Meet FIDE’s New President Timur Turlov and The Business Behind His European Expansion

Timur Turlov’s activities in Europe extend beyond scaling Freedom Holding’s business. After his recent election as FIDE president, chess has added a new international aspect to his work. The FIDE presidency will have a clear European dimension this year: in November and December, Geneva will host the World Championship Match, one of the major events on the international chess calendar, with Freedom Holding Corp. as its General Partner.

A New Leader for Global Chess

Timur Turlov was elected president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) on September 26 at the organization’s General Assembly in Samarkand. He became the eighth FIDE president, succeeding Arkady Dvorkovich, who served two terms from 2018 to 2026. At 38, Turlov is the second-youngest FIDE president ever elected. In the final vote, he received 110 votes to 85 for German candidate Wadim Rosenstein, an entrepreneur, chess promoter, and founder of WR Group. The third candidate, German entrepreneur and Freestyle Chess co-founder Jan Henric Buettner, left the presidential race after the first round.

Turlov’s program centers on four priorities: FIDE’s digital transformation and institutional development, chess in education, and financial sustainability for member federations. The digital agenda proposes a unified FIDE platform offering federations tools ranging from ratings and online competitions to training and game analysis. On governance, Turlov proposes greater transparency, independent audits, and less bureaucracy. Another priority is expanding the role of chess in schools and social programs. The financial plan suggests raising the annual Development Fund budget from €1.6 million to €6.2 million.

The FIDE presidency follows several years of Turlov’s work in chess. He has led the Kazakhstan Chess Federation since January 2023. During that period, Kazakhstan has focused on expanding chess infrastructure, school programs, and international competitions. According to FIDE, over the past three years, Freedom Holding Corp. has invested around $30 million in chess development in Kazakhstan and supported more than 20 major international FIDE tournaments, becoming one of the world’s largest private sponsors of the game.

In September 2024, together with FIDE, Turlov initiated the founding of the International School Chess Federation to promote chess among young people worldwide and serves as its President. He also chairs the Turkic Chess Association, which brings together the national chess federations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan. Its inaugural team championship was held in Astana in 2026.

Who Is Timur Turlov?

Timur Turlov is the founder and principal shareholder of Freedom Holding Corp., owning 64.9% of the company as of September 2026. It is the parent company of a group of multiple businesses spanning financial services, lifestyle, and telecommunications. Freedom Holding Corp. is listed on Nasdaq, with a market capitalization of more than $10.5 billion as of September 30.

Over the past few years, the group, headquartered in Kazakhstan and now operating in more than 20 countries, has expanded beyond its original brokerage and banking business into a broader digital ecosystem, adding lifestyle services such as e-commerce, travel bookings, entertainment, event ticketing, as well as media and telecommunications, many of them available through a single mobile Freedom SuperApp. Its telecom business includes mobile communications, internet connectivity, and cloud services. The group is also expanding into AI infrastructure, building data centers to support AI development.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, Freedom Holding Corp. reported $2.19 billion in revenue and $153.3 million in net income, compared with $2.0 billion and $76.2 million a year earlier. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ended June 30, 2026, revenue rose 40% year over year to $732.5 million. Total assets reached $14.0 billion, up from $13.2 billion as of March 31, 2026. Total customers across banking, brokerage, insurance and other segments rose to 8.74 million as of June 30, 2026, from 8.1 million three months earlier.

From Kazakhstan to Global Markets

International expansion is now a major part of Freedom’s strategy. “The expansion of our digital ecosystem beyond our home region, where we built an effective business model in a relatively short period of time, is a key element of our long-term development strategy,”explained Timur Turlov. Rather than introducing individual services separately, Freedom aims to build each market around its brokerage and banking businesses, with other digital services added to the ecosystem over time.

Turkey is one of the key markets where it is rolling out this model. Freedom entered the Turkish brokerage market in 2025 and received an operating license for Freedom Yatırım from the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye in August 2026. In parallel, it agreed to acquire 99.32% of Turkish Bank A.Ş.; the relevant Turkish authorities approved the transaction on July 1, and it was completed on July 31. The bank’s shareholders also approved changing its trade name to Freedom Bank A.Ş. Together, the brokerage and banking businesses provide the base for expanding Freedom’s broader ecosystem in Turkey.

Building Freedom’s Presence in Europe

Europe is another major market where Freedom plans to replicate the ecosystem. The group has already operated its European brokerage business for 11 years, and in June 2026 it applied for a banking license in France.

The French banking license would take Freedom’s European expansion beyond brokerage. If approved, it would allow the group to offer banking services across the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) through EU passporting, which enables an institution licensed in one member state to provide services across the region. Freedom plans to back this expansion with €500 million in investment.

Freedom24 is the brand under which Freedom Finance Europe Ltd. operates its European online brokerage business. The company was incorporated in Cyprus in 2013 and has been licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission since May 2015. Freedom24’s official representative offices and tied agents are located in Cyprus, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, Lithuania and the Netherlands. The broker now serves more than 600,000 clients in Europe, offering access to 15 major U.S., European and Asian exchanges to trade 1,000,000+ stocks, ETFs, options, futures and other exchange-traded instruments, alongside professional securities analytics.

The European business also gives Freedom an established regulatory and operational base from which to expand its financial services offering. Rather than entering the region as a new financial institution, the group is building on an existing brokerage network, client base and local presence. The planned banking operation would add another layer to that infrastructure, allowing Freedom to combine investment and banking products within the same European ecosystem.

This approach mirrors the broader development of Freedom’s business in other markets: brokerage and banking form the core, while additional digital services can be introduced as the customer base grows. In Europe, the group is therefore moving from a predominantly investment-focused proposition toward a broader financial platform, with France serving as a potential hub for further expansion across the region.

Where Business Meets Chess

Turlov’s election as FIDE president adds a new dimension to his international activities in Europe. This November and December, Switzerland will host the FIDE World Championship Match, one of the most prominent events in the international chess calendar. The match will run from November 22 to December 12, with the opening ceremony at the Palais des Nations and the games at the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Geneva. World champion Gukesh Dommaraju of India will defend his title against Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan in a 14-game match.

Freedom Holding Corp., a strategic partner of FIDE since 2023, is now the event’s General Partner, marking a new level of cooperation with FIDE. “The World Championship decides who is first. There is nothing bigger in chess,” said Timur Turlov. “Freedom has worked with FIDE for three years, and this is the natural next step, not a logo on a stage. Chess and finance are the same discipline: you calculate, you decide under uncertainty, you refuse the obvious move, and you plan far ahead. We invest in chess on that horizon,” he added.