SAMARKAND, September 26. /TASS/. Russia’s former sports minister, Pavel Kolobkov, was elected a vice-president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), a TASS correspondent reported from a FIDE General Assembly taking place in Samarkand.

Earlier, TASS reported that Kazakhstan’s Timur Turlov was elected president of the global chess body.

Kolobkov, 57, served as Russian sports minister from October 2016 to January 2020. During his athletic career, he won the 2000 Olympics in the men’s individual epee and he also won two silver Olympic medals and three Olympic medals. Also, he is a six-time world champion and two-time European champion in epee fencing.