On 24 July 2026, Arkady Dvorkovich announced that he was voluntarily suspending his duties as president of Fide, the international federation. Rather than let the sanctions paralyse the federation’s operations, he stepped back ‘with immediate effect’, handing over to deputy president Viswanathan Anand, the five-time world champion. Turlov had planned to run as Dvorkovich’s deputy but will now run for president with Anand as his deputy. Buettner called the move coercive, though fences were mended earlier this year with the launch of the first Fide Freestyle World Championship. The third candidate, Wadim Rosenstein, is a German entrepreneur and chairman of WR Group, one of chess’s biggest private sponsors.