On 1 December 2010 FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov made an official visit to Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur where he met with the Heads of the Government, businessmen and chess public of this country. In particular, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had got the negotiations with Dr. Rais Yatim, Minister of nformation, Communications and Culture of Malaysia. A wide range of issues were discussed during the talk, i.e. strengthening of constructive cooperation between Malaysian Government and FIDE in question of chess development in Malaysia and in Southeastern Asia in whole. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov noted that Malaysia has got good chess traditions which have been become stronger throughout the years by holding the big international tournaments. For example, Anatoly Karpov vs Jan Timman  Match was held in Kuala Lumpur in 1993, many other important international chess events took place there in 2000s. At the same time nowadays the program “Chess in schools” is actively realized by the World Chess Federation. Participation of the Malaysian Government is the one of the most important factor in a successful realization of this program. In the end of the meeting Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Rais Yatim expressed their confidence in the necessity of the further constructive cooperation between FIDE and Malaysia in question of chess development and popularization in this country.

In Kuala Lumpur FIDE President also met with Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mr. Dato Tan Chin Nam, well-known Malaysian businessman and chess maecenas, Mr. Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib, President of the Malaysian chess federation; chess public and representatives of mass media of Malaysia.