Eccentric Russian chess head ‘told Khadafy it was checkmate’ in Libya
15:00 GMT
(adds quotes from Margelov on secret message, changes source)
By NewsCore
TRIPOLI, Libya — The pictures on Libyan state TV showed a civilized game of chess between Moamar Khadafy and the eccentric Russian head of world chess, but was the visitor carrying a secret message from Moscow?
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the oddball president of the World Chess Federation who has repeatedly claimed to have met aliens and even on one occasion been shown round their spaceship, made a surprise visit to Tripoli on Sunday but said there was no political agenda other than promoting the game.
“I would happily meet with anyone,” Ilyumzhinov told Moscow Echo radio from Libya. “I am not a politician — I went there as a sportsman.”
But Mikhail Margelov, who is leading Russia’s mediation efforts in Libya, said Ilyumzhinov was under instructions to tell Khadafy — through his subtle chess moves — that the despot’s game was up.
“On the eve of his trip on Friday, Ilyumzhinov telephoned me and informed me that he was going to travel to Tripoli and was expected to meet with Khadafy to discuss chess questions,” Margelov told the Ria Novosti news agency.
The diplomat said, “I advised him to play white and move E-2 to E-4 — and make it clear to Khadafy that his side is close to the endgame.”
Margelov meet with Khadafy’s opponents in the rebel bastion Benghazi last week and said he would travel to Tripoli next week.
But whether Ilyumzhinov delivered the message was unclear. He told the Moscow Echo that he offered Khadafy a tie to save him from embarrassment, which the leader accepted. Khadafy also appeared to play white, while Ilyumzhinov played with cream-colored pieces on the crystal-studded board.
As a player, Ilyumzhinov said that Khadafy was “of course weaker, much weaker than me … just an enthusiast who knows where to put the pieces and do a child’s-play checkmate.”
But Khadafy’s oldest son, Muhammad, with whom he also played, is a “serious player who knows the theory of chess.”
Ilyumzhinov said that he found Khadafy to be “calm … normal and adequate. We played chess and we talked,” AFP reported.
Ilyumzhinov described his trip as a “working visit” and pointed out that he had recently been in Afghanistan and would soon visit Iraq. He presented Khadafy with a chess set made in Kalmykia, the Buddhist region he headed from 1993 to 2010.