Timur Turlov Was Elected FIDE President. The Club Lesson Is What You Watch When Leadership Changes.

A new president can change who signs the regulations. The rating list you will be paired from next weekend, the fair-play text the arbiter already has in the hall, and the event you have already entered are still the papers with your name on them. Before you spend the evening on the argument, say which of those three still runs your next rated game.

On Saturday, September 26, 2026, the FIDE General Assembly met in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, during the 46th Chess Olympiad, and the delegates elected Timur Turlov president of the International Chess Federation. He won the second ballot, 110 votes to 85, over Wadim Rosenstein. FIDE wrote that at 38 he becomes the second youngest president the federation has ever elected. He is the eighth president of FIDE, succeeding Arkady Dvorkovich, who served two terms from 2018 to 2026. Chess.com reported the same 110–85 result, along with the news that five-time world champion GM Viswanathan Anand was elected deputy president on Turlov's ticket for a four-year term.

The Olympiad notes this month stayed with the games, from converting a win that was already on the board in Round 1 to the resource you still look for when you are worse. The question now is what you check before a thread spends the time you had saved for a game.

What did the first ballot and the runoff show?

Delegates from 196 federations had three names in front of them. In the first round Turlov received 96 votes, Wadim Rosenstein of Germany received 76, and Jan Henric Buettner of Germany received 20. FIDE counted 192 votes cast. Chess.com added the count that shows why 96 was not enough: of 196 ballots cast, four were invalid, and a first-round win needed 50 percent plus one of the votes cast, which came to 99. Turlov had 96, so he and Rosenstein went to a runoff. Buettner, whom Chess.com described as a co-founder of Freestyle Chess, and his running mate, IM Malcolm Pein, were eliminated.

Chess.com reported that Buettner and Pein then endorsed Turlov, and that the endorsement helped increase his total to 110, while Rosenstein, running alongside Chinese businessman Gordon Tang, received 85. FIDE wrote that the second round followed two hours later. Rosenstein's public reply, as Chess.com quoted it, was one line: "the results have been acknowledged."

Chess.com also reported that Turlov is the first non-Russian citizen elected FIDE president in more than 30 years, after Russian leadership stretching back to 1995, when Kirsan Ilyumzhinov took over from the Filipino Florencio Campomanes. The same report described the election as a continuation of the previous reign as well, because Turlov had originally been due to run as Dvorkovich's deputy and has become one of FIDE's most important financial backers. It described him as a 38-year-old Russian-born Kazakh billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $7.4 billion.

Turlov was born on 13 November 1987. He has served as president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation since January 2023, and he is chief executive of Freedom Holding Corp. FIDE described that company as listed on NASDAQ, with a capitalization of nearly $11 billion, and wrote that over three years it allocated approximately $30 million to chess in Kazakhstan and supported the staging of more than 20 major international FIDE tournaments.

What did they say after the count?

Every member federation, every person... will be treated equally well.
— Timur Turlov, quoted by Chess.com (September 26, 2026)

In that same short speech, Chess.com reported, he also said, "You will always be able to count on me." FIDE published a longer statement from the same morning. "We are all one family, and we will continue working as one. This is a great responsibility and a vote for a better future of our sport," Turlov said. He went on, "We may have different opinions, but we all share one belief – that chess is important and that we can do much more to develop it around the world by making our Member Federations stronger and more independent."

In the FIDE note, Dvorkovich said, "Timur has already done a great deal for chess, and I am sure he will do even more now as FIDE President." Hold onto the promise of equal treatment, and test it when a circular, a title application, or a calendar is published. Sunday's game is still played under the rules already in the hall.

What should a club player actually watch?

Four things can touch a game you sit down to play. Until you can open a new regulation, you will still be paired at Friday's rating, and a rumor has not turned into a rule.

Start with fair play, because that is the page already in the arbiter's hand. It says what help is forbidden, where your phone goes, and what a claim requires. A president can change the priority, and later the regulation itself. Until the new page is published, follow the text for the event you entered, and save the argument for after you have signed the scoresheet.

