185 nations to decide the new King for FIDE on Wednesday

On Wednesday, 185 nations (some through their proxies) would decide the new King and his team to govern the world chess body FIDE at the presidential elections to be held at Georgia.

Before the electoral college that includes proxies for some national chess federations are the three contenders - former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE's Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos and British chess Grand Master Nigel Short and their respective teams.

The Indian interest in the elections is D.V.Sundar, Vice President, All India Chess Federation (AICF), who is part of Makropoulos team and in the fray of the General Secretary post.

Sundar also holds the proxy vote for Bhutan.

Dvorkovich and Short told IANS that they are promising the National Chess Federations that they would bring in transparency in FIDE operations, attract big corporate sponsors.

They also said the FIDE under their regime would financially support the National Chess Federations and not the other way around as it is now.

On his part Makropoulos states FIDE must be politically independent from any country.

The FIDE Ethics Commission recently barred Serbia from voting for electoral irregularities while holding Dvorkovich not guilty in a complaint lodged by Makropoulos, his Russian rival.

Short had told IANS that the winning team that would run the show at FIDE will be decided after the second vote and not after the first round of voting.

Short further said: "Between us -- Short and Dvorkovich -- we have the numbers. As per the estimates, no one would get 51 per cent votes in the first round. In the first round of voting the votes will be split. So, there will be second vote."

He said as per FIDE rules, if there are three or more contestants in the fray, then the person who polls 50 per cent plus one of the votes cast is elected on the first ballot. Thereafter, the candidates receiving most votes on the second ballot are elected to the vacant number of offices.

Interestingly Dvorkovich and Short seem to have a secret pact of cooperation about which both maintain a strict silence.

Short early last month had tweeted: "United in our belief that FIDE should support federations, and not federations support FIDE. United in our determination to bring transparency and the rule of law, and to root out cronyism and corruption."

Queried about whether the tweet indicates a pact between the two, Short told IANS over phone from Greece: "We have common goal. In particular, we are determined to root out Georgios Makropoulos team from FIDE. We are united for the greater good of chess. I believe Makropoulos team will be thrown out."

At a time when chess teams from different nations are fighting it out at Georgia for the chess Olympiad medal, it will be interesting to see whether the Dvorkovich-Short team would succeed in its mission.

--IANS

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