23 November 2015

K. Ilyumzhinov
President
World Chess Federation

Dear Kirsan Nikolayevich!

On behalf of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation and me personally let me extend our congratulations to you on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of your FIDE (World Chess Federation) Presidency.

The two decades of your leadership in one of the largest and most prestigious international sports federations, have been marked with a number of milestones in the planet’s chess life. Chess has been recognized as a sport in 155 countries of the world and eventually, by the International Olympic Committee. The number of chess federations in the world increased from 149 to 186 while the number of players in the rating-list has increased in 11 times.

During this period under the aegis of FIDE hundreds of the world level chess tournaments have been successfully organized with many of them hosted by our country. This has significantly reinforced Russia’s place as one of the leading world chess powers and has provided an additional impetus to the development of the progressive Russian chess school.

FIDE under your leadership has always given special attention to Russia. The number of the Russian chess players in the FIDE rating-list has been constantly increasing.

Please accept my assurances that the President of Russia follows the chess successes of our country at the international arena with interest, and greatly attends to the task of attracting our young generation to chess as chess is a brilliant educational resource and an effective tool in striving healthy life style in our society. The presence of the Russian Head of State at the finals of the All Russia Youth Tournament “White Rook” in Dagomys, June 2014, as well as the closing ceremony of the World Chess Championship match in November 2014 in the Olympic city of Sochi, proves that FIDE’s efforts to promote chess in our country are very important for us.

Let me wish you, dear Kirsan Nikolayevich, further success in your noble task for the sake of the development of chess in the entire world.

Yours sincerely,

Dmitry Peskov
Chairman
Supervisory Board
Russian Chess Federation


Congratulations from Dmitry Peskov, Chairman of Supervisory Board of Russian Chess Federation (pdf)