ASTANA: Kazakh businessman ‌Timur Turlov was elected as the eighth president of world chess governing body FIDE on Saturday after a closely fought contest at the organization’s General Assembly in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, .

The election was widely seen as a ‌defining vote ‌for FIDE amid ‌debates ⁠over governance, Russia’s ⁠place in international chess and the sport’s commercial future. Of FIDE’s 204 member federations, 202 were eligible to vote with the Russian ⁠and Rwandan federations suspended.

The ‌race ‌was transformed this year when incumbent ‌Arkady Dvorkovich, a former ‌Russian deputy prime minister who had led FIDE since 2018, withdrew his bid for a ‌third term after being included in a European Union ⁠sanctions ⁠package.

Turlov, who was originally part of Dvorkovich’s presidential team before launching his own campaign, succeeds him after an eight-year tenure marked by concerted efforts to expand chess’s global reach. Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will be Turlov’s deputy.