Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov (head of the Republic of Kalmykia) visits Mongolia

Location of Mongolia and Kalmykia. The latter was added by me to the map and size might not be quite to scale. Location is accurate though - it's located on the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea.

I write quite a bit here about the relationship between Turkey and other Turkic republics that have a certain amount of autonomy but are located within other countries such as Russia. Mongolia has a little bit of that too with the Republic of Kalmykia, quite far away from Mongolia but where they speak a language much the same as Mongolian. A bit over a week ago the head of the Republic of Kalmykia visited Mongolia:

Mongolia and the Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation signed four protocols on trade, science, culture, agriculture, and tourism during an official three-day visit by the Head of the Republic of Kalmykia, Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, that began on February 2. On Tuesday, Ilyumzhinov, also President of FIDE (World Chess Federation), held a meeting with the Mongolian Minister of Education, Culture, and Science, Yo.Otgonbayar. They talked about how the development of a curriculum that includes mind games, particularly chess, could form part of the Mongolian curriculum for secondary education. The parties agreed to develop the curriculum effective from September 2009. Then, Ilyumzhinov visited the Mongolian Chess Federation and held a meeting with S.Enkhtsag, President of the Mongolian Chess Federation. Afterward Ilyumzhinov played chess against ten Mongolian, medal-winning teenagers at the same time. U.Uuriintuya , a 12-year-old, sixth grade, female student at Mongeni School, beat the FIDE President during a match that lasted one hour. Ilyumzhinov drew eight matches, and won one match.

Whenever you see a news article on Kalmykia of course the subject of chess is never far behind. This big chess set in the centre of the capital of Elista shows just how ingrained the game is to the people living there: