Tireless servant

FLORENCIO CAMPOMANES is a remarkable man. If you have not met him before, I think you are missing out on the one person who has contributed significantly to shape the direction of modern chess not only in Asia but the world.

Campomanes has been deeply involved in chess for more than half a century. In the 1950s he was already captaining the Philippines national chess team at events such as the Chess Olympiads, in the 1970s he was a deputy president of the World Chess Federation, in the 1980s he assumed the executive presidency of the world body itself, and since 1995 he has been the federation's honorary life president.

I first got to know Campo -- everybody calls him that -- in 1974 when Malaysia was trying to climb out of its chess shell and in the past 28 years of so, I have had a few opportunities to renew our acquaintance.

For a busy man like him who travels often around the world in the cause of chess -- he claimed to have criss-crossed the globe five times in 2001 -- meeting high-level decision-makers like company bureaucrats and people in government, he still remembers the names of many people who are mere chess-players or, in my case, a chess writer.

I bumped into Campo again last Christmas. He will be 75 years old this month, but his heart is not even 57. He is still as energetic as ever, with a penchant to regale people with stories of his past achievements.

Like, for example, he said that he had not planned to stand for the presidency of the World Chess Federation in 1982. At that time, the Icelandic grandmaster, Fridrik Olafsson, was the Fide president and Campo was still the deputy president. 

The seed for his climb to the presidency was sown in 1972 when a young American upstart player became the world chess champion. There is no prize for guessing correctly who this American player was, but after Bobby Fischer refused to defend his world chess crown in 1975, effectively withdrawing from competitive chess altogether, Campo spent the next six years trying to coax Fischer back to the chess board.

Campo recollected that in October of 1981, while in transit in San Francisco, he had telephoned Fischer and arranged to meet him. Campo told Fischer that he had a big contract with him, worth US$500,000 which was a rather significant sum for chess in those days, and just waiting for Fischer to put pen to paper. Anatoly Karpov was supposed to be his opponent to decide once and for all who would be the chess king.

Unfortunately, Fischer held out after scrutinising the contract. It was not enough. He hesitated because he wanted the money up front, before the match, and not after the TV rights. Campo spent the whole session trying to get Fischer to sign.

When Fischer left without signing, a frustrated Campo realised that he had already wasted enough of his time with Fischer. Six years was long enough. Perhaps, Campo thought, what he could achieve as Fide's deputy president, he could get better results as the Fide president himself.

Thus began an election campaign that was to last the next one year. Campo spent this time laying the ground work on his bid for the Fide presidency.  At one stage, he was traversing the globe, visiting 23 countries in 35 days, and meeting presidents and ministers for these countries.

Curiously enough, Olafsson did not know what hit him. Maybe, he had underestimated Campo, for when the D-Day came on that historic day in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1982, Campomanes swept everything before him and won the Fide presidency by a big margin.

Asia and Africa were solidly behind Campo, as were most of the Americas. Europe had unestimated Campo and supported Olafsson but the votes there were never a threat. This single humiliation has never been forgotten by the European members of Fide and until today, Europe remains largely critical of Fide's achievements under Campo and his successor, Kirsan Iljumzhinov.

What, I asked Campo, would he consider to be his greatest personal achievements?

"Organising the world championship match (between Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio) in 1976," he answered after a moment's reflection. 

"Then, of course, we had the women's world championship match in Manila in 1989. This was between Xie Jun and Chiburdanidze and I was very proud that an Asian player had finally won the world crown," he said.

"Xie Jun's triumph was only the beginning of the realisation of our efforts to put Asia on the chess map. We were proving to the world that Asians are just as capable, that chess is no longer their monopoly. We were starting to gain the respect of the Europeans, so that is an achievement not only for me but more for Asian chess," Campo added.

Apart from organising the Manila interzonal championship in 1991, one of his other big achievements came one year later when Manila was the venue of the Chess Olympiad. It was the first time that an Asian country was organising the biennial event and Manila put up a brilliant job as hosts.

Today, with control of Fide in the hands of Iljumzhinov, does Campo miss the days when he had executive control over the world body? 

"I am Fide's honorary life president," he reminded me. "Kirsan calls the shots in Fide now. As for me, I travel the world to promote chess and I am happy just to do my part to support all of (Kirsan's) efforts."

Yes, indeed. Whether Campo is retired or not, he still has a significant role in world chess. And, I think, he still relishes the challenges before him.

UP NEXT

The next three legs of the fourth Bank Pertanian Malaysia national allegro grand prix will be played in Kuala Terengganu on Mar 2, Petaling Jaya on Mar 10 and Kota Baru on Mar 30. 

Each event will be played over six or seven rounds, depending on the number of entries, and there is a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize fund will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners such as the best women, under-16 or under-12 players.