England's FIDE Delegate Malcolm Pein Fires Starting Gun On Presidential Elections

Out of nowhere, it came: the first clear declaration that Russian incumbent Arkady Dvorkovich will face opposition in this year's FIDE presidential election, if he stands.

English IM and chess organiser Malcom Pein has made his move.

There have been rumours—but until now none about Pein, a long-term critic of Dvorkovich who was part of the ticket opposing the Russian when he was first elected to FIDE's top post in 2018.

FIDE's former president Kirsan Illyumzhinov has made noises about standing, but it seems unlikely. The German entrepreneur Jan Henric Buettner, the man behind Freestyle Chess, has also been talked about.

Speculation about Buettner intensified when he offered to "help out" FIDE by offering his resort on the Baltic Sea in Germany, free of charge, to host the FIDE Candidates Tournament. Fears were raised over war in the Middle East, and some interpreted Buettner's offer as early political manoeuvring. FIDE swiftly declined the offer and went ahead with the event in Cyprus.

Rumours have also swirled that Kazakh billionaire Timur Turlov may put his hat in the ring, if Dvorkovich doesn't stand when for the vote due to take place on the sidelines of the FIDE Olympiad in Samarkand this September.

Turlov is the CEO of FIDE's biggest Freedom Holding Corp, a major global partner of FIDE and a key sponsor of elite chess tournaments. Turlov has also recently bought out the German chess-tech firm ChessBase.

Again, this seems a long shot at the moment. Turlov, the president of the Kazakh Chess Federation, has many business interests and may not want to risk them.

But Pein, organiser of the XTX Markets London Chess Classic, has stepped forward to explicitly say he is ready to stand against Dvorkovich. But there is a caveat. In his post on X embedded above, the Liverpool-born 65-year-old confirmed he will do so if—as heavily rumoured—Dvorkovich is sanctioned by the EU.

Dvorkovich and FIDE have given no indication that is happening. For the moment it isn't. Yet Victor Orban's defeat in Hungary's presidential election is believed within the chess community to be significant and bad news for Dvorkovich.

For that reason, Pein is still expecting to fight the election. Legendary GM Garry Kasparov, who immediately reposted his friend Pein's announcement, appears to agree.

Pein is one of the most connected people in chess. He is CEO of the charity Chess in Schools and Communities, a chess columnist for The Telegraph, editor of the magazine Chess and the English Chess Federation's FIDE and European Chess Union delegate.

Last year Pein pulled off a remarkable organisational feat in arranging at short notice for FIDE's World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships to be staged in London.

Can he pull a presidential campaign together that opposes the might of Dvorkovich's regime?