Two days of meetings are scheduled, beginning tomorrow, with the drama overshadowing the Russian's reign likely to dominate proceedings.

In April, FIDE held an Extraordinary Presidential Board meeting in Athens after the governing body's website reported that Ilyumzhinov had resigned, a claim he denied.

The Board confirmed that Ilyumzhinov was still the President but the bulk of his powers have been devolved to Deputy President George Makropoulos.

In December, Ilyumzhinov had opted to withdraw from any legal, financial and business operations of FIDE to enable him to concentrate on solving a legal situation with the United States Department of the Treasury.

He was placed on a US blacklist after officials claimed he had been "materially assisting and acting for or on behalf of the Government of Syria, Central Bank of Syria".

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

Both Ilyumzhinov and Makropoulos are due to speak to open the Congress in Turkey.

Other items on the agenda include various bids for FIDE Championships.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chess Federation has asked for the suspension of its affiliate membership to be lifted.

This follows the body lifting its sanctions against Singapore.