Dear Andrey Vasilyevich!

I would like to congratulate you on your birthday!

I think it is a big success for both the Russian and world chess and for myself that you having succeeded in business, a few years ago decided to return to your profession and to lead the Russian Chess Federation.

Due to this decision, which coincided, and maybe partly formed the positive trend of coming to Russian Chess big entrepreneurs, successful managers and patrons, our favorite game got a new big strong impulse for the development, and FIDE and RCF got a talented, not indifferent to chess organizer like you.

No doubt that you have a great future in the administration of FIDE, that also means a lot of work and not less responsibility. I wish you an inexhaustible energy, new interesting and useful for the development of chess ideas and good luck in their realization.

I wish you happiness, love and warmth to you and your family!

FIDE President
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Congratulations to Andrey Filatov on his birthday (pdf)