U.S. Chess Federation Hijinks - as per usual

After a long hard day working on various chess and other projects, housework, hiking to the supermarket and back lugging an extra heavy load because the Boy Scouts will be here on the 28th to collect food donations for local food shelters, and starting the clean-up of the front yard -- in short, a typical Saturday -- I'm in no condition for straining my brain tonight.  No heavy-duty lifting posts tonight for moi. 

I did get a laugh out of this at the U.S. Chess Federation website, that I read tonight:

There are fewer than two weeks to register as a USCF voting member in time to cast a ballot for the 2011 Executive Board Election. As of today only just under 7% of eligible USCF members have registered. Don't cut it close-make sure your voice is heard! Also feel free to pass the voting registration link, https://secure2.uschess.org/voter-registration.php to other USCF members.

Yeah, right. Like the U.S. Chess Federation REALLY wants it members to vote in the upcoming Executive Board election. Frigging NOT.

I posted about this "registration" requirement some months ago and bitched about it then, and I'm bitching about it again now. What a crock of crap! This is a chess organization vote - not a national referendum. It seems, however, that at some point in the not too distant past, perhaps as a result of the fall-out from the law suit debacle instituted by Sam Sloan shortly after the 2007 Executive Board election (rumor has it Mr. Sloan is threatening another suit in connection with the upcoming Executive Board election), the powers that be decided that it was just too easy for the usual 20% or so of USCF members who used to vote in EB elections to continue to do so; and so the Executive Board got a rule-change pushed through that imposes a REGISTRATION requirement before a member can exercise his or her right to vote.

(1) Voting rights used to be exercised by filling out a ballot that came wrapped around the Chess Life magazine.  You took the ballot off the magazine, filled it out, signed it, taped it shut, and mailed it to the independent auditors.  The auditors counted the votes and voila, we eventually heard about who was elected by how many votes. 
(2) Voting rights are now only exercisable if one REGISTERS online, evidently; since I do not get the magazine I don't know if there are other avenues published in the magazine that describe a process for REGISTERING to exercise my right to vote other than doing so online (what if one does not have a computer, what does one do then?).  Did the Executive Board eliminate the paper ballots altogether?

This takes Voter ID requirements that some far-right wingnuts in certain political parties in the states are trying to push through in an attempt to prevent "certain people" from voting for "liberals" (Heaven Forbid!) one step further because if you don't get the magazine, and you don't read the USCF website, you won't know about this REGISTRATION requirement and if you don't REGISTER by the arbitrarily imposed deadline, you won't be able to vote. Pretty smart of certain Chess Nazis, I must say.

Of course, since practically no one gets the Chess Life Magazine anymore (because the annual membership fee is reduced if you give up the magazine, so that's what most members do in order to save some $$), and most USCF voting-eligible members do not use the USCF website as their main source of chess news, that they can get faster at other well known chess websites visits the USCF website, HARDLY ANY ELIGIBLE VOTERS SEEM TO KNOW ABOUT THIS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

Just exactly what some chess politicians who control the USCF wanted. 
I usually stay away from chess politics because of the GAG ME factor being extremely high around chess politicians. I can't get within 100 yards of one without that gag reflex kicking in. Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Say, 50 yards. But I just had to write about this.  It's just too fricking ironic, the USCF website bemoaning the fact that only 7% of its eligible voting members have REGISTERED for the upcoming election, when the Executive Board went out of its way to make it more difficult for those same eligible members to exercise their right to vote!  A pox on all EB members. 

Now, darlings, I know I registered.  But I don't remember if I wrote down somewhere my log in and all that crap. Since I rarely visit the USCF website (I certainly do not visit to get up to date news of chess events, Heaven Forbid), I'll probably miss the voting date despite having registered.  Notice - the article says NOTHING about when (a date) a  REGISTERED member can actually vote!

I hear evil laughter in the background......

Additional Pay-Off?

An interesting little news article cropped up today, from themoscowtimes.com:

Ilyumzhinov Brother Hired
10 November 2010
Vyacheslav Ilyumzhinov, the elder brother of former Kalmykia leader Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has been appointed first deputy prime minister of the republic.

The decision was made by Kalmykia’s new leader, Alexei Orlov, and announced on his web site Monday. Orlov offered a government post to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in October, but the former leader, who had ruled the republic from 1993 to last month and also heads the World Chess Federation, declined. [Yes, Kirsan gets to turn down Orlov's offer and thereby save face, while keeping a well-paying position in the family...]

