English Chess Forum

This doesn't seem to have otherwise made it on to this board. The ECF website carries an obituary of former FIDE president Florencio Campomanes.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=3779#more-3779

I see that one of Raymondo's mates has distinguished himself on chessgames.com. Not

You mean Schiller?

I'm not sure that I'd have expressed myself quite how he did, nor do I think gratuitously speaking ill of the dead is a tremendously good thing to do but nevertheless I'm not sure the slate should be wiped clean and a collective amnesia take hold just because somebody snuffs it.

Jonathan Bryant wrote:You mean Schiller?

I'm not sure that I'd have expressed myself quite how he did, nor do I think gratuitously speaking ill of the dead is a tremendously good thing to do but nevertheless I'm not sure the slate should be wiped clean and a collective amnesia take hold just because somebody snuffs it.

I do indeed mean him

And no, I don't think FC should be whitewashed at all. Yes, he was a Marcos crony - and yes, he was corrupt. He also took some questionable decisions during his time in charge of FIDE - though I strongly believe that the reality of the 1984-5 KvK match and its termination, for instance, was a long way removed from the ultra-simplistic, cartoon character version which Raymondo and his pals (such as the one mentioned above) have so cynically and shamelessly perpetuated

Despite all that, he genuinely loved chess and did a great deal of good for the game. The contrast with the present incumbent is all too obvious - and to compare FC to Hitler or Stalin, as Schiller did, is both utterly lacking proportion and, indeed, belittles the victims of those monsters

I had the pleasure of meeting Campomanes at the Dubai Olympiad in 1986, where I was working on the bulletins with Hugh Myers, Bob Wade and Les Blackstock. I spent many hours playing blitz with him, and found him fatally addicted to a dodgy Modern setup with black. I quickly got a plus score, and yet he would not let me go to sleep until he had evened the score.... or should I say he kept playing until I was so tired.... someone told me he was an IM after the first session. Campo was staying in the most enormous suite at the top of the Hilton (I think) and had his own personal staff, including a masseuse. I remember thinking - this chess organising lark pays well I also met a lot of the figures in FIDE today, such as Casto Abundo and Makropoulos. Another world!

Matt Mackenzie wrote:Despite all that, he genuinely loved chess and did a great deal of good for the game. The contrast with the present incumbent is all too obvious - and to compare FC to Hitler or Stalin, as Schiller did, is both utterly lacking proportion and, indeed, belittles the victims of those monsters

Nikolai Krylenko really loved chess too. I'm not comparing Campomanes to Old Nik (or Hitler or Stalin or even the current goon for that matter)and don't get me wrong I'm certainly no fan of Eric Schiller, but this 'he really loved chess' argument is a bit weak. This remains the case even if he actually did love the game and/or did a lot of good for chess (i'm happy to take your word on that).

Talking of really good chess books - as we were on an other thread - Hans Ree has a really good piece on how Campomanes came to leave FIDE in The Human Comedy of Chess.

Adam Raoof wrote:Campo was staying in the most enormous suite at the top of the Hilton (I think) and had his own personal staff, including a masseuse. I remember thinking - this chess organising lark pays well

I assume running the rapidplays gives you the same benefits Adam?

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Adam Raoof wrote:Campo was staying in the most enormous suite at the top of the Hilton (I think) and had his own personal staff, including a masseuse. I remember thinking - this chess organising lark pays well

I assume running the rapidplays gives you the same benefits Adam?

No, but the ECF post is looking promising on that front

Yeah, I've got Ree's book and vaguely recall reading that - I fully accept (as said above) he was no saint, far from it

But it isn't just me saying the positive stuff too - just about everybody who knew him (save the inveterate haters like RK & ES) agrees on that. We can be sure also that were the present incumbent to suddenly snuff it, few if any would be saying those things

(oh and Adam, I don't think he ever got the IM title - though today he might have had a chance; he did play in several Olympiads, inter alia)