Is there a committee that will discuss this subject at the US Open? Will ideas like a format such as that used at Corus or Hastings be discussed?
I assume that it will largely be whatever the sponsor wants, like it has been for the last several years, aside from the horrible idea of qualifying the top five finishers from the U.S. Open. Who knows, that may have been the sponsor’s idea as well.
Alex Relyea
Does the sponsor deal directly with USCF Officers? Is there any review or ideas from any committees? I recall a post by chessoffice indicating that the St. Louis Chess Club planned to host the 2010 Senior Open there and at the same time as they host the 2010 US Championship, yet I see that the 2010 Senior Open is scheduled in Boca Raton in August 2010.
Not really sure what you are talking about. The chess club enters a bid, with projected prize money and the format they intend to use. Anyone else can do the same thing. Who ever wins the bid hosts the tournament. The format is not up for debate or discussion. The Chess Club, the ones fronting the money, are the committee, plain and simple.
If true, then that is a serious problem. The various formats during the last decade were quite different and sometime quite awful. Does $$$money$$$ alone buy the strongest tournament the USCF sanctions ? Do a few USCF Officers decide if the format is acceptable without any input from an appropriate committee or interested members? If so, this is unbelievable.
And how do you propose to do it otherwise? The U.S. Championship will not happen without a deep-pocketed donor. It’s reasonable to expect that if I’m giving that kind of money, I should be able to call the shots.
Alex Relyea
What “appropriate committee”? Except for a few appointed by the Delegates, USCF committees are creations of the EB and have no independent authority. Now, if you want to propose that the USCF refuse offered sponsorship and run the tournament in the format of its choice with a ~$10K prize fund, fine. But I doubt you’ll find much support for this from the players.
Hi everyone - this is Tony Rich - Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and host to the 2009 U.S. Championship. We submitted a bid to the USCF that followed the guidelines on “How to Bid on USCF Events”, which included our proposed dates, format, time controls, prize fund, hotel arrangements and other details pertinent to such an event.
According to the above-referenced document,
Also,
Therefore, it is important that the organizer is able to fulfill the terms of the bid they set forth. Likewise, it would be inappropriate at that point for the USCF to intervene or make changes to the agreement, as that may alter the organizer’s ability to run the event successfully.
I hope this helps clear things up. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly through the chess club website - http://www.saintlouischessclub.org
Thanks for your explanation. Did the Committee make a report at the U S Open during a Workshop or during the Board Meeting and was the Format for the 2010 presented to the delegates? Can you identify the Chair of this Committee and its members so that other USCF members and delegates can contact them and make suggestions for future events?
I was not present at the delegates meetings, so I can’t speak on their behalf. Also, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center worked directly with Bill Hall (as the guidelines outlined) to determine what the U.S. Championship would look like. We did not have any direct interaction with any committees from the USCF.
Having seen first-hand the exemplary work that the St. Louis Chess Club did last May, I’m really looking forward to the 2010 US Championship.
I have to admit having some trepidation over the plan to have the top 5 finishers in the US Open qualify for the 2010 US Championship, but in retrospect it worked out pretty good.
I concur completely that the St. Louis Chess Club did an excellent job. I am encouraged that the bidding guidelines indicate that a volunteer committee will review the bidding proposal. I think this is wise and this committee or sub-committee should be revealed and open to suggestions from delgates and members. Does such a committee exist on a formal basis or an informal basis and was it involved in designing the 2009 and 2010 US Championship? I ask this because several posters and a USCF Officer have indicated that the bidder has pretty much total control, especially if they can provide a sufficient prize fund.
I don’t know the answer to the question, as I am not involved in bids. If a committee is consulted, it would likely be the Top Players Committee, or whatever it’s called these days.
There’s a list of 2008-2009 committees at main.uschess.org/component/optio … temid,414/, though it needs to be updated for 2009-2010. Bear in mind that, with few exceptions, these committees are advisory only. They can recommend as much as they want, but it’s the EB that makes the decisions.
In the case of tournament awards, the final decision rests with the ED, not the Board. (And for good reason.)
I have doubts about both, but let’s not start that argument.
2008-2009 USCF Committees (updated 4/15/09) lists Greg Shahade as Chair, Susan Polgar as EB Liason and Jerry Nash and Walter Brown as Office Liasons.
I think Ruth Haring may be the EB liaison to that committee this year. They read off a list of committee chairs and liaisons in the Sunday evening open session, I don’t know who has a copy of it. I’m not sure if the Board has appointed a Secretary yet, either.
I’ll post this to BINFO after posting it here. These were the committee liason and chairs as discussed in Closed session on 8/9 and then announced in Open session later that evening. Some USCF office contacts removed as some of those were yet to be assigned:
Bill Hall was appointed Secretary (formal, for signing documents) and several others were being considered for that position as far as actual recording of meetings.
Audit - Randy Bauer (Joe Nanna)
Bylaws - Bill Goichberg (Winston/Nolan)
Election - Jim Berry (Mike Nolan)
Ethics - Jim Berry ( Judy)
LMA - Randy Bauer (Committee to name (Nanna)
Committee Assignments - Liason, ( Chair) and {Office}
Chess in Education - Mike Atkins (Buky, Eberhardt)
College Chess - Mike Atkins (Jim Stallings)
Correspondence - Bill Goichberg (Harold Stenzel) {Joan Dubois}
Cramer Awards - Jim Berry (Frank Brady)
Denker- Mike Atkins (Dewain Barber)
Polgar - TBA
Finance - Randy Bauer (Chuck Unruh) {Nanna}
Hall of Fame - Bill Goichberg (Harold Winston)
International Affairs - Ruth Haring (Mikhail Khordakovsky) {Walter Brown}
Military - Mike Atkins (Andres Hortillosa)
Outreach - Ruth Haring (Leiberman)
PPHBF Mgmt - Randy Bauer (John McCrary) {Nanna}
Publications - Ruth Haring (Jonathan Hilton) {Daniel Lucas}
Ratings - Bill Goichberg (Mark Glickman)
Rules - Mike Atkins (David Kuhns) {Walter Brown}
Scholastic - Mike Atkins (Mike Neitman/Steve Shutt) {Jerry Nash + Pat K. Smith}
Senior - Bill Goichberg (Hatherill)
States - Randy Bauer (Guy Hoffman)
Survey - Ruth Haring (Tony Pabon) {Mike Nolan}
Top Player - Ruth Haring (none at present)
TDCC - Mike Atkins (Tim Just) {Phil Smith}
US Open - Bill Goichberg ( Jerry Hanken ) Pat Knight-S
Women’s - Ruth Haring (Polly Wright) {Pat K Smith)
Hall of Records - Bill Goichberg (Steve Immitt)
A very insightful listing. In previous such lists, the Committee Chairs were usually listed first, followed by the Board liaisons (in parentheses).