Vishy Explains Why He Joined Turlov: "I think Timur is an extremely successful entrepreneur..."

Viswanathan Anand

15th World Champion

“I think Timur is an extremely successful entrepreneur. He has built the Freedom Group into an international business.

And look at their strengths. They have a strong technological side to the business, which he has developed. And he wants to implement this in chess through digitalization. That ties the two skills together.

He operates in and complies with multiple jurisdictions. Again, that’s one of the key skills in operating a large global organization like FIDE where he is particularly skilled.

He loves chess. He’s had lots of innovative ideas in chess. He organized and sponsored a lot of tournaments. Freedom Group is a great sponsor that FIDE works with for a very long time.

And so, it seemed to me that he’s an ideal choice for me to work with so to speak. Also, my report with him has been quite good over the last few years. As I mentioned, FIDE already was working with him a lot. He’s brought some innovative events to Kazakhstan.

Since he believes that digitalization is one of the most important things he can contribute, I can see what someone with experience of running a large company, with experience of management, and with experience of developing his company using the latest technology can bring to the table.

And because he’s been working with us for a while, there’s also an element of continuity. He’s already familiar with the workings of FIDE.

For me, it was not a very difficult choice. When he invited me, I thought that I could tell him very quickly — yes.”