Kazakh businessman Timur Turlov, founder and chief executive officer of Freedom Holding (Nasdaq: FRHC) and president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, has been elected president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), becoming the first representative of Kazakhstan to lead the organisation, FIDE said in a statement on September 26.

The election took place on September 26 in Samarkand during the FIDE General Assembly. Turlov defeated German businessman Wadim Rosenstein by 110 votes to 85 in the second round, after receiving 96 votes to Rosenstein’s 76 and German candidate Jan Henric Buettner’s 20 in the first round.

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand was Turlov’s running mate for deputy president. Turlov, 38, succeeds Arkady Dvorkovich, a former Russian deputy prime minister who served as FIDE president from 2018 to 2026.

Turlov has headed the Kazakhstan Chess Federation since January 2023 and chairs the Turkic Chess Association, which brings together the chess federations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. He also founded the International School Chess Federation in September 2024.

His election follows several years of financial support for chess. Freedom Holding Corp. allocated about $30mn to chess development in Kazakhstan over three years and supported more than 20 major international FIDE tournaments, according to FIDE. The company became general partner of the 2026 FIDE World Championship Match earlier in September.

Freedom Holding, which Turlov founded in 2008, is a Nasdaq-listed financial services group with businesses spanning brokerage, banking, insurance, telecommunications and digital services. Its market capitalisation was approaching $11bn at the time of the election, according to FIDE.

The election took place alongside the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, where Uzbekistan won the open section after defeating Ukraine 2.5-1.5 in the final round. It was Uzbekistan’s second Olympiad gold following its 2022 victory in Chennai, with India taking silver and Germany bronze.