Vyacheslav Ilyumzhinov worked as his brother’s aide on ideology in the 1990s, was deputy governor of the Nenets autonomous district in the early 2000s, and has headed the board of directors of a company called SAR since 2006, RIA-Novosti reported.
(MT)

Is this an additional pay-off for Kirsan agreeing to step down from the governorship of Kalmykia in exchange for the Russians guaranteeing his re-election to head FIDE?  No doubt there is a wide range of opinions on the subject :)  In any event, the Man Who Talks To Aliens continues to run the world chess federation, which has a French name (Fédération Internationale des Échecs).  Two strikes already...  No wonder the best chessplayer in the world, Magnus Carlsen, decided to opt out of the FIDE championship cycle.  Har! 

"Time" on the Politics of the FIDE Presidential Election

I think this is as clear a description of the events surrounding the recent FIDE Presidential election as I've read anywhere online.  It is understandable even to those who know nothing about chess.  I believe Karl Rove gives lessons to the boys in the Kremlin.

Russia's Chess Feud: Checkmate, Kremlin
By Simon Shuster / Moscow, October 14, 2010

[Excerpted]

From the 1972 Cold War battle of Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, to the defection of some of the Soviet Union's greatest players to the West, chess has long been a proxy for international conflict, and a tool to project power. In Vladimir Putin's Russia, it seems, not much has changed.

This year, members of the creaky, chipped Central House of Chess in Moscow staged a mutiny against the Kremlin — one that saw two of the game's greatest legends in open conflict with the country's political elite. The coup ended in pathetic failure on Monday, but by the time it had run its course — which featured armed goons taking over the Chess House and talk of UFOs — the Kremlin showed that it cannot stomach even a marginal threat to its influence, not even when it comes to comes to the politics of chess.


The trouble started in the spring, when two former world chess champions and rivals, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, decided to join forces to run against the incumbent president of the game's international ruling body, which is known as FIDE. This irked the Russian government. Kasparov's political activism against Russian Prime Minister Putin in recent years has branded him an enemy of the state: He is banned from Russian politics, frequently arrested, and his projects tend to be harpooned by the Russian bureaucracy at every step. Aside from that, the Kremlin already has a loyal ally as FIDE president, and didn't much care to replace him.

For the past 15 years, FIDE has been ruled by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a Putin loyalist who governed the poor Russian republic of Kalmykia for 17 years before agreeing to step down last month. As a consolation prize, the Kremlin is widely thought to have promised him success in the FIDE elections. But Karpov and Kasparov (who served as Karpov's campaign manager and fundraiser) embarked on a globe-trotting campaign that made this promise difficult to keep. After visiting some 30 countries, the duo managed to recruit the support of chess federations in the United States, Canada and most of western Europe, appearing to split the world of chess along Cold War lines ahead of the FIDE vote last month.

Rest of article.

Chess Politics - Really Really Suck!

This headline says it all, from First Post:

Man abducted by aliens beats Karpov in chess vote
Controversy in Siberia as eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov wins battle to head governing body of chess [The election was held in conjunction with the Chess Olympiad being held in Mansky Kamsky, Siberia, not exactly a "must see" tourist destination]

By Jonathan Harwood
LAST UPDATED 3:36 PM, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
The world of chess has been thrown into chaos after former Soviet world champion Anatoly Karpov failed in his bid to become head of the sport's governing body, losing out to a multi-millionaire Russian businessman and politician who claims to have been abducted by aliens.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is the reigning head of Fide, the sport's governing body, retained the role he has held since 1995 after winning a poll of national federations 95-65. But the result was greeted with chaotic scenes as delegates shouted abuse at each other at their meeting in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

Ilyumzhinov has been accused of refusing to let Karpov's supporters address the meeting - even turning their microphones off - and using "bully-boy" tactics in the run-up to the vote. The result has infuriated many who are concerned about the future of chess under the leadership of the eccentric Russian, who was stripped of the leadership of Kalmykia, a small, oil-rich Buddhist region near the Caspian Sea earlier this year after claiming to have met aliens.

He has also introduced several controversial tournament rule changes and Malcolm Pein, the International Master who writes on chess for the Telegraph, said this month that Ilyumzhinov "has been the ruin of chess".

Karpov had the support of the English, French, German, Swiss, and US chess federations, but their influence was unable to sway the smaller nations who backed the incumbent. However, as many as 56 countries voted by proxy at the meeting. The Guardian claims that Zambia voted on behalf of Kenya, China for Burma and the UAE for Kuwait.

