“Olexander Mykolayovych Kamishin was unanimously elected president at the regular 12th congress of the FSU,” the Ukrainian Chess Federation (FSU) website announced.
Oleksandr Kamyshin is the Ukrainian Minister of Strategic Industries. Previously he was the CEO of state-owned Ukrainian Railways.
In a telegram post, Kamyshin thanked the delegates for their trust in him and promised to do everything possible for the development of chess in Ukraine. “Chess has always been interesting and important to me. I have been playing since childhood. My children play.” – he added.
In his candidate’s program, he listed plans to attract a wide range of people to chess and to restore Ukraine’s position among the top chess countries in the world.
Kamyshin sees the development and implementation of the chess development strategy for 2025-2030, increasing the number of FSU members by at least 1,000 per year, and rebuilding the communication function as the main tasks of the federation.
Among Kamyshin’s goals in his new position are restoration of FSU’s influence at the level of international sports organizations, the National Olympic Committee, and the Ministry of Youth Sports is also indicated.
The new President promised to defend the position in FIDE regarding the disqualification of the Russian Chess Federation and the removal of Russian citizens from FIDE management.
KP reminded that FSU Vice-President Artem Sachuk died at the front in November 2023.
Among the newly elected Vice-Presidents are former World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov and two-times European Champion Natalia Zhukova.
In her comment for ChessTopics, newly elected Vice President of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, Natalia Zhukova, said that the new board will aim for positive changes in the work of the federation.
โWe will try to bring big changes and improve the work of the federation. The new president, Mr. Oleksandr Kamyshin is a Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, he loves chess, and his kids are chess players too. After the Russian invasion on Ukraine, many kids moved to the other countries and changed the federation due to the lack of support. The new management of the federation will try to deal with these challenges and work towards the development in chess in Ukraine. I will be responsible for women in chess in the federation, as well as for the international programme.โ, added Zhukova who will be the trainer of Ukrainian Womenโs National Team at the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Budapest.
