The manoeuvring ahead of this year's FIDE presidential election is becoming increasingly strategic.
On Monday, following the outcome of last weekend's European Chess Union (ECU) elections, the campaign led by German businessman Jan Henric Buettner hailed the result as "a great boost" for its bid to lead FIDE, the world governing body for chess.
At the same time, it extended an olive branch to supporters of rival presidential candidate Wadim Rosenstein—a move that appeared aimed at growing Buettner's coalition ahead of the FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand.
Rosenstein had backed the third-placed ECU presidential ticket headed by Bachar Kouatly, the former president of the French Chess Federation. Kouatly's slate secured just seven of the 53 votes cast, while incumbent ECU president Zurab Azmaiparashvili and his team were comfortably re-elected with 35 votes. Polish challenger Lukasz Turlej's ticket received 11 votes.
Although the ECU election was separate from the FIDE presidential race, Buettner's campaign argued that the outcome demonstrated growing international support for its platform.
"The result demonstrates the credibility, unity and strength of the broad coalition we are building across the international chess community," the campaign said in a statement.
The result suggests Rosenstein currently has limited support among European federations beyond Germany, where he serves as the country's FIDE delegate. While the German Chess Federation is one of the world's largest national federations, it carries a single vote in the FIDE presidential election, just like every other member federation.
That does not necessarily reflect Rosenstein's wider prospects. In recent weeks, he has been actively campaigning in South America, another influential voting bloc, and is expected to continue courting support across Africa and Asia ahead of the election.
As the founder of WR Group and the driving force behind WR Chess, Rosenstein also has significant financial resources to support an international campaign.
For Buettner, meanwhile, the priority appears to be uniting federations seeking a change in FIDE's leadership after Arkady Dvorkovich's presidency. Monday's statement made clear that he hopes to do so under his own banner.
Appeal for Unity
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the statement was its tone towards Rosenstein and his supporters.
Buettner's campaign invited federations that had backed Rosenstein's preferred candidates in Bucharest to join its own coalition.
In a press release sent out on Monday, Buettner and his running mate Pein said: "We extend an invitation to the federations who supported Wadim Rosenstein's ticket to work together with us in shaping the future of FIDE."
The campaign also said it would welcome "constructive cooperation" with WR Chess, the organisation founded by Rosenstein, expressing hope that it could continue contributing to international chess "within the FIDE framework, in accordance with FIDE's regulations and sporting standards."
The overture is the clearest indication yet that Buettner sees consolidating the anti-incumbent vote as central to his strategy ahead of the FIDE election.
"Our campaign has never been about personalities," the statement said. "It has always been about bringing together the strongest possible team to serve every federation and strengthen the global chess community."
The statement concluded by repeating the campaign's slogan: "Strengthening Federations. Growing Chess Together. Creating Opportunities."
The FIDE presidential election will take place at the General Assembly in Samarkand later this year, where national federations will elect the organisation's leadership for the next four-year term.
Who is still standing at that point, however, could still change.