I'm here at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand and I'm very happy to talk to Timur Turlov, owner of Freedom Holding and ChessBase, and FIDE presidential candidate for 2026. And I'm Johannes Fischer from ChessBase.
Thank you, Johannes. My pleasure.
It's my pleasure. I hope it will be a pleasure, but for a change, I would prefer not to talk too much about chess politics, but I'm more interested to talk about chess. And I wonder, when reading your biography, when listening to interviews with you, how and when did you start playing chess?
I think my first teacher was my grandfather, which is quite normal. And that happened when I was like five years old.
Yeah. But unfortunately we did not live together and I had not much chance to practice. And it was a tough time in our region when the Soviet Union started to collapse. And frankly, I think especially in my childhood there was not much big access to all this infrastructure, not much chess clubs like before. And I never went to a chess club. So I never became a professional chess player, maybe also because of that.
Okay. Just to let me understand this better. When were you born and where were you born? And what kind of region was this in the Soviet Union or later?
'87, just before the breakdown.
Yeah, Soviet Union time. I was born in Moscow. My father was born in Kazakhstan. My mother was born in Russia. And they just met in university. And then I spent most of my childhood there in Moscow. In Moscow, yes. In Moscow region. And I went back to Kazakhstan when I became more adult. I came back to Kazakhstan in 2011 when I was like 24, 23.
I see, I see. But coming back to chess then, while you had no chess club and I suppose no trainer. But did you have chess books or, in a more general thing, what fascinated you about the game? I mean, what fascinated you so much that you later in your life decided to run for FIDE president?
I played on computer in my childhood. Then when I became maybe, I don't know, 10 years old.
But this was just when you played against a single computer, not online or nothing. Yes, just against the computer.
Not yet, no, not yet much online platforms. At that time it was, or even I had no idea. I had no internet in the first some years.
And it was yes, just with a computer and there were not many games on my computer. So I had not much choice to play and chess was one of that pre-installed game on my computer. So when I started to pay another attention to this game and started to think how can I win the computer, and occasionally I was able to win. It was not a very strong algorithm at that time.
Yeah. So you were interested in winning or, well, were you interested in the game that you thought, okay, the pieces look interesting and my grandfather taught me that and, you know, this kind of fascination chess pieces can have.
Of course I was, since my very childhood, so the respect to the game was very high. So I realized that chess is a game for very special people. I read in the books in my childhood stories about grandmasters and even some fiction stories. Even in some fiction stories there were some characters who were great in chess and that definitely was a very, very distinguished person, so it's a very respected person. So that's not just a respected person, it's a grandmaster. And I think in this former Soviet Union atmosphere it was, I think, more than respect to the greatest chess player.
Yeah, and do you still remember the titles of such books, you know, the titles of the fictional works or all the chess books you read?
I remember only one book which I read to my kids and remember that I read it in my childhood. It was some short stories about heads of grandmasters. So the name of the story was 'A Head of Grandmaster', but the grandmaster lost his head and then they tried to help him to save his head, but unfortunately it flew away.
And then they completely destroyed their head in the end of the day.
Yeah, so but later on you were interested in the game but you did not pursue this seriously like joining a club and trying to win championships or tournaments, it was more like a hobby.
Yes, yes. And I think the second time I paid, I started, I reopened this game for me when my kids started to go to school. And they had like extracurricular lesson in their school in Almaty.
And at some evening they just came to me and said, 'Dad, do you like to play chess?' And I said, 'Oh, okay, why not?'
And how many kids do you have?
So, you're a busy man apart from all your other interests. So, your kids brought you back to chess.
Yes, absolutely. I just realized that it's a great social tool for me. Now, it's a way for me to communicate with them. It's how I can sit with any of my kids, maybe except the eldest daughter, she's already 17 and not much more interested in chess. But when I'm getting back from my work, we sit at dinner and after dinner we spend like half an hour or an hour playing with them, one with another, who will be the winner to play a game.
And I think it's like a very great experience. And I also realized how powerful this tool is to train concentration, to help them keep their attention for a long period of time, for this ability to predict what his partner can do after his move. So, what to expect next.
It's a great exercise for all of us.
Yeah, and it teaches patience and a lot of other things.
Yes. And when they sit with a smartphone and scroll some social media and some other stuff, it's so hard for kids now to concentrate their attention. And I see that chess is maybe the unique activity which they like to play. There is no need to force them to play. At the same time, they can sit and look at the board without any motion, without any scrolling, for many, many tens of minutes.
Yeah. But how then did you get involved in chess organization, chess activities? Because, well, I mean, it just, yeah, from playing chess with your children to becoming president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation seems to be a huge step, so to speak.
I started to help first the chess club which my kids started to visit. I think that was my first step. And I started to talk to people in the chess club, so how we can help, so how we can do more, how can we help you to be able to serve more kids, get maybe a better venue.
To spread chess, to make chess more accessible to...
I was really excited and I realized that I started together with my kids, we started to work with the same trainer. And he started to teach me at least some more or less basic stuff and the books and games. And I also, of course, I don't pretend to be a professional chess player, but these lessons were also amazing for me. They brought me so much energy, so much fun. I spent so much time after my work just solving chess puzzles.
A pure joy for me at that period of time and pure excitement, something new in my life, and for some reason I found it very exciting.
So, pure joy because there was no target and no aim involved, no financial gains, nothing. You just enjoyed chess. The pleasure of playing chess, thinking about chess, solving puzzles and just getting immersed in the game.
[laughter] That's it, it's something...
So, you start with some simple principles, then you apply this principle into life and get advantage. So, you're starting to play better. So, another lesson and you play a little bit better, more. Especially in the very beginning, I think it's very easy to progress when you're just learning some lessons and...
Yeah, that's the hard part that comes later, yeah. But, as you mentioned it, what do you think... Now, chess and business, are there things that you can transfer from the one area to the other? I mean, people always claim this. They say chess is good for your mind, for business. You learn to think strategically and have patience. And you are a successful businessman. You are a passionate chess player, as I feel. But, I mean, can you seriously... Is there a possibility that chess teaches you things that can be useful in life? Can be useful in business? And what would you say are these things?
I think the main lesson which you learn is how my personal brain works. So, in what situation I make a better decision and better games. In which situation I act very poorly. And what depends on the quality of game for me.
Because when I slept well, I'm not under pressure, I have not much stress in my work in the first part of the day. So, usually now I play better. And if I feel some stress...
