Another new front is opening up in the political battle ahead of this year's FIDE presidential election: the tussle to control the European Chess Union (ECU).
Rival camps have been mobilising support with increasing urgency before next week's crucial ECU vote for what many chess federation delegates see as a proxy contest for global governance.
The ECU General Assembly and elections will take place on July 18 in Bucharest, Romania, just weeks before nominations close for the FIDE presidential election. The assembly's agenda is here.
While the ECU formally elects only Europe's continental leadership, the outcome is expected to provide an important measure of organisational strength ahead of the FIDE campaign, with Europe accounting for one of the four continental voting blocs.
Europe has 54 national federation members, making it FIDE's largest continental bloc and around a quarter of the FIDE delegate votes available come from Europe.
Three presidential tickets are contesting the ECU election:
1) Zurab Azmaiparashvili (Georgia)
The incumbent ECU president seeking another term. During his ECU presidency, Azmaiparashvili has frequently been involved in political and legal disputes with national federations, most notably the Bulgarian Chess Federation, leading to years of litigation and ethics complaints.
Has had brushes with several controversies, notably a 2017 incident involving the Ukrainian-born GM Anton Kovalyov.
2) Lukasz Turlej (Poland)
FIDE Secretary General and a prominent figure in the current international administration. He has launched a campaign called RenewECU and claims to have the backing of several federations, including the Czech, Danish and Icelandic chess federations.
However, concerns have been raised over a potential conflict of interest with his job in FIDE if he is elected and, already, a formal complaint over his candidacy has been submitted to the ECU board and the FIDE Ethics and Disciplinary Commission.
Turlej is also widely viewed as the candidate closest to the current FIDE leadership and its Russian president Arkady Dvorkovich. As a result, he and his team have had to publicly state their position on the war in Ukraine.
3) Bachar Kouatly (France)
The founder of Europe Échecs magazine is leading the ECU New Team ticket that includes Dutch GM Loek van Wely and Polish federation president Radosław Jedynak, who is not supporting his countryman Turlej.
The ECU New Team, endorsed by the Polish and German chess federations, was responsible for the complaint about Turlej.
Here it is in full:
Kouatly has the billionaire backing of WR Chess founder Wadim Rosenstein, who is seeking to be FIDE president. Kouatly, a former French Chess Federation president, is generally regarded as the least controversial candidate. But is he just Rosenstein's man?
Why Rosenstein backs Kouatly
Rosenstein, the German chess organiser who is one of three figures declared as standing in this year's FIDE presidential race, has been actively promoting candidates aligned with the reform wing of European chess.
Rosenstein has stated he is supporting Kouatly's ticket and is enthusiastically supporting it on social media. The approach mirrors Rosenstein's strategy in the Confederation of Chess for the Americas (CCA), where he has publicly backed Ecuadorian IM Martha Fierro in the continental elections. World Chess touched on that election here.
However, World Chess also understands Fierro is currently battling to have her candidacy in the election accepted after the ticket she submitted was disqualified by CCA officials. Fierro is alleging the decision was a political move. How that will develop, is unclear.
What does seem clear is that Rosenstein believes building influence across the continental unions will be critical in shaping alliances before delegates gather at the FIDE General Assembly later this year. It stands to reason: there are a lot of votes available.
European Championship becomes campaign issue
The political atmosphere intensified after Dutch GM Anish Giri criticised the strength of the European Individual Chess Championship, which was held in April in Katowice, Poland. The event produced a sensational shock win for 17-year-old Ukrainian IM Roman Dehtiarov, then ranked 992 in the world.
Giri's comments on X prompted a sharp response from Rosenstein on X.
Rosenstein has leapt on concerns over the championship's perceived weakness, claiming on X he can bring back the big names. Rosenstein also sought to link Giri's words to wider governance issues within European chess. This is an election, after all.
Proxy battle before the main event
Although we are still at the early stages of the FIDE election campaign, it seems these continental elections are already being viewed as an early test of strength for the big one: FIDE in September.
While the CAA election will take place in Samarkand, success in Europe's election could serve to demonstrate momentum before the FIDE election campaign begins in earnest.
With the European election taking place in Bucharest next week, delegates will effectively cast the first meaningful political votes of the 2026 chess election season—well before ballots are eventually counted at the FIDE General Assembly.
We await the result eagerly.