Indictment sheds new light on Putin's efforts to target Trump at the 2016 World Chess Championship

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is "charging Elana Branson, a dual Russian and U.S. citizen, with acting and conspiring to act in the United States illegally as an agent of the Russian government, willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), as well as conspiring to commit visa fraud and making false statements to the FBI."

The indictment illuminates previous government reports on Donald Trump and the 2016 U.S. Chess Championship.

"Former FIDE [International Chess Federation] President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov invited the Trump Organization to host the 2016 World Chess Championship at Trump Tower. This was revealed by Donald Trump himself in the Mueller report, where chess is playing a minor role and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich is also mentioned," Chess.com reported in 2019. "The match was eventually held in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport. It is known that at least one Russian government official attended: Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Apparently, investigator Robert Mueller suspected that the match might have served as a vehicle for contacts between members of the Trump team and Russian government officials."

More information about the 2016 championship between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin was revealed in Branson's indictment, which says she "also attempted to arrange meetings for Russian officials at the 2016 World Chess Championship."

"On or about November 10, 2016, Branson emailed an advisor to the now-former President of the United States (“Advisor-1”), expressing congratulations for their victory in the presidential election and attaching an invitation to the World Chess Championship addressed to the then-President-elect," the criminal complaint alleges. "On or about November 11, 2016, Branson was photographed at the World Chess Championship with CC-6 and a second individual who I recognize, based on my review of publicly available photographs, to be the current Press Secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin."

The Mueller report noted Kirill Dmitriev, the "closely connect to Putin" CEO of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, "Dmitriev undertook efforts to meet members of the incoming Trump Administration in the months after the election. Dmitriev asked a close business associate who worked for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) royal court, George Nader, to introduce him to Trump transition officials, and Nader eventually arranged a meeting in the Seychelles between Dmitriev and Erik Prince, a Trump Campaign supporter and an associate of Steve Bannon."

"Dmitriev invited Nader to the opening of the tournament and noted that, if there was 'a chance to see anyone key from Trump camp,' he 'would love to start building for the future.' Dmitriev also asked Nader to invite Kushner to the event so that he (Dmitriev) could meet him," the report noted, but said the invitation was not passed on.

Trump denied attending the chess championship.