PCF, NCFP ready to reconcile?

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Three members of the Executive Council of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Saturday finally brought top officials of the Philippine Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation of the Philippines to a conciliation meeting to start talks they hoped would end the crisis hitting both Philippine sports organizations here.

Norway’s Morten Sand, who is also the FIDE legal a consultant, and US Chess Federation delegate William Kelleher met with NCFP and PCF officials yesterday to mediate in their talks on a possible reunification on request of FIDE executive vice president Georgious Makropolous of Greece.

PCF president Jesus Ingeniero, PCF secretary-general Edgar de Castro and FIDE delegate Enofre Manuel represented the PCF, while GMs Eugene Torre, Joey Antonio and Bong Villamayor represented the NCFP.

Sand and Kelleher said there is a need to reunify the PCF and NCFP by getting them to agree on a middle ground to prevent the problem from reaching the FIDE Executive Council and the General Assembly.

Sand told the two groups that he had made representations with the FIDE board and other delegates, who all agreed that a reconciliation is the best solution to the problem.

He said they did not like a repetition of the 1995 incident when the FIDE General Assembly forced then FIDE president Florencio Campomanes to give way to a new leadership after his failure to unify the warring factions within FIDE.

"We don’t like another division in FIDE," said Sand, who added that the two groups should reach an agreement in time for the General Assembly where their decision will be announced before the FIDE Congress.

Sand wants the presidents of both groups to shake hands on stage before the delegates during the FIDE Congress.

Asked by Sand whether he was in favor of the unification talks, Torre, who is president of the NCFP, said he was willing to explore areas of conciliation for the good of Philippine sports.

Both groups were to meet again Saturday night to submit their specific proposals. Sand and Kelleher said reunification is possible since the PCF is willing to give in to the demands of Filipino chess players in terms of representation in the board.

Other matters that could be agreed upon are the formation of a new chess organization where the current PCF and NCFP officers will be the founding members, the election of officers, amendment of the PCF constitution and by-laws to reflect the changes, new registration with Securities and Exchange Commission of the new organization and application for new membership or recognition with the Philippine Olympic Committee and the FIDE.

The FIDE Congress will convene Nov. 6, with sessions scheduled until Nov. 8 (with Nov. 9 as rest day). It will resume Nov. 10-12.