Chess gets ugly as Russians fight over presidency of game's governing body

Karpov claims the incumbent, who has been the leader of the largely Buddhist southern Russian region of Kalmykia since 1993 and claims to have met aliens in his Moscow apartment, is bringing the game into disrepute.

Karpov has already been nominated as a candidate for the presidency in the September elections by several national chess federations including France. But winning the backing of Russia has proved more problematic.

Karpov -- who has a US presidential-style campaign site www.karpov2010.org - has been stymied by Arkady Dvorkovich, who best known as the chief economic advisor of President Dmitry Medvedev and who occupies the post of head of the Russian Chess Federation's supervisory board.

Dvorkovich declared that the nomination was invalid as it had failed to meet the minimum quorum of participants and said his own letter of recommendation sufficed for Ilyumzhinov to be the candidate of the Russian chess federation.

"I respect Anatoly Karpov as a great chess player but unlike Kirsan Ilyumzhinov he is an ineffective manager," spat Dvorkovich, who is normally quoted reeling out economic statistics.

Security guards later stormed the headquarters of the Russian Chess Federation and evicted officials after they backed Karpov.

The federation's bank accounts were frozen and documents seized from its Moscow offices after it rejected a demand from Dvorkovich to support Ilyumzhinov's re-election.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/chess/7758002/Chess-gets-ugly-as-Russians-fight-over-presidency-of-games-governing-body.html

What on earth is going on here?