MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will not vie for president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) again, the organization’s press service said.

Earlier, Arkady Dvorkovich also decided not to run for FIDE president again. The organization will hold an election for president during its general assembly in Samarkand in September. The candidates are Jan Henric Buettner and Wadim Rosenstein of Germany, and Timur Turlov of Kazakhstan.

On July 20, Ilyumzhinov told TASS that he planned to run for FIDE president.

Ilyumzhinov, 64, was elected FIDE president in 1995. In late 2015, he was blacklisted by the United States for acting in the interests of Syria’s government and Central Bank. Following this, he temporarily ceded his legal, financial and business authority within FIDE to his deputy, Georgios Makropoulos.

In March 2017, FIDE’s official website announced his resignation. According to it, Ilyumzhinov allegedly announced his decision to resign at a meeting of the FIDE Council. However, Ilyumzhinov refuted these reports, saying that he was ready to continue a president.

In April 2017, he said that he had reinstated his status within the organization, but later recalled his statement at an extraordinary meeting of the FIDE Presidential Board. In October, the Executive Board unanimously approved the transfer of the presidential mandate to Makropolous. In April 2018, the FIDE Presidential Board asked Ilyumzhinov to resign immediately because of his being blacklisted by the United States. Fourteen members of the board voted for this resolution, while only one was against. In December 2018, Dvorkovich was elected FIDE president.