The Birth of the NCFP

The second instalment in Bobby Ang's "Campo and I" is out. You can read it in Monday's edition of Business World paper in the Philippines. Better move fast before it gets archived, after which I think you'd have to pay for the access.

I must say, I was expecting a second part that would be packed full of exciting details. As it turned out, the whole saga seemed like it was nothing more than a clash of personalities. To be fair, though, a two-part series can hardly do justice to a story that must surely have unfolded over many years.

Bobby Ang on Campomanes:

Campo once said that he regretted not having a chance to destroy my life completely. He couldn’t, of course, for unlike many of the unfortunate souls who came before me, chess was not a source of income for me. When I quit chess administration I went to work in the Equitable Card Network and found happiness there.

That is Campo -- he brings you up and oftentimes himself finds it necessary to destroy you. Taras Bulba. But you know what? It did not end so pleasantly, but those four years from 1998 to 2001 when we were closely working together to better the chess life in the country, were the best years of my life, and I owe them to Campo.

If you're lucky enough to be on Bobby's email list, you might actually get to read more about all this courtesy of his old articles from way back. He's even sent out a copy of the rare "Chess Philippines" magazine that set out the "bad things" that the then PCF was doing.