Foundation and early years (up to 1939) In 1904, L'union Amicale, a French chess association, attempted to establish an international chess federation. In April 1914, an initiative was taken in
St. Petersburg,
Russia, to form an international chess federation. Another attempt was made in July 1914 during the
Mannheim International Chess Tournament. Further efforts temporarily came to an end as a result of the outbreak of
World War I. In 1920, another attempt to organize an international federation was made at the
Gothenburg Tournament. The only match played under those rules was Capablanca vs Alekhine in 1927. In 1922, the Russian master
Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, while participating in an international tournament in London, announced that a tournament would be held during the 8th Sports
Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 and would be hosted by the
French Chess Federation. On July 20, 1924, the participants at the Paris tournament founded FIDE as a kind of players' union. In its early years, FIDE had little power, and it was poorly financed. FIDE's congresses in 1925 and 1926 expressed a desire to become involved in managing the world championship. FIDE was largely happy with the "London Rules", but claimed that the requirement for a purse of $10,000 was impracticable and called upon Capablanca to come to an agreement with the leading masters to revise the Rules. FIDE's third congress, in
Budapest in 1926, also decided to organize a
Chess Olympiad. The invitations were, however, late in being sent, with the result that only four countries participated, and the competition was called the Little Olympiad. The winner was
Hungary, followed by
Yugoslavia,
Romania, and
Germany. In 1927, FIDE began organizing the First Chess Olympiad during its 4th Congress in London. The official title of the tournament was the "Tournament of Nations", or "World Team Championship", but "Chess Olympiad" became a more popular title. The event was won by Hungary, with 16 teams competing. Although competitive chess continued in many countries, including some that were under
Nazi occupation, there was no international competition and FIDE was inactive during the war.
1946 to 1993 Birth of the World Championship challenge cycle From the time of
Emanuel Lasker's defeat of
Wilhelm Steinitz in 1894, until 1946, a new World Champion had won the title by defeating the former champion in a match.
Alexander Alekhine's death created an
interregnum that made the normal procedure impossible. The situation was confused, with many respected players and commentators offering different solutions. FIDE found it difficult to organize the early discussions on how to resolve the
interregnum, because problems with money and travel in the aftermath of World War II prevented many countries from sending representatives, most notably the Soviet Union. The shortage of clear information resulted in otherwise responsible magazines publishing rumors and speculation, which only made the situation more confused. The proposals which led to the 1948 Championship Tournament also specified the procedure by which challengers for the World Championship would be selected in a three-year cycle: countries affiliated with FIDE would send players to Zonal tournaments (the number varied depending on the number of strong players each country had); the players who gained the top places in these would compete in an Interzonal tournament (later split into two, then three tournaments as the number of countries and eligible players increased); the highest-placed players from the Interzonal would compete in the
Candidates Tournament, along with the loser of the previous title match and the runner-up in the previous Candidates Tournament; and the winner of the Candidates played a title match against the champion. FIDE responded by changing the format of Candidates Tournaments from a multi-round round-robin to a series of elimination matches, initially 10–12 games in duration; however, by the 1970s, the Candidates final would be as long as 24 games. Then, in 1969, Fischer refused to play in the
U.S. Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. Since that event was being treated as a
Zonal tournament, Fischer forfeited his right to compete for the right to challenge World Champion
Boris Spassky in 1972. Grandmaster
Pal Benko agreed to relinquish his qualifying place at the Interzonal in Fischer's favor, and the other participants waived their right to claim the spot. FIDE president Max Euwe interpreted the rules very flexibly to allow Fischer to play in the 1970 Interzonal at
Palma de Mallorca, which he won convincingly. Fischer then crushed
Mark Taimanov,
Bent Larsen (both 6–0) and Tigran Petrosian in the 1971 Candidates Tournament and won the title match with Spassky to become world champion. After winning the world championship, Fischer criticized the existing championship match format (24 games; the champion retained the title if the match was tied) on the grounds that it encouraged whoever got an early lead to play for draws. While this dispute was going on,
Anatoly Karpov won the right to challenge in 1975. Fischer refused to accept any match format other than the one he proposed. Among Fischer's demands was a requirement that the challenger must beat him by at least two games in order to take his title (Fischer proposed a match format in which the first player to win 10 games wins, with draws not counting, but if the result is 9–9 it is considered a tie). The FIDE argued that it was unfair for a challenger to be able to beat the world champion, yet not take his title. Fischer would not back down, and eventually FIDE awarded the title to Karpov by default. Some commentators have questioned whether FIDE president Max Euwe did as much as he could have to prevent Fischer from forfeiting his world title.