Ratings and titles are quieter, and they matter just as much. They move on published dates. A norm still has to come from the right event, the right field, and the right score. The 110 votes tell you how large the winning side was. The rating regulations and the title rules stay as written until FIDE amends them. If you are playing a weekend Swiss, the position on the board is still the work for tonight.

The equal-treatment line is the part a club player can actually test. You will see whether it holds in ordinary paperwork: your federation's events, its arbiters, and its title applications, handled on the same published terms as everyone else's. When someone says a federation was favored and cannot show you the page, let the claim wait.

The calendar is the one you feel on a weekend. Olympiads, the world championship cycle, continental championships, and the tournaments that give norms are scheduled in public. A later season can look different. A round already paired in Samarkand stays on that pairing, and the weekend Swiss you have already entered stays on your calendar. If that Swiss is yours, read the pairing list and the games of the people you might meet. The method is in How to Prepare for a Chess Tournament.

What do you write down before you join the argument?

Three lines will fit on the bottom of a scoresheet. Write them before you refresh anything.

Which published text changed today, the fair-play rules, the rating regulations, or the title calendar, and where is the document?
What still governs my next rated game: the same list, the same time control, the same arbiter standard?
Is this a vote total, a statement with a name on it, or a claim with no page under it?

If the sentence you were about to repeat does not survive those three lines, leave it. Write the published totals before you write an opinion: 96, 76, and 20, then 110–85. If a number is not in the FIDE note or the Chess.com report, leave it out. Then open the game you meant to review. Say what you were trying to do, and only then let an engine check the position. That order is the one in How To Analyze Your Own Chess Games.

What about the Olympiad?

The General Assembly met in the same city as the 46th Chess Olympiad. If you are following both, keep 110–85 with the election and take the match scores from the cross-tables. Round 9, played on Friday, September 25, 2026, is the latest round this series has covered: Uzbekistan beat the United States 2.5–1.5 and took sole lead of the Open. This post does not cover Round 10, which fell on the same Saturday as the election. Cross-tables are on the official Olympiad site.

Where does D4 Chess Club™ fit?

If the election has taken the hour you set aside for a game, bring that game to d4chess.club. You name what you were trying to do, and the mentor asks you to say it in a sentence before the engine checks the position. Start free on D4Chess.Club.

FAQ

Who won the 2026 FIDE presidential election?

On Saturday, September 26, 2026, the FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand, during the 46th Chess Olympiad, elected Timur Turlov president of FIDE. He defeated Wadim Rosenstein 110–85 on a second ballot. FIDE wrote that Turlov, at 38, becomes the second youngest president the federation has ever elected. He is the eighth president of FIDE, succeeding Arkady Dvorkovich, who served two terms from 2018 to 2026. Chess.com reported that five-time world champion GM Viswanathan Anand was elected deputy president on Turlov's ticket, and that the term is four years.

What were the first-round and runoff totals?

In the first round Timur Turlov received 96 votes, Wadim Rosenstein of Germany 76, and Jan Henric Buettner of Germany 20. FIDE counted 192 votes cast. Chess.com reported that 196 ballots were cast, four of them invalid, and that a first-round win required 50 percent plus one of the votes cast, which was 99. Turlov's 96 fell short of 99, so he and Rosenstein went to a runoff. Buettner, described by Chess.com as a co-founder of Freestyle Chess, and his running mate, IM Malcolm Pein, were eliminated. Chess.com reported that they then endorsed Turlov, and that the endorsement helped increase his total to 110, while Rosenstein, running alongside Chinese businessman Gordon Tang, received 85. FIDE wrote that the second round followed two hours later.

What should a club player watch when FIDE leadership changes?

Watch the fair-play text the arbiter already has, the rating list and the title calendar, whether member federations are handled on the same published terms, and the events you have actually entered. Turlov said every member federation and every person would be treated equally well. Until FIDE publishes a regulation, your next rated game is still played under the list, the time control, and the arbiter standard already in force.

How is the FIDE election related to the 2026 Chess Olympiad?

The FIDE General Assembly met in Samarkand on September 26, 2026, alongside the 46th Chess Olympiad. Round 9, played on Friday, September 25, 2026, is covered in an earlier post in this series: Uzbekistan beat the United States 2.5–1.5 and took sole lead of the Open.

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