FIDE elections 2010

When FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced the staging of the US$1-M Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup, one cannot help doubting his real intentions.

The doubt stems from the timing of the announcement, made just in time for the FIDE elections this coming September alongside the staging of the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty, Russia.

Simply put, the skepticism points to the possible motives of Ilyumzhinov to win the votes of the ASEAN chess federations, the Philippines included, to support his re-election campaign for another four-year term as FIDE president.

For me, however, I don't care whether or not Ilyumzhinov is using the announced US$1-M Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup only as a tool to win ASEAN votes. I see the issue from a different perspective.

To ride in that discourse - that is electing a FIDE president between Ilyumzhinov and other candidates such as GM Anatoly Karpov - is already playing the games of the present ruling parties. Positioning the issue only between Ilyumzhinov versus Karpov is an agenda that subordinates - and silences - the voices of the underrepresented in the world chess arena.

Aren't there any alternatives, particularly from Southeast Asia? To see ASEAN chess federation leaders playing the games of the dominant voices is very disappointing. The Philippine chess federation, for instance, has already expressed its support for the candidacy of Ilyumzhinov. Why not groom a possible ASEAN contender for the post instead, let's say NCFP President Prospero Pichay for the FIDE presidency? I'm not kidding.

And why not somebody from Africa? Why not challenge the power structure within FIDE?

Only six individuals were able to serve as FIDE president Since its inception in 1924. One of these six was a Filipino - in the name of the Filipino Florencio Campomanes, whose Ilyumzhinov's proposed Campomanes memorial cup is named after. Let's have a quick review:

FIDE Presidents

* 1924–1949 (25 years) Alexander Rueb
* 1949–1970 (21 years) Folke Rogard
* 1970–1978 (8 years) Max Euwe
* 1978–1982 (4 years) Friðrik Ólafsson
* 1982–1995 (13 years) Florencio Campomanes
* 1995–present (15 years) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov (as of 2010)

The underrepresented should unite their voices to set a new agenda. Only then can the motto of the FIDE be true: "Gens Una Sumus" (We are one family).