for the Federation and the development of Chess in Guyana. “However we believe that the when the executive committee sits and discusses, we’re here to listen to ideas and listen to the pitch and then we will of course cast our ballot as to who we think has the best interest of Guyana’s federation at heart.”