FIDE’s New President Timur Turlov Expands His Leadership Team

Timur Turlov, the new president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC), is rearranging the pieces at the top of world chess. Just one month after winning the presidency, he has unveiled a management overhaul aimed at making it clearer who sets the direction, who makes the decisions and who gets things done.

The changes, announced on October 26, are not about tournament formats or rules of play. They concern the machinery behind the game: how an international federation makes plans, puts them into action and remains accountable to its members.

Who is Timur Turlov

Timur Turlov won the FIDE presidency in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 26, securing 110 of 196 votes in the second round, with five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand elected as his deputy.
Timur Turlov is an entrepreneur and the founder and majority shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp. He has featured for several years in Forbes Kazakhstan’s rankings of the country’s wealthiest and most influential entrepreneurs. In early November, Forbes’ real-time billionaires ranking estimated his net worth at $7.6 billion.

Turlov was born on November 13, 1987. His mother worked as a researcher, and he has little recollection of his father. At 15, he made his first investment, putting $800 inherited from his grandfather into the stock market. He lost the money, but the experience prompted him to study investing. In 2008, Turlov founded the brokerage firm Freedom Finance, which later grew into the international financial technology group Freedom Holding Corp. That same year, he married his university classmate Elena. The couple now have six children.

Giving the FIDE Council More to Do

The General Assembly will remain FIDE’s highest authority, but the Council is set to play a larger part in shaping the federation’s future. Council members are expected to help define strategic priorities and keep a closer eye on how those plans are delivered.

Timur Turlov believes the organization needs a structure that can keep working even when its leadership changes. That means clearer responsibilities, more open decision-making and less confusion about where one department’s job ends and another begins.

A new Governance Secretariat will help the governing bodies and commissions work together. It is a practical change, but an important one for an organization that brings together national chess federations with very different resources and needs.

There is a simple idea behind the redesign: the people setting the course should not be tangled up in every detail of the daily workload. The administration, in turn, needs enough clarity to turn big promises into real programs.

New Faces in Key Positions

The new structure also brings new names into prominent roles. Timur Turlov has appointed Adil Kozhikhov, a longtime adviser, to run the President’s Office, which will handle strategic priorities and major international projects.

Turlov is also introducing special presidential representatives to focus on particular areas. The arrangement should give important projects a clear point of contact rather than leaving them to move between several teams.

Another new body is the Advisory Board, chaired by Kazakh grandmaster Darmen Sadvakasov. FIDE plans to bring in specialists from different fields with international experience to assess fresh ideas and help shape a long-term strategy.

The board will offer advice rather than issue orders. It will sit within FIDE’s existing governing framework, with the General Assembly and Council retaining their formal powers.

FIDE has expanded its team, appointing representatives for Olympic inclusion and institutional dialogue. Håkan Jalling, president of the Nordic Chess Federation and former head of the Swedish Chess Federation, will serve as the president’s representative for chess’s inclusion in the Olympic Games. According to FIDE, the Swedish federation gained recognition from the Swedish Olympic Committee in April 2026 under his leadership. He also chairs the European Chess Union’s Olympic Affairs Commission. His remit will include helping national chess federations build relationships with their national Olympic committees.

Brazilian grandmaster Darcy Lima, a former president of the Brazilian Chess Federation, has been appointed the president’s representative for institutional dialogue. FIDE said he would promote cooperation among federations and the exchange of experience and best practices.

The personnel choices reflect a balancing act. FIDE wants new thinking at the top, but it also needs the people who already know how international chess works to stay involved.

From Campaign Promises to a Workable Plan

The restructuring is an early step in putting Timur Turlov’s election promises into practice. His campaign was built around a broad promise to modernize the federation. He spoke about more money for chess, stronger support for smaller national organizations, better marketing and a digital platform that could connect the chess world more effectively. Those plans extend beyond the management shake-up, but the new structure is meant to provide the people and processes needed to pursue them.

The chess connection is personal as well as professional. In a 2025 interview with bne IntelliNews, the businessman spoke about his love of the game and said that all six of his children know how to play.

Timur Turlov has even spoken of a much bigger prize: bringing chess into the Olympic program. That remains a long-term ambition, not something a new organizational chart can achieve on its own.

Technology will be another test. His work at Freedom Holding Corp. has centered in part on building digital financial services, and the federation now wants to make better use of modern tools in its own work. That does not mean the company is running the chess reform; the plan is FIDE’s.

Will the Changes Make a Difference?

The ultimate measure of the overhaul will be what national federations actually get from it. They are being promised more support, wider access to chess education and an organization better able to find international partners.

Turlov calls the vision a “New FIDE.” The immediate challenge is to get different offices and decision-makers pulling in the same direction, year after year.

For Timur Turlov, the next stage is less about announcing appointments than making the new setup work. A clearer chain of responsibility should make it easier to follow a project from the original idea to its impact on players and national chess bodies.

That is a different sort of challenge from running Freedom Holding Corp., where he is used to the pace of financial markets and digital services. In international sport, results can take longer to appear, and the needs of member federations do not always point in the same direction.

Turlov has said the reform should be judged by concrete benefits for the chess community. The real test will come when the new team starts delivering them.

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