12/23/2019 – In an open letter to the Russian Chess Federation on Monday, the manager of French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who narrowly missed out on multiple avenues to qualify for the 2020 Candidates tournament in Yekaterinburg next March, calls for a qualification match against Kirill Alekseenko. The RCF has already nominated Alekseenko. | Photo: Nadja Wittmann

9/21/2018 – It was none other than Vladimir Putin, who dropped in at the training camp in Sochi. There he spoke to the men and women team members, about the importance of Russia regaining their dominating role in chess, about young talents and talent schools — like the one initiated by former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. "Sirius" has already produced a number of children's champions. Watch this 1TV report — it is in Russian, but we provide a rough transcript for you to read.

5/10/2018 – Nigel Short wants to become FIDE President. In 2010 and in 2014 Short supported the campaigns of Karpov and Kasparov. It's been a while since three candidates ran for president in the FIDE elections, but now Ilyumzhinov, Makropoulos, and Short are all in the running. CONRAD SCHORMANN recounts a bit of history and shares his opinion of what is bound to be an interesting period in international chess politics. | Photo: British Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic

2/6/2018 – On Saturday, February 3, the Russian Chess Federation held presidential elections. The current president Andrey Filatov started the day facing several challengers, notably Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the current FIDE president, who is expected to stand for reelection to the body in September at the Chess Olympiad in Batumi. Ilyumzhinov received support from an unlikely source in former ECU president Silvio Danailov, but ultimately Ilyumzhinov withdrew his bid before the actually voting was held, and Filatov was easily returned to office, along with his team. | Photo: ruchess.ru

11/1/2017 – Alexander Alekhine himself thought that he was born on November 1, 1892, but historians checked again and concluded that he was born on October 31. The confusion seems to be due to an error in the conversion of the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. All the same, we celebrate the fourth World Champion's birthday — reason enough to look back on his life and career. | Photos: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

10/30/2017 – Vladimir Kramnik has received the organiser's wild card for the March, 2018 Candidates tournament in Berlin, according to an official release by Agon Ltd. Only two spots remain to be filled via the FIDE Grand Prix. As of now the players will be Sergey Karjakin as the previous World Championship runner-up, Levon Aronian and Ding Liren via the World Cup and Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana thanks to rating qualification. | Photos: Amruta Mokal

3/4/2016 – On March 2, 2016, His Excellency Mr. Jean-Maurice Ripert, Ambassador of France in Russia, presented Andrey Filatov, President of the Russian Chess Federation, with the Legion of Honor. The award ceremony took place in the building of the first chess museum in Russia, located at 14 Boulevard Gogol in Moscow, where dignitaries were present in great pomp.

1/18/2016 – In an interview with Oleg Bogatov for the Russian magazine "R-Sport" Andrey Filatov, the President of the Russian Chess Federation, revealed Russia's goals for 2016: winning the Candidates and the Chess Olympiad. Filatov also spoke about the US sanctions against FIDE-President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and proposed to modify the rules for World Championship matches.