Rejection of Russia and the match for the crown. What is known about the new president of FIDE
The head of the Chess Federation of Kazakhstan Timur Turlov was elected president of the International Chess Federation. In 2022, he gave up his Russian passport. What is known about the new president of FIDE - in the material "RBC Sport"
A native of Moscow, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding, head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation Timur Turlov was elected president of the International Chess Federation.
The elections were held at the FIDE General Assembly in Samarkand. German entrepreneurs Jan-Henrik Buettner and Vadim Rosenstein also claimed this post.
In the first round, Buettner received 20 votes, Rosenstein 76, Turlov 96. Due to the fact that no one received 50% + 1 vote, a second round was held in which two candidates participated. Turlov received 110 votes, Rosenstein 85, and one abstained.
RBC Sport spoke about Turlov’s sports projects, the renunciation of Russian citizenship and the FIDE development program.
Who's Turlov
Turlov was born in Moscow, spent his childhood in Lobna near Moscow. His mother worked as a biochemist. According to Turlov, he hardly remembers his biological father: he left the family when his son was about three years old, and later was reported missing.
At the age of 16, Turlov began working in the investment sector, and after receiving an economic education, he took up a direction related to customer access to the American stock market. In 2008, at the age of 21, Turlov founded the investment company Freedom Finance. It later became the foundation of the international group Freedom Holding Corp.
In 2012, the entrepreneur acquired Seven Rivers Capital, which worked in the securities market of Kazakhstan, and a year later it was called Freedom Finance.
In 2019, Freedom Holding Corp. entered one of the largest US stock exchanges, Nasdaq. After the listing, the business increased significantly. According to ChessBase, Freedom Holding Corp.’s revenue for fiscal year 2026 was $2.2 billion. The capitalization of the company at the end of September 2026 exceeded $10 billion.
The state of Turlov in the annual Forbes billionaire rating for 2026 was estimated at $ 5.2 billion.
Renunciation of Russian citizenship
In 2022, Freedom Holding decided to withdraw the Russian business from the group. The Russian assets of the group were subsequently sold, and the Russian companies received new names - Digital Broker and Digital Bank.
In the same year, Turlov received Kazakh citizenship and renounced his Russian passport. He had been living in Kazakhstan for over a decade. Since Kazakhstan does not allow dual citizenship, the entrepreneur also renounced the citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis.
In October 2022, Ukraine imposed sanctions against Turlov and Freedom Finance Ukraine. The businessman said he thought the restrictions were wrong. As of 2026, Ukraine’s sanctions remain in place, while the US, UK and EU have not imposed sanctions against Turlov and Freedom Holding.
How a businessman came to sports
In January 2023, Turlov headed the Kazakhstan Chess Federation. With his participation, school and youth programs, infrastructure for competitions and international tournaments have expanded in the country.
Already in the first year of Turlov’s work at the head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, the country hosted several major international tournaments. In Astana, a match for the title of FIDE world champion was held, the winner of which was Ding Liren - the first Chinese chess player to win this title. In addition, Kazakhstan held the Asian Championship among men and women and the World Championship among school teams in Aktau.
Turlov himself called 2023 “the year of chess in Kazakhstan”, noting the scale of the competitions held and their importance for the development and popularization of the game in the country.
Also from 2022, Turlov is one of the initiators of the launch of the QJ League youth football project in Kazakhstan and the chairman of the league’s board of trustees. In 2024, Freedom Holding sent 1.1 billion tenge to support the league (5 tenge is about 1 rub.).
At the end of 2023, Turlov received the award “Uzdik” (“Best of the best”) of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan in the nomination related to the heads of sports organizations.
In 2024, Freedom Holding sent 4.5 billion tenge to the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, and about 5 billion tenge to international tournaments.
In 2024, Turlov also headed the International School Chess Federation, an organization dedicated to developing chess among children and promoting chess education.
In 2025, the Turlov structure acquired Karaganda FC Shakhtar. The businessman announced plans to invest 18.5 billion tenge in the club.
In April 2026, Freedom Holding acquired ChessBase, a German developer of chess software and databases. About €5 million of investments were announced for the development of the platform.
What Turlov proposes to change in FIDE
Turlov’s program is based on four areas: the digital transformation of FIDE, the development of chess in the education system, the financial stability of national federations and the improvement of the management efficiency of the international federation.
Another part of Turlov’s program is financial support for the development of chess. He proposed the creation of a FIDE development fund of about $7 million and a separate media fund with funding of at least $1.5 million per year. These funds will be used to conduct open tournaments, train coaches and referees, travel players and support national federations with limited financial capabilities. According to Turlov, the total funding of the proposed initiatives may exceed $10 million.
One of Turlov’s key proposals is the creation of a single digital platform FIDE. It can combine digital FIDE ID, player ratings and results, educational services, databases and competition tools. A separate direction is the use of artificial intelligence to train chess players and combat cheating.
In addition, Turlov suggests expanding Chess in Education programs and using the experience of Kazakhstan, where chess was included in the educational programs of about 1.5 thousand schools by 2026. The new leader believes that this model can be adapted for other countries.
In an interview with Reuters, Turlov also said that under his leadership, FIDE will continue to comply with the decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding the participation of Russian teams. At the same time, he expressed hope that in the future the Russian Chess Federation will fulfill the necessary conditions for returning to full participation in international competitions.
