Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov, right, and Anatoly Karpov, left, play an exhibition rematch in Valencia, Spain
Former world champion Garry Kasparov failed in his bid to oust the longtime head of the World Chess Federation yesterday in a bitter contest that was held on the sidelines of an international tournament in Norway.
Kasparov, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, was the sole challenger against Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a wealthy businessman known to be supported by the Russian president.
Delegates at the 2014 Chess Olympiad in the northern city of Tromsoe voted 110-61 in favor of Ilyumzhinov, with four votes annulled.
Ilyumzhinov, who once claimed to have visited an alien spaceship, has headed the governing body of chess, known by its French acronym FIDE, for 19 years. AP
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