"Glukhovsky is not a senior person on my team! He just advised me on some questions…" — Timur Turlov

Timur Turlov

President of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation

“[Nielsen: Is Mark Glukhovsky a part of your team?]

Glukhovsky advised me a little bit, but he’s not a senior person. I’ve only stepped into the shoes of the president very briefly.

Of course, I actually started to engage with different people, and Mark did provide some advice for me. But frankly, I met Mark for the first time properly very recently, when I started to run for president. I think it was a couple of months ago.

We had a couple of meetings, but he’s definitely not any kind of senior person on my team. He advised me on some questions and helped with a few minor organizational matters.

[Nielsen: Is it possible that someone is campaigning on your behalf without your knowledge?]

I’m very thankful that in the chess world there are a lot of people who know me better than I know them. I really appreciate that many people support my candidacy and try to help me win. But not 100% of everything is under my control.

I appreciate any support and any advice, and I’m still trying to better understand the environment. Because, sorry, I’m not a professional chess politician, and I’m still trying to figure out who is who. That takes some time.

I think it’s not a wise decision to come into maybe not the most well-planned campaign of my life and try to build everything from scratch.

So, I’m meeting people, I’m trying to better understand things, but I am my own campaign manager. I take some advice and I meet with people, but I’m not relying on anyone else, and I’m not instructing others to act on my behalf.

[Nielsen: The statements in that leaked video make no sense?]

For me, it’s very difficult to discuss this video. I regret what the people who did that have done. And Mark also denies that those were accurate statements. But once again, there’s not much respect in this whole situation.

I definitely do not share the content of that video. It also doesn’t look like something I can appreciate. I do not appreciate what was in that video, regardless of who did it.

[Nielsen: If what’s in the video is true, one could see it as whistleblowing…]

I think everybody should respect the law and respect what the law allows you to do or not. I know what whistleblowing means. I’ve participated in developing my own whistleblowing policies.

But that video is not whistleblowing. That’s something different. That’s a private conversation, even if it’s true. I was also very angry to hear those things, and I definitely do not share those values.

But once again, nobody is even sure yet whether it’s true or not.”