Samarkand is connecting the world again

Sometimes, after centuries, cities return to their historic purpose. Samarkand has always been a meeting place for peoples. Long before the word «globalisation» existed, this city already knew how to connect the world.

Today, the world is doing so again, this time on the chessboard.

For me, it is deeply symbolic that the largest Chess Olympiad in history is taking place right here, in ancient Samarkand. You feel the scale most from the inside: the vast complex works as one unit, and guests are looked after with great care. 

Behind all of this are months of work by thousands of people. My sincere thanks go to everyone involved in organising the Olympiad.

Uzbekistan is welcoming the chess world the way guests have been welcomed here since time immemorial — with the dignity of the head of a large household.

A country that has come to feel its own strength

Uzbekistan is very interesting to watch today. This visit is not my first time here, and every time I notice changes.

The most important change is hard to capture in statistics. A deeper shift is evident: people talk differently about the country’s future. The country has a different sense of itself.

This is very noticeable in sport. For the first time in its history, Uzbekistan’s national team has qualified for the World Cup. You can imagine what that means to a country that truly loves football.

And in chess, something even more remarkable has happened.

The young Uzbek team’s victory at the 2022 Olympiad was an important milestone for the generation that produced Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the world rapid champion. Now Javokhir Sindarov has won the Candidates Tournament and will play Gukesh for the world crown.

These results can no longer be put down to exceptional talent alone. Behind them is an environment, a system that produces champions.

That is why it seems no accident to me that the Olympiad is being held in Samarkand. The chess world has come precisely to the place where a major chapter of chess history is being written today.

I am confident that Uzbekistan’s current achievements are only the beginning of a very long road. The country has a young population and a growing economy. Add to that enormous cultural depth. You can sense the desire to move forward.

I believe in Uzbekistan’s future wholeheartedly. I say this as someone from a neighbouring country with close ties to Uzbekistan and as an entrepreneur who has worked here for a long time.

New momentum for chess in Central Asia

When two peoples are genuinely close, a neighbour’s victory becomes a source of motivation for you, too.

In Kazakhstan, we follow closely what is happening with chess in Uzbekistan. And I think we can say quite openly: the successes of our Uzbek brothers have spurred us to pick up the pace as well. When a neighbouring country wins the Olympiad, and very young players start beating the world’s strongest grandmasters, you cannot help asking yourself, ‘What should we do?’

At some point, this question became quite practical for me. I became head of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and, together with my team, got much more deeply involved in developing chess in the country.

Gradually, more projects for children and more major international tournaments appeared. The government and business began paying more attention to chess, and extensive work with schools got under way.

I think this is very much the right kind of story.

Central Asia is finding its own voice

On a human level, there has never been any real distance between our peoples. Kazakhs and Uzbeks lived side by side for centuries, long before modern borders appeared. We recognise each other in our attitudes towards family and respect for elders.

Today, this closeness between people also rests on a firm foundation at the state level.

The relationship between Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Qassym-Jomart Tokayev is of historic significance for our region.

One also senses that there is a mutual understanding in the relationships between our countries that goes far beyond diplomatic protocol.

Our leaders are consistently building a climate of trust. It is already felt in business ties and in relations between regions. Gradually, it is becoming part of people’s everyday lives.

A strong Kazakhstan and a strong Uzbekistan need each other. We live side by side, and our children will live side by side — always.

Recently, I have increasingly come to think that we are living through a special historic moment for Central Asia.

Over the past two decades, the world has come to see our region in a markedly different light. The world looks at Central Asia more and more often because its economic and political weight is growing. Within the region itself, a sense of shared interests is strengthening.

I like where we find ourselves now, and I want to believe that the 21st century will be a time of remarkable growth. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will play a special role in this process as the largest economies in Central Asia and two brotherly countries whose relations are excellent today.

Chess has a new map

Remarkably, chess reflects this same change.

In recent years, the geography of top-level chess has expanded noticeably, with new strong centres joining it.

The global elite has widened, and more and more countries that until recently were rarely considered chess centres are now part of it.

This process is especially vivid in Asia. India is experiencing an impressive surge in chess, alongside China, which has long been established among the leading powers. In a short time, Central Asia, too, has become one of the most remarkable regions in world chess.

Next, I think, will be other parts of the world. Africa is home to hundreds of millions of young people. Latin America has enormous human potential.

And this is where FIDE faces an entirely new challenge.

A child can be born in a small town, very far from the old chess capitals, and gain access to knowledge that a generation ago was available to only a few. Such a child can play regularly online and receive first-class coaching. The international arena becomes accessible much earlier in life.

Look at the upcoming match for the title of world champion. The reigning champion, Gukesh, represents India. His opponent, Javokhir Sindarov, represents Uzbekistan. Both will be twenty when the match begins, and it will be the youngest World Championship match in history.

I am especially pleased that Freedom Holding Corp. has become the principal partner of this match. I see a beautiful symbol in this. A company that grew up in Kazakhstan is supporting the year’s main chess event, in which a young Uzbek grandmaster will fight for the world championship title against a young Indian.

