With the election of Russian Arkady Dvorkovich over Georgios Makropoulos, international chess could be cutting ties with the Ilyumzhinov era.

Chess takes on the sports governance agenda with a one-day conference leading up to FIDE’s 89th Congress where three candidates are vying for the post as president of the federation. Play the Game will give a keynote at the conference.

The president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has plans to stand as president of the IOC in order to attract more attention to chess as a sport. And the ploy might work. Ilyumzhinov is an eccentric who is also president of the Russian republic of Kalmykia and claims he was once abducted by aliens.