Libyan Leader plays chess as war rages

As fighting continues, Moammar Gaddafi refuses to relinquish power; opts to play a game of chess with Russian visitor and son

As fighting continues, Moammar Gaddafi refuses to relinquish power; opts to play a game of chess with Russian visitor and son

The unrest in Libya reached a crescendo once again yesterday -- but the country's leader, Moammar Gaddafi, appeared as if he didn't have a care in the world as he played a game of chess during an appearance on state television.




Checkmate: Video grabs of Moammar Gaddafi enjoying a two-hour
chess game with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the President of the World
Chess Federation. Pics/afp

Colonel Gaddafi met with the president of the international chess federation and former Russian provincial governor, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, in Libya's capital, Tripoli. Ilyumzhinov said the Libyan leader told him he had no intention of leaving the country.

As fighting between Gaddafi's forces and Libyan insurgents raged across western Libya, the Russian eccentric who once claimed he hosted extraterrestrials, also sat down for a game of chess with Gaddafi's eldest son Muhammad and the two played the Sicilian defence.

"The meeting [with Moammar Gaddafi] lasted around two hours, we played some chess with Gaddafi," said Ilyumzhinov, who is on a visit to Tripoli in his capacity as World Chess Federation (FIDE) president.

'My motherland'
"Gaddafi stated that he is not going to leave Libya, stressing that it is his motherland and a land where his children and grandchildren died. He also said that he does not understand which post he needs to step down from."

"I am neither premier nor president nor king. I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position which I should give up," Ilyumzhinov quoted Gaddafi as telling him. Ilyumzhinov, who also met with foreign and education ministers, said he saw a lot of destruction in Tripoli. He expressed his condolences to Gaddafi over the death of his son and grandchildren and said he was shown a house hit by five bombs where the leader's family members died.

Eccentric
Ilyumzhinov was the head of Russia's Buddhist region of Kalmykia between 1993 and 2010.
He famously claimed that he had met aliens on the balcony of his apartment in Moscow, prompting demands to explain his behaviour.

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