World Championship, 1983–1985 The events leading to
Garry Kasparov's winning the world championship involved FIDE in two controversies. While arranging the
Candidates Tournament semi-final matches to be played in 1983, FIDE accepted bids to host Kasparov versus
Victor Korchnoi in
Pasadena, California. The Soviet Union refused to accept this, either because it feared Kasparov would
defect or because it thought Kasparov was the greater threat to reigning champion Anatoly Karpov. Their refusal would have meant that Kasparov forfeited his chance of challenging for the title. FIDE president
Florencio Campomanes negotiated with the Soviet Union, and the match was played in London. In the 1984 world championship match between Karpov and Kasparov the winner was to be the first to win six games. In the first 27 games Karpov gained a 5–0 lead but by the end of the 48th Kasparov had reduced this to 5–3. At this point the match had lasted for 159 days (from September 1984 to February 1985). Then the match was ended without result by Florencio Campomanes, the President of the World Chess Federation, and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match. Kasparov won the second match and became world champion.
1993 to 2018 World Championship divided, 1993–2006 In 1992,
Nigel Short emerged as the official challenger for Kasparov's world title after winning the
Candidates Tournament. FIDE promptly accepted a bid from Manchester, England, to host the 1993 title match, but without consulting Short, as its rules required; Short was traveling to Greece at the time. Upon learning of this, Short reached out to Kasparov, who had harbored distrust for FIDE and its president,
Florencio Campomanes, since the abrupt end of his 1984 title match against Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov and Short concluded that FIDE had not secured the best financial deal for them and announced their decision to play under a new organization, the
Professional Chess Association (PCA). In response, FIDE stripped Kasparov of his title, removed both Kasparov and Short from the official rating list, and announced a title match between Karpov and
Jan Timman, whom Short had defeated in the Candidates Tournament. Both Kasparov and Karpov won their respective matches, both claiming the title of world champion. By 1994, Kasparov realized that separating from FIDE had been a mistake, as the split in the world championship was unpopular among commercial sponsors and most grandmasters. He began efforts to mend relations with FIDE and supported Campomanes's re-election bid as FIDE president. However, many FIDE delegates viewed Campomanes as corrupt, and he agreed to resign in 1995, provided his successor was
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the
Republic of Kalmykia. Several attempts to reunify the world championship in the following years failed for various reasons, including financial constraints and Kasparov's opposition to any plan requiring him to play in a qualifying series. In 2000,
Vladimir Kramnik defeated Kasparov in a match for the now-renamed Braingames World Chess Championship, as the PCA had dissolved by then. Kramnik, like Kasparov, was unwilling to play in a qualifying series and strongly objected to FIDE's attempt to decide the world championship through annual knockout tournaments and to shorten game time limits. In 2006, a reunification match was held between Kramnik and
Veselin Topalov, which Kramnik won amidst a controversy that resulted in one game being awarded to Topalov. However, the split in the world title had lingering effects, as evidenced by FIDE's complex regulations for the 2007-2009 world championship cycle. FIDE decided to grant Topalov a "fast track" entry into the 2007-2009 cycle due to his inability to compete in the
2007 World Chess Championship Tournament. Additionally, FIDE decided that if Kramnik did not win the 2007 championship tournament, he would play a championship match in 2008 against the winner. This provision came into effect when
Viswanathan Anand won the tournament and became the world champion.
IOC recognition In 1999, FIDE was recognised by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC). Two years later, it introduced the IOC's anti-drugs rules to chess, as part of its campaign for chess to become part of the
Olympic Games.
Commercial agreement with Agon and World Chess In 2012 FIDE entered into a commercial agreement, initially planned to last until 2021, with the company Agon Limited. This company was given rights to organize and commercially exploit the
World Chess Championship and the associated events in the World Championship cycle. The first tournament it organized was the London
FIDE Grand Prix event in September 2012, followed by the London
Candidates Tournament in March 2013, and the Chennai
World Chess Championship in November 2013. Agon subsequently organized the four events in the
FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15, the
Candidates Tournament in 2014, and the
World Chess Championship in 2014. Agon had been founded in 2012 in
Jersey by
Andrew Paulson as the sole shareholder. On February 20, 2012, an agreement between Agon and FIDE was made, subject to approval by the 2012 FIDE General Assembly. In October 2014, Agon was sold to its current CEO
Ilya Merenzon for the sum of one pound. As a result, a new company, World Chess Limited, was registered shortly after, replacing Agon as the rights holder in the agreement with FIDE.
