Carrillo Wins Second Term Atop FIDE Americas, 29-12

Continental elections rarely make headlines outside the federations that vote in them, but this one carried a clear margin. On September 24, during the 46th World Chess Olympiad, national federations across the Americas re-elected José Antonio Carrillo as President of FIDE Americas by a vote of 29 to 12.

That’s a roughly 2.4-to-1 margin among the region’s voting federations, a comfortable result for an incumbent seeking another term. Holding the vote at the Samarkand Olympiad rather than at a standalone congress meant delegates already gathered for the biggest event on the chess calendar could settle continental business on the same trip.

Carrillo doesn’t return alone. His slate for the new Executive Board swept in as a full team, which matters for a confederation covering a continent as sprawling and administratively varied as the Americas, from federations with deep resources to small national bodies with a handful of active members.

The new board looks like this: Francisco Cruz Arce as Vice President, Erick Hernández as Treasurer, Enrique Celi as Secretary, and Sandy Razark, María Enriqueta Velásquez, and Malcolm Powell rounding out the Executive Board as members.

Six names beyond the president gives a sense of how FIDE Americas structures its leadership: officers for finance and administration, plus at-large members meant to represent the breadth of the confederation rather than any single sub-region. Nothing in the results suggests contested seats below the presidency; the framing is a slate that ran and won together.

The 12 votes against are worth noting even in a decisive win. Continental bodies covering dozens of federations, from Canada and the United States down through Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, rarely vote unanimously, and a bloc of 12 dissenting federations is a real minority rather than a rounding error.

FIDE’s own description of the outcome leans on words like unity, cooperation, and development, the standard vocabulary of a federation confirming continuity rather than upheaval. The practical test comes now: whether a second term translates into more events, better support for smaller federations, and stronger participation from the Americas at the next Olympiad cycle.