Ali Nihat Yazici, President of the Turkish Chess Federation, has taken a controversial stand regarding the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul – arbiters from seven federations were not admitted at the Olympiad. This has enraged the federations of England, USA, France, Georgia, Ukraine, Germany, and Switzerland, and was followed by reactions from the Russian Chess Federation and multiple chess associations.

Today, via an official statement, Ali Nihat Yazici clearly states his main reason for the decision: “… the seven federations have been used as the marionettes of Garry Kasparov”. Besides, Ali Nihat Yazici officially announces his resignation as FIDE Vice President

Open Letter of TSF President Ali Nihat Yazici

Dear Chess Friends,

Over the last few years FIDE has suffered a lot as a result of the actions of several chess federations who have decided to sue FIDE, mainly as part of a big political game.

These court cases have already cost FIDE more than one million euros, money that could and would have been spent to develop chess worldwide and to support federations with financial needs to participate in the Olympiad. This last point is especially painful for me since I get e-mails from many federations like Somalia, Madagascar and from Oceania that they need support in order to come to Istanbul.

Today everybody knows that behind those dirty games stands an ex-world champion, Garry Kasparov. And me, as a volunteer who has spent twelve years of my life collecting sponsorship for chess euro by euro, I am really suffering seeing this terrible damage to chess. I know how difficult it is to get every cent by clawing the ground with your fingers.

The Turkish Chess Federation, to send a strong message, and to shake up the chess world, has made a decision not to appoint any arbiter who belongs to those seven federations that have been used as the marionettes of Garry Kasparov.

Our decision is one of principle and I do not want people to think that I have done this because two federations have sued FIDE over the number of nominated FIDE Vice-Presidents. I declared in the Krakow Executive Board of FIDE that I was ready to resign in order to solve that court case on the condition of costs being covered by the appellant. I know that the court case will finish on 29 June 2012. To demonstrate that this action is nothing personal, that it has nothing to do with me being one of the Vice-Presidents concerned (it has been alleged that it does), I have decided to submit my resignation from the position of FIDE Vice-President to the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and I would like to thank him for the unlimited trust he has shown me all these years.

I personally don’t need any title in order to stick by my principles and to contribute to the chess world. And for the rest of my life I will continue my work in this direction.

For those who want to see more details about my views and the background of this story, they can follow my recent interview with ChessVibes. (link).

With kind regards

TSF President

Ali Nihat Yazici

25 June 2012 – Ankara

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , ,