NCFP gets nod from FIDE brass

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The General Assembly of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) formally confirmed the full membership of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines Thursday after a three-hour deliberation where former FIDE president Florencio Campomanes’ supporters from the Asian and African continents took turns in discrediting the Philippine Chess Federation and pointing to the NCFP as the "new solution" to the current crisis in Philippine chess.

The General Assembly, voting via a roll call, confirmed the recommendation of the Executive Board which earlier approved the membership of the NCFP with a 14-2 vote. The assembly voted 56-16 in favor of the board recommendation, with 25 abstentions.

It was also a victory of sorts for the PCF, which earlier won a unanimous vote to get the voting right for the Philippines in the assembly for PCF delegate Enofre Manuel.

American Steve Doyle, FIDE vice president, fought for the PCF’s right to gain a seat in the assembly, citing the illegality of installing NCFP delegate Casto Abundo since the NCFP, until that point, was not yet accorded full membership by the General Assembly.

He threatened to walk out and fly back to New York if deputy president Georgious Makropolous of Greece, chair of the assembly, went on with his decision to assign the slot to Abundo.

"This only affirmed our point that the PCF remained as the rightful FIDE member and should remain so, with its rights and privileges, until after the General Assembly has ratified the recommendation of the board," said Manuel, adding that, had the principle of membership been applied, the PCF would’ve had the right to send the RP chess team to the ongoing 34th World Chess Olympiad.

The RP chess team sent by the NCFP was accredited by the Istanbul organizers and is playing the last two rounds of the 14-round Swiss system tournament.

The PCF got what its main supporter, lawyer Morten Sand of Norway, called a technical victory when the members voted to give the PCF a voting power in the assembly. However, whether intentional or not, the Philippines was not called during the roll call, resulting in a no-vote by the PCF. Before the assembly, the PCF officials were assigned seats at the back reserved for observers.

Sand and US Chess Federation delegate William Kelleher had told the PCF officials long before the assembly would open that should there be a voting on the NCFP membership, the PCF should expect to lose. Sand and Kelleher wanted expulsion proceedings but Makropolous announced only a vote on the motion to approve the recommendation of the board was necessary.

Makropolous, who had volunteered to mediate between the PCF and NCFP when talks initiated by Zone 3.2a president Ignatius Leung collapsed, backed out Wednesday night, and PCF officials were surprised when the executive board, also chaired by Makropolous, passed the resolution recommending the NCFP for membership.

Earlier, Makropolous promised Sand the NCFP membership would not be taken up before the board pending the completion of the PCF-NCFP talks.

Kelleher and Sand, who were also quietly campaigning for the PCF among the European and American blocs, got word that Campomanes was not reportedly not amenable to a compromise but had told Makropolous to go on with the talks to stall the PCF.

By the time the NCFP announced there will be no more conciliation talks, it was too late for the PCF to make a move. The PCF had refrained from distributing its information materials to the delegates in deference to the talks. It was able to do so only an hour before the General Assembly at 10 a.m. Thursday (4 p.m. in Manila).

During the assembly, Sand, Kelleher and Doyle and supporters from the Netherlands, Portugal and British Virgin Islands questioned the Philippine Olympic Committee’s recognition of the NCFP – which later became the decisive factor in the validity of the NCFP’s membership – but Makropolous would not give the group a chance to exploit the POC recognition issue.

"The NCFP is recognized by the POC, there’s no point to discuss this," said Makropolous.

When the assembly had already voted to give Manuel the voting rights, Campomanes stepped in to call for another vote since the assembly, he said, might not have understood what the motion was all about. The second voting re-affirmed the PCF’s rights.

The voting on the NCFP membership followed. Sand requested that the voting be deferred to another day, but Makropolous, aware that another day lost would give the PCF time to campaign among the delegates, himself opposed the motion.

The PCF had prepared a position paper and a fact sheet answering the media reports in Manila against the PCF but the delegates hardly browsed through the pages because of the limited time.

Officials of FIDE – Campomanes, Leung, Asian Continent president Khalifa Al-Hitmi of Qatar and Israel Gellfer (executive board member) – took turns in attacking the PCF.

Makropolous would not give the PCF the floor to answer the charges.

Leung narrated that the Philippines had not staged a major rated tournament during the last eight years and two GMs from the Philippines at one time went to him to beg for financial assistance for food and their hotels because they allegedly were not given theirs by the PCF.

The PCF was a helpless sight as the NCFP’s hit brigade inside FIDE made their tirade in the assembly. When the votes were counted, the solid "yes votes" came from Leung’s Zone 3.2a, the Asian continent of Al-Hitmi, and some small African and South American countries.