He Didn't Resign

After a two week break, let's look again at Chess in the 21st Century, where I noted FIDE's recent organizational problems, especially in World Championship events. The tensions within FIDE became visible to outsiders in a story I covered on my main blog: Did He Resign? It quoted a Reuters report that started,

The Russian head of world chess's governing body FIDE said on Monday he was the victim of a plot to oust him but denied a report by his own organization that he had resigned.

Over the following weeks FIDE insiders jockeyed for position before a special PB meeting called for 10 April:-

• Statement of Continental President for Europe
• Statement of Continental President for America
• FIDE Extraordinary Presidential Board decisions:-

1. Legality of meeting
2. Powers delegated to the FIDE Deputy President by the FIDE Presidential Board
3. Statement of Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov regarding revocation of his powers
4. Resignation of Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ('nobody [...] had asked for his resignation')
5. Misleading Statements to the media by Mr Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Peter Doggers of Chess.com covered the evolving story in a series of informative news items:-

• 2017-03-27: FIDE Claims Ilyumzhinov's Resignation; President Denies
• 2017-03-28: It Continues: FIDE Won't Budge, Ilyumzhinov Won't Resign
• 2017-04-04: As Support Deteriorates, Ilyumzhinov Announces $30M Investment
• 2017-04-11: Ilyumzhinov Loses Even More Power As FIDE President
• 2017-04-18: Ilyumzhinov To Run For FIDE President In 2018

Ilyumzhinov: "Today I was analyzing everything that has happened, and I have decided to run for another term as FIDE president. I want to continue uniting the chess world. I will be working towards my goal to have one billion people playing chess." Continue uniting the chess world? The man is clearly delusional.