Leong runs for FIDE President

A Reform Slate has been announced that will be running against the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Slate at the FIDE Elections to be held in Bled this October.

The Reform Slate, headed by Ignatius Leong of Singapore, includes some of the best people in FIDE, such as Morton Sand, a lawyer from Norway, Lin Feng of China and the President of the French Chess Federation.

However, based on past experience, we know exactly what will happen to this reform slate: Bribes will be paid, votes will be bought, and Kirsan will be retained in power.
Ignatius Leong
Here is a picture I took of Ignatius Leong in Singapore in 1988. Grandmaster Eugenio Torre is standing in the red shirt. Leong is to the far left and leaning forward. Others in the picture are Singapore chess officials.

Therefore, our USCF Executive Board must take measures to insure that this does not happen again. For example, at the 1996 FIDE Congress in Yerevan, Armenia, our Steve Doyle was a member of a reform slate which backed the election of Jaime Sunye Neto of Brazil as FIDE President. However, in Yerevan, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov offered Doyle the position of FIDE Vice-President in return for switching his vote, so Doyle took the bribe and voted for Kirsan instead.

We know that in Bled, Doyle will do the same thing again. Doyle is a crook. The Executive Board must not under any circumstances authorize Doyle to go to Bled. Since Kirsan will want to pay for Doyle's trip, Doyle must be ordered not to go to Bled. If he goes anyway, even at his own expense, he should be expelled from the USCF and not allowed to run USCF rated tournaments any more.

Jim Eade is a similar case. He plans to go to Bled and to run for President of the Americas Continent. Eade is a supporter of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and he must be ordered to stay away from Bled, or else be expelled from the USCF.

Finally, there is the delegate, who actually casts our vote. Our Delegate must be told: "You must vote for Leong. Under no circumstances are you to change your vote. We do not want to hear any stories later. We know that Kirsan pays bribes and that you will come back with some plausible excuse why at the last minute circumstances arose which caused you for vote for Kirsan. We do not want to hear your stories. If you disobey our orders, you are out of the USCF forever."

Do you think that this would be clear enough? Or, would our delegate disobey orders again, take the bribe and vote for Kirsan?

Sam Sloan

"Can I have my Rolex watch now", Steve Doyle at the USCF 2002 Delegate's Meeting in Cherry Hill.


In November, 2002 an election will be held for President of the World Chess Federation ("FIDE"). Here are photos of the candidates.


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