Timur Turlov elected FIDE president at General Assembly in Samarkand

The election took place on September 26 by secret ballot during the 46th World Chess Olympiad. In the second round, Turlov garnered 110 votes, ahead of Vadim Rosenstein, who received 85 votes from delegates. In the first round, Turlov received 96 votes, Rosenstein got 76, and candidate from Germany Jan Henrik Buettner secured 20 votes. A total of 196 ballots were cast in the first round (192 according to the Anhor.uz publication), four of which were declared invalid.

Alongside the 38-year-old Turlov on a unified presidential ticket, world champion Viswanathan Anand took the post of FIDE deputy president. As reported by Anhor.uz citing Reuters, Turlov was elected for a four-year term, becoming the eighth president of the international federation, as well as the first representative of Kazakhstan and Central Asia to lead the organization.

As head of FIDE, Turlov succeeded Arkady Dvorkovich, who had led the federation since 2018. In July 2026, Dvorkovich voluntarily suspended his duties after being placed on the European Union sanctions list, after which Anand temporarily led the body.