Question:
Why is Yun Fan playing in the U.S. Women’s Championship coming up soon? She is a college student from China and has been playing in the U.S. for less than one year. Also, her rating at the time of the invitations was 2201 (enough to beat out Abby Marshall for the last spot based on rating) but was only one event past provisional at that time (and has since fallen to 2125).
Yun Fan’s FIDE federation is listed as USA (her FIDE rating is also based only on a few games), but it was my understanding that a player after switching federations has to be playing in the USA for 3 years before being eligible for such events? Even if that has been reduced to only one year, it doesn’t seem she qualifies as her first USCF tournament listed in the MSA was in November 2008.
I know two top women players who have questioned why she is eligible and why Abby Marshall is not playing instead.
Can anyone explain what the rules are now and why Yun Fan is eligible?
Apparently it is too late to do anything about it, but I think the question needs to be answered.
Someone else will have to speak to the current regulations, but 1) In the first place, I’m pretty sure the wording is “playing for the U.S.,” not “playing in the U.S.” In other words, the clock starts when the FIDE registration is changed, not when the individual plays in a tournament. 2) The fact that her rating was “one tournament past provisional” means that it was established – by definition. And 3) there has to be some cutoff for invitational rating.
Revised: The invitational and residence criteria, dated 2-09, are posted under “About USCF,” but given the current web site design linking to it is a pain. Here’s the relevant portion:
So, since Yun Fan was born in 1989 (supposedly, according to what China submitted to FIDE), it is possible she was “under 20” at the time of the invitations and meets the criteria of rule number one quoted above, which allows automatic and immediate acceptance of their change of federation to USA? This is ridiculous. Anyone with a sufficiently high rating who is under age 20 is essentially eligible to play in the U.S. Championship or U.S. Women’s Championship ahead of U.S. citizens or qualified residents? All they have to do is fill out a change-of-federation form and show proof of enrollment in a U.S. school? No waiting period? Can that really be or am I reading that wrong?
This is very unfair to other far more qualified players who have earned this privilege, such as Abby Marshall and others. It’s a travesty. I’d still like to see someone at the USCF office or the championship organizing committee comment on this. It doesn’t seem possible to justify this policy.
I just don’t see the unfairness. If her rating is higher, she is more deserving of the invitation. This sounds like nativism to me. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but applying it across the board would eliminate an awful lot of players in the U.S. Championship. I do agree that the residency rules are unduly favorable to younger players, but that’s another matter. A debate about the propriety of giving special treatment to players based on age belongs on a different thread.
It’s remarkable that her rating peaked just high enough to get the invitation, then immediately headed back down. Maybe things worked out this way because of luck. We will see if she can hold her own in the competition.
Not wanting to beat a dead horse, but this question of eligibility of Yun Fan is important for the future. Here is some new info from the FIDE website listing “transfers” of federations: http://ratings.fide.com/fedchange.phtml?year=2009
8603731 Fan, Yun USA CHN 2009-04-28 2009-04-25
Last FIDE event: World Youth Championship 2007
Citizenship: CHN
Date of eligibility to participate
in the FIDE events under the new flag 2010-02-25
Transfer fee Euro 325
Date starting from which a player
can represent the new federation fee free 2012-04-25
She notified FIDE to change federations in late April this year. She is not eligible to play under the new flag in FIDE events until next year. And yet somehow just a few months after switching she is already playing in the U.S. Women’s Championship, which is a FIDE qualifying event for the World Women’s championship this year?
Again I ask, what are the rules for this, and what is the justification for her being eligible? Would someone at the USCF or the organizer care to answer? Why is a recently-arrived foreign player accepted immediately with no waiting period? It is a shame that she was favored over a player like Abby Marshall who has earned an invitation far more.
Hasn’t this already been asked and answered? The USCF residency requirements were quoted above. Specifically:
She’s eligible to play but may not be eligible to qualify for the World championship cycle.
It is certainly possible to question the wisdom of these special rules for younger players, but I can’t see the slightest basis for disputing the fact that Yun Fan qualified.
So, I guess even though it is a FIDE zonal event it is not considered a FIDE tournament.
