Turlov Asks FIDE to Remove Candidate Wadim Rosenstein From the Ballot Over Sponsorship Deal With the German Chess Federation

ZURICH, Sept. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Three weeks before world chess elects its next president, candidate Timur Turlov has asked FIDE's Electoral Commission to remove another candidate, Wadim Rosenstein, from the ballot — and to suspend the German Chess Federation's right to vote — over a sponsorship deal signed in the middle of the campaign.

The complaint was filed on 28 August by Turlov's Zurich counsel, 5Gambit Disputes, and sent to Mr Rosenstein and the federation the same day. The complaint describes the following sequence of events, based on the German federation's own public announcements:

In May 2026, the German Chess Federation (DSB) appointed Mr Rosenstein as its FIDE Delegate — the person who casts the federation's vote in FIDE elections. In July, the federation nominated him for FIDE President. On 19 August, five weeks before the election, the federation announced that Mr Rosenstein and his company WR Events had become its sponsor, in what it called "one of the largest sponsorship contracts in the history of the DSB."

So the man on the ballot is now the biggest sponsor of a federation that appointed him, nominated him, and votes in his election. FIDE's electoral rules, the complaint says, are written precisely for this: giving anything of real value to a voting federation during the campaign is banned outright. Whether anything was promised in return doesn't matter — the deal itself is the violation.

FIDE reviewed similar cases before. In 2018, its Ethics Commission caught a sponsorship arrangement tied to a delegate's appointment and voting rights in Serbia: the delegate was barred for six months and the Serbian federation temporarily excluded. The difference this time, the complaint argues, is that the case is even more direct — in Serbia the sponsor stood behind the delegate; here the sponsor is the candidate himself.

Turlov has asked for a fast decision — by 10 September — because FIDE's own rules stop the Commission from removing a candidate in the final fifteen days before the vote.

Timur Turlov, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp., said:

"I spent twenty years building a publicly traded, regulated company, and I learned one simple rule: an organisation is only as strong as the rules its members actually follow. A sponsorship signed with a voting federation during the electoral period is not generosity — it is a prohibited practice, for the candidate who offers it and for the federation that accepts it. We put that case to the Commission in writing, and we sent it to Mr Rosenstein and the DSB the same day."

The complaint targets the election only. German players, clubs and tournaments are not affected in any way.

The 2026 FIDE presidential election takes place on 26 September 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

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Turlov–Anand FIDE Presidential Ticket
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