CJ de Mooi, the president of the English Chess Federation told the newspaper: "It was unbelievable. This was a farce of a vote. You wouldn't believe the blatant breaking of rules and Fide's written statutes. It's amazing. There wasn't even a pretence of fairness and free speech."

Ilyumzhinov hit the headlines earlier this year after he told Russian TV how aliens wearing yellow spacesuits had appeared on his balcony in 1997, taken him aboard their ship and flown him into space.

Shortly after that admission he lost his job as leader of Kalmykia after MPs raised concerns with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that he might pass state secrets on to the aliens that he claims to have met.

Despite his controversial views about extraterrestrials he retained the support of the Kremlin in his capacity as the head of Fide and was the official Russian candidate for the role. But that may have been down to the complex workings of Russian political favouritism. Karpov was backed in the campaign by his arch-rival from the 1980s Garry Kasparov, who is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.

Since winning the vote, Ilyumzhinov has offered Karpov the vice-presidency of the federation, but after accusing his rival of incompetence and corruption during the campaign and questioning his sanity, it seems unlikely Karpov will accept the offer.

United States Chess Federation: 2009 Elections

Hola darlings! I've been getting these little green postcards in the mail the past few months from the USCF reminding me that my USCF adult membership will soon be expiring and to hurry and renew today at a rate of only $42. Hmmm, seems the last time I remember renewing it was $39 on a special sale price. Oh well - A little bit of history: I first joined the USCF in 1999 under the mistaken belief that I might have to be a member of a chess federation recognized by FIDE in order to be able to view the World Chess Championship that was taking place that year in August at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Imagine my shock and horror when the lovely young lady at the table collecting fees for entrance from spectators not only did NOT ask to see my chess federation ID card, she held my State of Wisconsin non-drivers license ID hostage for headphones so I could listen to GM commentary about the games! If I returned the headphones I got my ID back. Oh my! I no longer remember - I think there may have a small fee tendered as well - $5? Well, it broke down to less than $1 an hour as I sat, day after day, through six and more hours of watching this game and that, as the players knocked each other out, one by one, listening to the commentary that, for the most part, I did not understand. I do remember that oftentimes the pieces on the projected playing boards froze in place for hours on end... This was my introduction to the world of high-stakes international chess, such as it existed in August, 1999. Darlings, after that experience, Ms. Naivite' realized she did not have to be a member of any chess federation in order to either attend a game as a spectator or to report on an event and be taken seriously (or not). And thus I've continued down until today... Okay - back to the USCF elections. In 2007, shortly after Goddesschess established this blog, I experienced my very first online USCF Executive Board election and was introduced into the world of chess politics. That is not a topic on which I wish to spend much time. However, the future direction of the USCF is something in which I take an interest, since I have to pay every year to be a member and I'd like to know where my money is being spent. The USCF operates like the Federal government under George W. Bush for the past 8 years - no accountability whatsoever until the taxpayers finally had it up their earlobes and decisively voted for a change in direction. But the USCF doesn't have the leeway of the Federal Government - it has by-laws that control how it is supposed to operate and a membership to which it is accountable. Perhaps a sea-change is in the air... So, USCF, do not despair. I will be renewing my membership for 2009 and you'll be getting my $42 for another year, only because I wish to vote in the upcoming election. To that end, I will do the best I can to find information and present it here about each and every one of the people who are running for positions on the USCF Executive Board for 4-years seats. It probably won't be an exhaustive survey because there's so much more interesting stuff on which to blog! But I'll try to hit the highlights - or lowlights - as they appear to yours truly.

USCF Shows Some Stones

Well, this is rather ironic given the USCF's own history, I can't stop snickering. But Hooray for the USCF showing some stones in standing up for GM Gata Kamsky's rights in the on-again/off-again match with GM Veselin Topolov of Bulgaria. FIDE made a public declaration on June 1, 2008 published at its official website and at numerous chess websites and blogs that its President guaranteed a $750,000 prize fund for the match to be held in Lvov, Ukraine, which is presently scheduled to start near the end of this month. The organizer failed to come up with the money and FIDE has now requested an offer from the Bulgarian Chess Federation of $300,000 - $250,000 for prize money and $50,000 for FIDE - why FIDE deserves even a penny under the circumstances is unclear and simply outrageous. Fearless Leader Kirsan has publicly reneged on his guarantee of the Lvov prize fund of $750,000!!! Altogether now, can you say S-C-H-M-U-C-K? What part of the concept of guarantee does he not understand? It's clear he doesn't understand anything about honoring his word. Bill Goichberg, President of the USCF, in an open letter to Kirsan, is rightly taking him to task for reneging on his publicly-stated promise. Kirsan should front the money so that the match can go on as scheduled, in Lvov. Shame, shame on Kirsan. How CAN this man be in control of FIDE? He is a walking, talking disaster and embarrassment to the world! No lie is too blatant, no promise is too large or small not to keep, he continues to rape chess for his and his cronies' own personal gain - and he (and they) get away with it, laughing all the way to the bank. Geez.

