- Ignatius Leong
Ignatius Leong (born 1956) is a professional
chess organizer inSingapore and has been one ofAsia 's leading organizers for more than 20 years. He is FIDE Secretary-General and President of the ASEAN Chess Confederation, a 14-country zone, geographically the largest in the world. He is also Chairman of the FIDE Development Commission.He was Asia’s first International Organiser and among the first to receive the title of FIDE Senior Trainer. At 23, he became one of the world’s youngest International Arbiters. Leong is also Director of the ASEAN Chess Academy, which has produced many promising local talents and now attracts talent from around the region. He had played in three Olympiads.
Politically, he has swung wildly from one extreme to the other. He once formed a "World Chess Organization", which promised to overthrow
FIDE . However, he abandoned that effort when not enough people joined. He has also swung wildly between being a supporter and an opponent of FIDE PresidentKirsan Ilyumzhinov .In 2002, Leong announced that he was running for FIDE President against Ilyumzhinov. Later, he changed his mind, saying that he was not running. Then, changing it again, saying that he had never withdrawn his candidacy. It was eventually ruled that once he had withdrawn, it was too late to become a candidate again, so no election was held because Ilyumzhinov was the only candidate. However, Leong became FIDE Secretary-General.
ee also
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Singapore Chess Federation External links
*fide|id=5800242|name=Ignatius Leong
*chessgames player|id=57283
* [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3109 Leong's call for unity and compromise] — ChessBase
* [http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=960 Two Tickets Announced for FIDE Elections] — FIDE
* [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/leong1.html Stefan Loeffler interviews Ignatius Leong] — The Week in Chess Magazine
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