Tweet
Re: Former FIDE President Florencio Campomanes has died at the age of 83.
When it comes to Campo, just check the facts. Sure, he was a lifelong chess organizer, but a high proportion of what he did turned out to have serious problems, and long-running negative consequences for chess.
Campo's connection to the money and influence of Filipino President / Dictator Ferdinand Marcos proved to be his ticket to the top. Campo became a power in Filipino chess, then expanded his influence to the rest of Asia. Major problems with the 1978 World Championship match at Baguio, between GMs Karpov and Korchnoi, was the first time the Western world got a real look at Campo, who was the lead organizer of that match. He rode that to a winning campaign as FIDE President in 1982, defeating the incumbent, well-liked Icelandic GM Fridrik Olafsson. I've often wondered what would have happened with world chess if GM Olafsson had managed re-election. We didn't have to wait long for Campo's next disaster: the farcical 1983 cancellation of two Candidates' matches, originally forfeiting two Soviet Candidates, GMs Smyslov and Kasparov, under circumstances which have never been properly explained, led to a major crisis in the chess world. The matches were eventually rescheduled for later in 1983. Less than two years later, the abrupt non-decision in the first Karpov vs Kasparov match made the 1983 problems seem small in comparison. Events from 1985 led to a series of matches between the two K's, lasting through 1990, and smelling of favouritism towards Karpov at nearly every turn. Then, in 1993, a flawed bidding process for the Kasparov title match with GM Short led to a split from FIDE, and a World Championship match run outside the auspices of FIDE. Two streams of world champions, and two conflicting cycles, were the outcomes, and that took another period of more than a decade to resolve. Some true contenders, such as GM Shirov, were permanently disabled in their championship ambitions. Toss in fraudulent financial problems with the 1992 Manila Olympiad, run in Campo's home country with him in a lead role, and you have two decades of incompetence in chess leadership at the top of FIDE. No other sports federation in the world during that period had such a catastrophic run of blunders.
Sure, Hal Bond knew Campo, and considered him his friend. Had Campo ever been my friend, I would have found a new friend.
When it comes to Campo, just check the facts. Sure, he was a lifelong chess organizer, but a high proportion of what he did turned out to have serious problems, and long-running negative consequences for chess.
Campo's connection to the money and influence of Filipino President / Dictator Ferdinand Marcos proved to be his ticket to the top. Campo became a power in Filipino chess, then expanded his influence to the rest of Asia. Major problems with the 1978 World Championship match at Baguio, between GMs Karpov and Korchnoi, was the first time the Western world got a real look at Campo, who was the lead organizer of that match. He rode that to a winning campaign as FIDE President in 1982, defeating the incumbent, well-liked Icelandic GM Fridrik Olafsson. I've often wondered what would have happened with world chess if GM Olafsson had managed re-election. We didn't have to wait long for Campo's next disaster: the farcical 1983 cancellation of two Candidates' matches, originally forfeiting two Soviet Candidates, GMs Smyslov and Kasparov, under circumstances which have never been properly explained, led to a major crisis in the chess world. The matches were eventually rescheduled for later in 1983. Less than two years later, the abrupt non-decision in the first Karpov vs Kasparov match made the 1983 problems seem small in comparison. Events from 1985 led to a series of matches between the two K's, lasting through 1990, and smelling of favouritism towards Karpov at nearly every turn. Then, in 1993, a flawed bidding process for the Kasparov title match with GM Short led to a split from FIDE, and a World Championship match run outside the auspices of FIDE. Two streams of world champions, and two conflicting cycles, were the outcomes, and that took another period of more than a decade to resolve. Some true contenders, such as GM Shirov, were permanently disabled in their championship ambitions. Toss in fraudulent financial problems with the 1992 Manila Olympiad, run in Campo's home country with him in a lead role, and you have two decades of incompetence in chess leadership at the top of FIDE. No other sports federation in the world during that period had such a catastrophic run of blunders.
Sure, Hal Bond knew Campo, and considered him his friend. Had Campo ever been my friend, I would have found a new friend.
Comment