Chess Politics in Pakistan

When it comes to disfunctional chess federations, the USCF has plenty of company. Here's an interesting article about the Pakistan Chess Federation and the Sindh Chess Federation (a member federation of CFP). I'm happy to read that Pakistan selected teams for the Olympiad - I hope they raise enough money to actually get there! Sindh chess body media briefing turns sour Friday, November 07, 2008 By Syed Khalid Mahmood KARACHI: The media briefing of the Sindh Chess Association (SCA) meant to introduce the members of the national men and women squad for the 38th Chess Olympiad, to be held later this month in Dresden, Germany, turned sour on more than one count. The fiery speech of one of the officials, Mohammad Wasif, in which he openly ridiculed the policies of the Chess Federation of Pakistan (CFP) caught the media by surprise because the SCA was itself one of the affiliated units of the federation. The men squad comprises National Masters Wahid Hussain (Hyderabad), Aamir Karim (Lahore), Mohammad Waqar (Karachi), Khalil-ur-Rahman Butt (Lahore) and Hasib Ahmed (Karachi). All the five members of the women team, Zenobia, Nida Shiraz, Sharjeela Kiran, Arsalana Tanvir and Sabica Shiraz, belong to Karachi. The SCA office-bearers could not give a convincing answer when questioned if the provincial body was sending the national men and women squad for the 38th Chess Olympiad on behalf of the federation. It was revealed that the SCA, after having failed to get any kind of assistance from the CFP, had approached various government and private organisations for financial support by means of sponsorship.“We have been assured financial support from the Government of Sindh, the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) as well as a few commercial establishments. Their support will enable us to cover a part of the costs to be incurred in sending the men and women squads for the Olympiad,” Mohammad Aslam, Secretary SCA, stated. He did not disclose the amount they were expected to raise for this event through sponsorship. Neither did he deem it proper to reveal the total amount needed to send the squads to Germany. When asked specifically, he said around Rupees one lac would be needed for each participant. Aslam, who is also the Vice President of the CFP, clarified that the SCA had differences with the federation only in the matter pertaining to the women squad while all was well as far as the selection of the men team was concerned. He added that the reigning national champion Mahmood Ahmed Lodhi, an International Master, had declared himself unavailable for the Olympiad due to personal reasons.

2007 U.S. Championship-4

Happy Sunday everyone. It's a beautiful day here today - the sun is out, it is about 65 degrees and very breezy, but it is very warm in the sun if you are wearing a black sweatshirt (which I am). I am taking a short break from my reading session on the deck (Susan Polgar's "Breaking Through"), after having done several loads of laundry and cutting and trimming the front lawn. The back yard looks horrid and needs another raking and a good cut, but that will have to wait another day :)

I won’t give you the back-story of how I got there, but earlier today I had to read Mr. Bill Goichberg’s website (where he is actively endorsing some candiates for the USCF Executive Board slots that will be voted on next month - how can the President of the USCF do such a thing? Isn't that a conflict of interest to actively endorse candidates?) in order to learn this news about the 2007 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship:

Jim and Frank have also submitted a very good bid to host the US Women's Championship in Stillwater.

What? Why hasn’t this news been posted at the USCF website so that everyone can know the current status of the event? What on earth is going on?

I couldn’t even FIND an announcement anywhere at the USCF website that bids are being requested for the 2007 Women’s Championship! So now there’s a bid by the Messrs. Berry (the "Jim and Frank" referred to) – well, I’m glad of that but – honestly, folks, this is NOT the way to run a business. At least, not in the United States. Who ARE these people running the USCF anyway? Geez!

So – what are the particulars for the bid? When and where? How many players? What kind of prize structure? Don’t the members who pays dues to support the USCF have a right to know the answers to these fundamental questions? After all – it could be your friend, daughter, wife, sister, cousin or mother playing in this event, or one like it. So what’s going on – that’s what I want to know.

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE 2007 UNITED STATES WOMEN’S CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP.

Can anyone out there give me (and the rest of women's chess fans who are also interested) some solid information?