Yes, I’m mainly questioning this rule which seems to allow anyone in the world under the age of 20 to be eligible to play in a U.S. Championship. What is the justification for it? I’d still like to know what the rationale is. Considering how Abby Marshall was done a big disservice by this rule, and others will be in the future, I think it should be changed.
If these students return to their home countries after their education or practical training (that is the presumption under which they probably obtained their student visas) we would be giving experience to foreign players not our own.
That isn’t “nativism” in the backward-looking sense (where were you born?) It is forward-looking (the legal presumption is that you are temporary here.)
I’m familiar with the concept. It was quite popular with certain defunct totalitarian states, and I believe it’s still alive in some third-world nations. Personally, I find it hard to distinguish from peonage. However, now we are drifting into real-world political questions not really relevant to the USCF.
The USCF-relevant question is, who should be able to compete in the U.S. Championship(s)? It’s hardly a new argument; I assume you recall the sound and fury over Tony Miles. One reason I’m unimpressed by such things is that the residency rules have been public for a long time. No one objects until his own ox is gored.
That’s completely irrelevant to the matter under discussion. The question is, are players “enserfed” to their nations/chess federations? Should they be required to, well, indenture themselves to the USCF in return for an invitation? Any “residency” rule is inheretly arbitrary. If the USCF wanted to, it could decree that only, say, native-born citizens or residents for more than 20 years could be invited to the U.S. Championship. You or Tom are certainly free to advocate for such a rule, but setting a rule after you know who it will qualify is not an approach I admire.
(My first draft had another paragraph responding to your general point, but that’s real-world politics and doesn’t belong here. Note that silence does not equal assent.)
I have no special preference between Abby Marshall and Yun Fan. I don’t know either of them. Nor am I seeking to “enserf” anyone. But neither is the “US Championship” open to anyone in the world, otherwise maybe we would call it a “World Championship”.
For whatever it’s worth, Maine, up until this year (not sure about next year) has had a closed swiss to determine its state champion. Players eligible are those whose residence is Maine or college students in Maine or military personnel stationed in Maine. Under these conditions, Yun Fan would be eligible.
Tom,
I agree with the point of order concerning the rule you bring. And certainly agree as far as Abby Marshall is concerned.
But as far as playing strength( Ratings). I remember some questioning, the U.S. Men’s Championships in Stillwater, and Tulsa. With the “locals” that received an invitation. (Albeit I understand Frank’s reasoning also).
I also remember Fpawn, rising some questions about Junior Players which were higher rated not being invited to certain Tournaments. Which I felt he had just concerns.
In away, I sort of like the idea, that the persons putting up the money, have “somewhat” of a say, in who they can invite to fill a position or two. Just a thought.
By the way, keep up the “great” work you have been doing in Tulsa. All Oklahoma Chess Players owe you a debt of gratitude. Thanks.
The only reason this controversy came up is because the organizers chose to invite all ten players strictly by rating. (Technically, the defending champion was seeded, but she was among the top rated.) The stated reason is fairness.
While this approach certainly eliminates bias and politics from the invitation process, it is not necessarily fairer. Ratings fluctuate from list to list, and players miss out literally by a couple of points. Sometimes a tournament misses a cutoff when the TD is slow to submit it. And rising stars (we saw three in the overall US Championship) may not yet have reached the minimum threshold, even if their results are strong enough.
I do not wish to tell the CCSCSL organizers what to do. We should all be grateful to them for stepping up to bat. I trust that they are reading the commentary in cyberspace and will take the different point of views under advisement, assuming they support this event for future years.
OK, but what do you suggest instead? The USCF used to go to great lengths to set up a formula averaging peak, current, and FIDE ratings to avoid just that. It was clunky, but it worked reasonably well. If you’re suggesting some sort of organizer discretion – i.e. a selection committee – well, that’s been tried several times and always thrown out soon after. It’s inherently subjective, and fair only in the minds of whatever soi-disant “experts” get to make the decision.
I spoke with Abby and her father yesterday to get their feelings about this issue. While she was upset about not getting an invitation ( who wouldn’t want to be invited to play in a US Championship), she was not planning to play. With senior year obligations of high school and planning to play in the World Youth, the Women’s Championship simply wasn’t possible. A quote from her is:
So it isn’t an issue or scandal from Abby’s perspective.
Some of the rules concerning federation association should probably be revisted at least.