Philippine Sports News and Updates

This is about Philippine chess which, based on what national chess officials continue to tell us, could be entering a new golden era.

With report of assorted restrictions, it’s easy to suspect that Beijing, after having organized what could go down as the best Olympics of the modern era, might be hiding several disgusting details from the world.

Well, in the case of RP chess, there have been many glorious reports on the state of the game in the country.

But what’s been kept behind a smoke-screen, obviously the true state of chess in the Philippines, is provided in the following report penned and lent to us by Atty. Samuel Estimo, national master and many-time captain of the Philippine Olympic Chess Team. Read on:

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National Chess Federation of the Philippines president Prospero Pichay recently signed a contract with Intchess Asia of Singapore authorizing the latter to handle NCFP tournaments in the Philippines.

Pichay’s move was a big blunder and, if it were in a game of chess, he should have resigned immediately.

“It’s an insult to the organizational skills of Filipinos,” grumbled Mr. Florencio Campomanes, former head of the World Chess Federation.

Campo has every reason to question Pichay’s act because it was he who organized the 1978 World Championship match in Baguio City between Karpov and Korchnoi.

Campo was also the main man behind the staging of the 1992 Manila Chess Olympiad—the best ever in the history of the sport.

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According to Campo, there’s no need for a foreigner to manage our tournaments here. The NCFP-Intchess Asia deal also wages war against the very essence of a national sports association.

The NCFP is a non-stock, non-profit entity envisioned to develop the sport of chess, and should not be engaging in business concerns, more so with a foreign company.

Allowing a Singaporean corporation to take part in chess projects here is like permitting a foreign country to intervene in Philippine affairs.

Equally lamentable was Pichay’s unceremonious and unilateral rejection of GM Eugene Torre’s request for inclusion in the Philippine team going to the Dresden Chess Olympiad this year.

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Torre had very noble and valid reasons in his letter to Pichay but it did not even reach the NCFP board.

Torre’s plea suffered instantaneous death in the hands of Pichay, the same way the long-running La Union Open Chess and the 2008 Muntinlupa Inter-Cities Chess Championship got “killed” earlier this year.

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The NCFP is a rudderless sports boat being run by two or three officials.

Important policy decisions are arbitrarily made and rammed down the throats of chess players. Grandmasters and national players are banned without due process only to be allowed to play again depending on the temper and caprices of NCFP leaders.

GMs Eugene Torre and Joey Antonio opted to be out of the Philippine team for the first time in 19 Olympiads.

Between them, they hold practically all national chess titles since 1970.

This is their way of protesting the uncertain state of Philippine chess under the present NCFP leadership, whose legitimacy is still pending before a court of law because the reigning officials were allegedly put into office by only 36 out of more than 500 voting clubs nationwide!