MANILA, Philippines – Top officials of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines may come to a head-on collision after its president Prospero "Butch" Pichay and secretary-general Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino have different sentiments in terms of preference in the coming FIDE or International Chess Federation elections in August this year.
On one hand, Pichay has given the NCFP's nomination to Ignatius Leong, the FIDE general secretary who is running in former world champion Garry Kasparov's ticket, while on the other is Tolentino, who is challenging Leong for the position in incumbent FIDE president Kirshan Illyumzhinov's ticket.
Tolentino said he decided to run in response to Illyumzhinov's statement that the position was offered out of courtesy of the late Florencio Campomanes, the great grand old man of Phl chess who endorsed the Kalmykian when he assumed the presidency in 1995.
"It was given to the Phl as a moral obligation to the late Campomanes. Whether not endorsed or to be voted by the NCFP," Tolentino yesterday told The STAR. "Golden opportunity more than a silver platter."
Tolentino also denied there's friction between him and Pichay.
"No friction, this was tackled in the board meeting last week," he said.
Reports, however, pointed to that of a May 5 NCFP board resolution naming Pichay as the country's official delegate to FIDE and ruled out a purported earlier decision last April 30 naming Tolentino as delegate instead.
For the record, a total of 56 national federations – 22 from Africa, 18 from the Americas, nine from Asia and seven from Europe – while 20 countries nominated Kasparov – eight from Asia including the Phl, five each from Africa and Europe and two from the Americas, including the United States.
Illyumzhinov is seeking his fourth term after beating by a landslide challengers Jaime Sunye Neto, Bessel Kok and another former world champion Anatoly Karpov, while Kasparov is seeking to unseat the former and institute changes after two decades of Illyumzhinov rule.
Curiously, Kasparov is running for a position in the same federation he rebelled against by defecting from FIDE in 1996 to form his own organization.