English Chess Forum

ΙΑ Casto Abundo (1950-2025).

Executive Director of the Asian Chess Federation

The obituary fails to say which country in Asia he was from.

Slightly different obituary here:

https://www.fide.com/casto-abundo-1950-2025/

he served as FIDE Secretary from 1988 to 1990. His exceptional organizational skills were demonstrated as director and Chief Arbiter at major events, including the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila, the 2000 World Championship, and the 2001 World Cup.

None of this was mentioned in the obituary from the FIDE Arbiters' Commission!

He was from the Philippines (or at least his FIDE record is marked with that affiliation).

Also a fuller obituary here:

https://arbiters.fide.com/news/10569

Mr. Abundo’s journey in chess officiating began unexpectedly during his university years. While competing in the preliminary stage of the Philippine Chess Championship, he took an early interest in the Swiss System and created his own pairing cards to anticipate his next opponents.

Tragically, he passed away in the middle of conducting his first IA Certification Seminar while working to create the best possible educational materials.

Mr. Abundo will be remembered with deep respect and gratitude by colleagues, players, and federations around the world.

by Mehrdad Pahlevanzedah

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 11, 2025 4:37 pm

Tragically, he passed away in the middle of conducting his first IA Certification Seminar while working to create the best possible educational materials.

It was to have been the first time I worked directly with Casto, an experience unfortunately cut short. The situation was made more difficult by the fact that he had requested the seminar and many of its participants were from his part of the world. He had also asked specifically to work with me, which I regard as an honour.

We had agreed that he was going to do much of the lecturing on day 3 of the seminar and it was surprising when we couldn't make contact with him. It was good to work with him even for that relatively short period and to hear some of his arbiting anecdotes.

He will certainly be missed.

I live in New Zealand and play a lot in Asia, the continent NZ belongs to, chesswise. Casto Abundo - Toti - will be sorely missed here. He was always involved, always finding ways to promote chess in Asia with seminars and events, always smiling, always taking the time to greet people and make us feel welcome (which is very much appreciated, when you are the only representative of your country, alone and a long way from home!). Even when he couldn't appear personally at an event, you'd find he was heavily involved with support for it, as part of his work within the Asian Chess Federation.
RIP Toti.