FIDE and Agon/World Chess contract controversy Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was happy with the agreement on the basis that now FIDE itself did not have to expend resources to find organizers for its premier events. The issue of financial guarantees was also important, though as explained below, these have not always materialized. His estimation of 10–12 million euros to FIDE from the coming cycles has not yet come to fruition either. The condition that Agon would be the sole organizer of Championship events was disputed originally by principally the Bulgarian Chess Federation, with respect to the Candidates matches for 2012. In early 2014, a purported agreement between Paulson and FIDE President
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was leaked, and then published by Chess.com (and others), which allegedly indicated that Paulson was simply a front man with Ilyumzhinov the ultimate benefactor of Agon. In that Chess.com article
Malcolm Pein is quoted as having twice been told by Paulson that Ilyuzmhinov owned Agon, and in a
New In Chess article
Nigel Short asserted he had also been told this personally by Paulson. In response, FIDE's deputy vice president
Georgios Makropoulos pointed out that the purported contract was a draft document. The FIDE Ethics Commission ruled in September 2015 that Ilyumzhinov did not violate the FIDE Code of Ethics.
2018 to present Election of Arkady Dvorkovich and the end of the Ilyumzhinov era In July 2018,
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was ousted as FIDE President, after having been in office for 23 years, since 1995. Being subjected to US sanctions for his business dealings with the Syrian government, Ilyumzhinov was forced out and did not run for re-election in the 2018 FIDE elections. The Greek Georgios Makropoulos, who had been General Secretary since 1990 and number two in the organization under Kirsan's presidency, was the first to announce his ticket. He was followed by the Englishman
Nigel Short, a world title contender in the
World Chess Championship 1993 against
Garry Kasparov. The last to announce his candidacy was
Arkady Dvorkovich, an economist who had served as Russian deputy prime minister and was also a member of the supervisory board of the
Russian Chess Federation. Dvorkovich was also one of the chief organizers of the
2018 FIFA World Cup. Dvorkovich was placed in the US Treasury pre-sanctions list in 2018 as a top Russian government employee. In the elections, held in
Batumi (Georgia) in October 2018, Dvorkovich won by 103 votes to 78 against Makropoulos, after
Nigel Short withdrew his candidacy at the last minute and expressed his support to the Russian candidate. After the 2018 FIDE elections and the appointment of a new FIDE President, the new management took regaining control over the World Championship cycle as one of their top priorities. In January 2019, FIDE Director-General
Emil Sutovsky announced that a new contract has been signed that continues a scaled-back relationship with World Chess (formerly known as AGON) through 2021. In virtue of this new agreement, FIDE reasserted control over the 2020 Candidates and the World Championship match, which from now on will undergo an open bidding procedure. Agon/World Chess only retained organizational and commercial rights over the FIDE Grand Prix Series, limited until 2021. At FIDE's general assembly in
Chennai, India, in August 2022 Dvorkovich got re-elected by 157 votes to 16 against Ukraine's
Andrey Baryshpolets.
Reactions to the Russian invasion of Ukraine On February 27, 2022, FIDE issued an official statement condemning the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a consequence, Russia and Belarus were forbidden from hosting official FIDE events. The decision to hold the
2022 Chess Olympiad and the 2022 FIDE congress in Moscow was also revoked. The Russian and Belarusian national teams were banned from participating in FIDE tournaments, although individual players could compete if they complied with strict regulations, in which case their federation and flag was replaced with FIDE and its banner. On March 22, 2022, FIDE decided to issue a six-month ban from competing in rated tournaments against Russian grandmaster
Sergey Karjakin. Karjakin had posted controversial statements on
Twitter in which he declared his support for the invasion of Ukraine and for President
Vladimir Putin's characterization of the war as a fight against Nazism. FIDE argued that Karjakin's statements had shed a negative light on chess and on the federation and found that he had violated the FIDE code of ethics.
Sergei Shipov, who also publicly commented in favor of Russia, was not sanctioned, because FIDE decided that his statements were less provocative. The regulation affects those who changed their gender identity after being assigned a FIDE identification number. The
French Chess Federation announced that they would not implement any restrictions on transgender players, considering the FIDE decision transphobic. A little later, the
German Chess Federation said in a statement that they do not exclude transgender women from women's tournaments, and made reference to
Annemarie Sylvia Meier, a transgender woman who won the 2003
German Women's Chess Championship. They also said that no one should have to experience violence and discrimination. Similar statements were also released by the English, Finnish and US chess federations. Since the announcement, French transgender player
Yosha Iglesias has competed as a woman and been awarded the
Woman International Master title. ==FIDE presidents==