RP's first FIDE president Campomanes dies at 83

Florencio Campomanes, the man responsible for putting the Philippines in the chess world map, is dead. Campomanes, who became the first Filipino -- and Asian for that matter – to become the head of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), died of prostate cancer at around 1:30 p.m. Monday at Iggy’s Inn in Baguio City. He was 83. Known for turning things around in Philippine chess, Campomanes or known as Pocamps to his dear friends, shook the world by securing the FIDE presidency as an underdog in 1982 in Lucerne, Switzerland. “He moved on peacefully, and with quiet gentleness all around him," said Des Bautista, who built the Iggy’s Inn with wife, Auring. “He was a giant in Philippine sports and his passing created a void that will be hard to fill in." Bautista and Campomanes were bosom buddies dating back the 1960s. “I lost a man who was more than a brother to me," said Bautista. “And, if I may add, I also lost a poker mate, whose passion for and skills in the card game are rivaled only by his love for and deft-laden moves in chess." In his early years, Campomanes was a national chess master, who represented the country in major international events. He was the RP chess squad skipper. He also worked as a professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He also became a journalist, writing columns for the old Manila Times and the defunct Daily Express while also served as media reporter, covering the Cuba World Chess Championship during the 1960s, with Carlos Benitez, Renato Naranja and Rodolfo Tan Cardoso as his teammates. During his pre-FIDE days, he produced the country and Asia’s first grandmaster – Eugene Torre – in 1973 while also responsible for staging the 1978 World Chess Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Victor Korchnoi. Campomanes would also soon bring to the country the world’s top grandmasters from Europe and the United States, among them include Tigran Petrosyan, Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer. His election as president in 1982 opened the doors for non-chess nations to join FIDE-sanctioned events. He courted countries from Asia to Africa, the Arab world to South America through his battlecry, “One World Through Chess." In 2009, the University of Baguio awarded him a doctorate in humanities, honoris causa. At the time of his death, Campomanes was the president emeritus of FIDE. - RCJ, GMANews.TV