It means that at the end of his new four year term, which will lead up to 2020, he will have been in charge of the organisation for 38 years.

Makropoulos won the election with 68.8 per cent of the vote, according to FIDE.

As a result of his success, he was able to elect members of the Greek Chess Federation Board.

Elections at the body are held every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympic Games.

Makropoulos briefly became President of FIDE after Russia's Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was placed on a United States blacklist in December last year.

This came after officials claimed he had been "materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria, Central Bank of Syria".

Ilyumzhinov denies the allegations but his blacklisting meant he could not attend this year's World Chess Championship in New York City.

He asked for his Presidency to be temporarily suspended when the news first emerged, allowing the Greek to step in.