I am an entrepreneur from Central Asia

Perhaps this is the right place to say a little about myself. In Uzbekistan, I am known for my business. To explain my approach to chess, I should say a few words about the experience that shaped my views.

I came into business fairly early. At 21, I created a company that gradually grew into Freedom Holding Corp. Today its shares trade on Nasdaq, and the group operates in many countries. Its market capitalisation has now exceeded $10 billion.

This path took shape gradually, through many decisions and new attempts.

We grew up as a company in a region that, until very recently, international investors viewed with great caution. We had to prove that a company from Central Asia could compete in the international market and build a modern technology business.

This is probably where my attitude toward many things comes from.

I know how important it is to have the chance to prove yourself and how long it takes to achieve a real result. Another important lesson for me is that it is impossible to build a large system if every decision passes through one person.

A company grows stronger when the people inside it grow — when a manager in Almaty is able to trust a team in another city, or even another country, and respects its knowledge of local context.

From this perspective, Freedom’s development in Uzbekistan seems entirely natural to me.

We have been working here for a long time and want to do more. I look at the Uzbek market with great optimism. Domestic demand is growing along with business activity. There are more and more people in the country ready to launch their own ventures.

Family and the long view

There is one more side of my life without which my worldview is hard to explain.

My wife and I are raising six children. A large family profoundly changes your attitude toward time. It makes you look years and decades ahead.

In this sense, chess is far more than a sport to me. A child makes a move and soon sees its consequences. A mistake forces you to go back to the board and think again. It is a very honest way of learning to grow up.

As a father, it is exactly this skill that I value in chess. The habit of thinking and respecting one’s opponent stays with a person for years.

That is why the attitude toward family in Uzbekistan is so especially close to my heart. For our peoples, the home has always been the first place where a child learns what responsibility is. Respect for parents and the bond between generations are enormously important. Even modern, fast-growing Central Asia continues to rest on this foundation.

That is why I believe chess has an enormous future in our region.

The kind of FIDE I would like to see

It was with this understanding that I put forward my candidacy for the post of FIDE president. I wanted to set out a broader view of how FIDE should treat people and national federations.

During the campaign, there is a lot of talk about the budget and about running tournaments. These issues are important and are part of the overall task.

Today, FIDE includes more than two hundred national federations with very different capabilities. Some rely on a long-standing chess tradition and well-developed infrastructure. A small group of truly passionate people holds many of them together.

And they are all part of one organisation.

I would like a national federation in FIDE to feel that its choices and its experience are respected.

Uzbekistan does not need distant advice on how to develop Uzbek chess. The results of recent years speak for themselves: the country knows its path well. The same goes for Kazakhstan.

An international organisation has a different task: to provide federations with a stable foundation of support and to help them make use of opportunities that no single country can obtain on its own. That is how I understand leadership.

My experience in business has taught me to trust people who are closer to the situation on the ground. If the centre tries to resolve every issue, the system becomes unwieldy.

That is why I would like FIDE to be built on trust in its national federations. A strong FIDE grows out of strong federations.

My attitude toward development funding comes from the same place. It should be long-term and clear. When a federation starts working with children or raising a new generation of coaches, it should be able to plan beyond the next calendar year.

I have been investing for many years in projects that cannot deliver results right away. The same law holds in chess: real change takes patience.

Uzbekistan knows this, perhaps, better than many. The current generation of champions emerged thanks to work that began long before their first big victories.

Uzbekistan today has every reason to be proud of what it has achieved. A similar sense of dignity is becoming increasingly noticeable in other countries around the world.

International organisations must also change.

FIDE’s motto is Gens una sumus — «We are one family.» As the father of six children, I know exactly what those words mean. In a loving family, a person knows that no one will question their place at the shared table, even when opinions differ.

That is the kind of chess family I would like to see.

Samarkand and the future of chess

In a few days, here in Samarkand, the national federations will decide on the future leadership of FIDE. I have profound respect for their choice.

This Olympiad has already told the world something very important. The old map of chess has changed, and one of its new centres is here today.

Uzbekistan won the Olympiad and raised a generation of world-class players. Now one of them is preparing to fight for the chess crown, while the country hosts the largest team competition in the history of our game.

Alongside Uzbekistan, chess is developing in Kazakhstan. Other Central Asian states are also becoming more prominent. And the idea that we are on this journey together is especially important to me.

The relationship that Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev are strengthening today gives the centuries-old closeness between our peoples a new dimension and opens up a rare historic opportunity for our two countries.

I want to believe that in twenty years our children will see Central Asia as a natural centre of development, an exciting place to live and to build a future.

Today, here in Samarkand, I am sincerely glad for what Uzbekistan has achieved. And I look to the future of our countries with profound optimism. Samarkand’s own history holds the power to turn distance into a road towards one another.

Right now, chess is becoming a continuation of that history.