Postponed election in Romania

Ten days before the scheduled election on 15 August during the European Women Championship in Iasi, the leadership of the Romanian Chess Federation declared two candidacies illegal. This would have secured the presidency for the only left candidate Ionuț Șerban Dobronăuțeanu, who is the grey eminence of Romanian chess since 2006 and is on the ECU board since 2010. Lawyers stepped in on behalf of his challenger Vlad Ardeleanu and forced a postponement. Now the presidency is vacant until the Romanian clubs finally get to vote on 26 September. Ardeleanu was CEO of Superbet when the gambling company started to sponsor the Grand Chess Tour in 2019 and now runs the medical imaging chain Medima Health. He is tipped to win thanks to his big plans to increase the membership and budgets and support by top players like Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu, who out of frustration over Dobronăuțeanu changed to the German Federation in 2014, and Garry Kasparov who sent a video message.