MANILA, Philippines - Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino was elected secretary-general of the World Chess Federation, dislodging long-time official Ignatius Leong of Singapore during the FIDE elections last Monday in Tromso, Norway, which is hosting the 41st Chess Olympiad.
The mayor of Tagaytay City from 2004 to 2013 before being elected to congress in Cavite’s seventh district, Tolentino was in the ticket of incumbent Fide president Kirzan Ilyumzhinov, who defeated former world champion Garry Kasparov, 110-61, in the secret balloting.
Tolentino, the president of Asian Zone 3.3 and sec-gen of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, is also the president of PhilCycling and has hosted several international events in Tagaytay.
Aside from Tolentino, other members of Team Ilyumzhinov which swept the polls were Georgios Makropoulos, who remained deputy president, Aguinaldo Jaime (vice president), Martha Fierro Baquero (vice president) and Adrial Siegel (treasurer).
According to Tolentino, he will relinquish the Asian Zone 3.3 presidency in favor of the Vietnam Chess Federation, when his term as Fide Secretary General starts.
NCFP chairman/president Prospero “Butch” Pichay, however, failed to dislodge Sheik Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nehyan from the Asian Chess Federation presidency.