Rosenstein called FIDE’s new leadership a “disgrace” and denied ties to Russia

FIDE presidential candidate, German entrepreneur and founder of WR Chess Vadim Rosenstein, who lost in the runoff to Timur Turlov, rejected allegations of ties to Russia. He also said the federation’s new leadership preserved the influence of Arkady Dvorkovich’s team.

One of the dirtiest campaigns in FIDE’s history The FIDE presidential election took place 26 September in Samarkand. In the second round Timur Turlov defeated Vadim Rosenstein by 110 to 85. The German entrepreneur called this election campaign one of the dirtiest in the history of the International Chess Federation. "Throughout the election period I was blackmailed and threatened with the imposition of Ukrainian sanctions, demanding that I withdraw my candidacy. I am not a politician. I am a businessman and a person unreservedly devoted to chess. In this whole process I care about only one thing — the popularization of chess!" Rosenstein says. Media campaign against Rosenstein According to Rosenstein, in the summer and autumn a number of Ukrainian media outlets published a series of pieces by a single author about him, without anyone asking the businessman for his position on the allegations before the articles were released. He adds that shortly thereafter the same claims with identical figures appeared in paid publications in English-language outlets. He rejects accusations of circumventing sanctions and supplying military-design products entirely. "No publication names a single concrete deal, product, or sanctions-list item. The website, cable certificates, the company in Kyrgyzstan — all this concerns companies in which I am neither a participant nor an officer and with which I have no connection; it is primitive manipulation and substitution of facts," he asserts. Vadim Rosenstein (photo: WR Chess) "An agent of Russian influence" — a lie without facts? Rosenstein calls the label "an agent of Russian influence" a lie with no facts behind it. "I have never received or carried out instructions from the Russian authorities. My candidacy was supported by the German Chess Federation. I have publicly said that the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the Russian Chess Federation must be implemented immediately," he said. The RCF did not vote in this election: its FIDE membership is suspended. About the company 'VR Rus' and business with Russia Rosenstein also denies a connection to the Russian company 'VR Rus' and stresses that he himself told Deutsche Welle about it. According to him, he does not participate in the management of this legal entity, which is currently overseen by an external administrator, and he receives no dividends from it; officially withdrawing from its participants is currently impossible without permission from an RF government commission. "At WR Group we have a ban on doing business with Russia. Group companies do not sign contracts with Russian counterparties, and previously signed contracts were fulfilled in full compliance with EU law. Today WR Group operates in more than 70 markets worldwide, yet from all that geography the authors of the publications deliberately and manipulatively choose only Russia — the single fragment that allows them to construct the picture they need," the entrepreneur adds. He calls the agreement to import Italian shoes a standalone commercial operation of a Russian company, to which the German structures of WR Group have no relation. The story about alleged supplies to NOVATEK, he says, is also “an absolute fabrication,” because Rosenstein “never worked directly with that company.” "All orders for the group’s companies came from European partners, and we provided them with logistics services; I have previously published evidence of this. And most importantly, all this concerns events from 2019-2021 years, but it is presented as if it is happening right now. At that time those supplies complied with the law in force, and they were halted in 2021. I do not personally know the owners of those companies," he adds. Rosenstein sees the reason for the attacks as a paid smear against him carried out by “one well-known media person,” who allegedly also took money to additionally remove sanctions from Turlov. "I was born in Ukraine, in Zhytomyr region, into a Jewish family; I am a citizen of Germany. For reasons I do not understand, it is precisely in Ukraine that I am being smeared, while some people heap praise on Turlov, who was born in Moscow and continues to actively do business there, despite the fact that Ukraine itself has imposed sanctions against him," Rosenstein says. FIDE elections and Podolyak on Turlov’s team Separately, Rosenstein points to the appearance of Mykhailo Podolyak on Turlov’s team, who in September accepted the new FIDE president’s offer to join his team. The Ukrainian Chess Federation called this move raiding. "Today, after the elections, we clearly see: Turlov has fully preserved Dvorkovich’s team and influence," Rosenstein says. Turlov initially intended to run for Dvorkovich’s deputy and only ran himself after EU sanctions made their tandem impossible. Turlov’s deputy became Viswanathan Anand, a former deputy of Dvorkovich. "I’ll say more! It is a disgrace that FIDE is now led by Turlov and Podolyak, who absolutely cannot play chess. I am ready at any moment to sit down with each of them at the board and show who they really are," says the founder of WR Chess. Rosenstein is convinced that the question of FIDE leadership is not closed. "I do not recognize the election results because I believe Turlov and Payne violated clause 9.7 of FIDE’s electoral rules, which clearly prohibits candidates’ actions, cooperation, or collusion with the intent to deceive or manipulate the outcome of voting (Turlov and Malcolm Payne had a separate agreement, which they discussed before the election and confirmed after the first round of voting. According to Rosenstein, this agreement could have violated FIDE’s electoral rules — Ed.). I have filed complaints with the ethics commission," Rosenstein comments. He is also confident that “regardless of the outcome of the review of the complaints, American and European sanctions will soon be imposed against Turlov." “Therefore I am convinced that new elections for the head of FIDE will take place in the near future,” Rosenstein concluded.

Position of the European Chess Union We add that on 23 October a board meeting of the European Chess Union (ECU) took place in the Montenegrin city of Budva. One of the key issues was the unlawful assignment of an identification code to Mykhailo Podolyak under the flag of Ukraine. The FIDE Council adopted this decision, ignoring the position of the Ukrainian Chess Federation. The ECU called such actions by FIDE leadership a gross violation of the statute and the first case in which a country-flag code was assigned without the participation of the national federation. The board of the European Chess Union unanimously supported the UCF. The organizations intend to submit a joint protest to the FIDE General Assembly and seek its reversal. The Ukrainian Chess Federation earlier stated that it did not authorize Podolyak to represent it in FIDE.