Following the elections in Torino 2006, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, invited the opposition to unite and work as one team with the people who had supported him in the elections.
This spirit of unity has resulted in not only in a mobilized and productive chess community with full involvement of Federations, players, organizers, arbiters, and trainers but also a unified world title and an undisputed World Champion.
Democracy
FIDE has protected the rights of all Federations and has not allowed any group of Federations, irrespective of their size, to control our World Chess Federation. FIDE is an open, transparent, democratic institution with one vote for each Federation.
FIDE, has, as one of its principal objectives, the development of chess in all Federations around the world. FIDE, through its international or its continental structure, maintains regular contact with Federations and it reviews constantly the development and needs of its member Federations.
FIDE today has 171 member Federations and over 130 of these Federations enjoy membership with their National Olympic Committees or are recognized as a sport by their Ministry of Sport, and this brings direct benefits to the majority of Federations.
Decentralization of FIDE will continue with major activities and development programs in all Continents. This results in clear autonomy for the Continents. There has also been a large increase in the number of tournaments and participation in FIDE and all around the world.
All meetings organized by FIDE whether Committees, Presidential Boards, Executive Boards or General Assembly have always been open to everybody. FIDE, publishes and sends, minutes of its General Assemblies and Executive Boards to all its members. All accounts are audited by an independent verification commission as well as our external auditors, Ernst and Young. Additionally, anyone, wishing or willing to contribute to the objectives of FIDE, has been and always will be, welcome.
Furthermore, FIDE has regular communication with top players and ACP members to discuss their recommendations. An ACP member attends Presidential Board meetings and ACP members are on various commissions including the World Championship and Olympiad Commission.
There is complete accountability in FIDE’s finances and in all its other activities. Audited accounts are presented by an independent Verification Commission and vetted by reputed external auditors.
Marketing and Public Relations Strategies
FIDE has succeeded in setting up a professional network of people, working together, to commercialise chess and also bring corporate sponsors. An agreement was signed in late 2009 with Chess Lane to set up Chess Network Corporation (CNC) to formulate a strategy and propose and realize various projects in order to attract sponsorship.
CNC will network with thousands of newspapers and other news distribution sources around the world. Free information on major FIDE events are being sent to over 60,000 media outlets throughout the World.
FIDE and CNC are also reviewing the protection of the player’s intellectual property rights to their games. A host of other commercial projects including chess on TV, title sponsorship packages and branding exercises have been initiated by FIDE and will continue to be invested in.
Finance and Administration
FIDE is financially stable and self-financing, with increasing income over the last ten years. From a bad financial position in 1994, the World Chess Federation today enjoys revenue of more than 2.5 million USD per annum and reserves of more than one million USD.
A new FIDE Office has been opened in Moscow and it will implement a comprehensive program of chess development in Russia and for the global chess community.
Commissions
FIDE has reorganized the Commissions in 2008 to make them more accountable, efficient and effective. The Commissions are now acting jointly and in co-ordination in promoting their activities and achieving the objectives set by FIDE’s Presidential Board.
FIDE has created a structure to support Federations and to help them develop players, trainers and arbiters. The number of arbiters has increased from 1,200 to 2,400 in the last ten years. Certified Trainers have also increased from 45 trainers in 2003 to over 400 in 2010.
All expenses for the commissions have been covered by FIDE for the last two years.