Tea with Putin in Sochi in 2014, Peskov pops into New York in 2016, and other ways the Russian elite captured the global chess circuit – an insider’s tour by Peter Heine Nielsen, the Danish coach of Norwegian chess champion Magnus Carlsen.
[EUobserver] Why are you in Hong Kong today [16 June]?
[Heine Nielsen] I’m Magnus’ coach and he’s playing [in the World Rapid and Blitz tournament] here, so … Also, we had [FIDE president Arkady] Dvorkovich do the official opening press conference, with Magnus and other team members. Everybody on the chess circuit is here.
What does Dvorkovich normally do at FIDE events?
In principle, he’s in charge of the tournament, but, of course, FIDE has other people who deal with organisation. Dvorkovich walks around a bit and mingles with players. He’s quite approachable and I’ve spoken to him. But he will also be meeting local VIPs and politicians, some might say to campaign [for his re-election as FIDE head in September], or to exercise Russian soft power. He’d say it was just part of his job.
