Since I announced my candidacy for the USCF Executive Board, my life has been turned upside down. It is one thing I would not recommend my worst enemy to do. I am being harassed, threatened, insulted and attacked just about every single day. And that is a good day.
I would like to thank the countless of you who called me, emailed me and posted supporting messages. I really appreciate it. This election is not about me. Believe me, volunteering 4 years of my time to be treated like a caged animal is not something anyone would look forward to. But I made my decision to run because I had to. I had no choice. I cannot stand looking in from the outside and see what is being done to our sport. It is disheartening to me.
I have achieved everything I set out to do and more in chess. I could walk away from this sport and be proud and content. But I cannot. I owe it to chess, the sport that gave me so much in the past 34 years. I owe it to all the people who have supported me over the years. I owe it to the countless parents I met, people who sacrificed so much to give valuable opportunities to their children. I owe it to the thousands of players I faced or made acquaintance with over the years. I owe it to my children as a chess Mom. I cannot leave seeing the current state of the USCF. I will fight for its welfare and integrity with every ounce of energy that I have.
I have been bombarded with calls, emails and posts in the past 24-48 hours from friends and supporters, expressing their anger and outraged with the recent post card and email that they received from the USCF President Bill Goichberg and Continental Chess Association. I understand that the message was quite insulting and demeaning. It is disappointing. I understand that every tactic is being used by some people to win this election.
However, I urge all of you to show respect to Mr. Goichberg. He has done a lot for US Chess and the USCF over the years. Hatred and animosity will not help the USCF. It will only further divide the membership and further weakens this federation. I ask you to rise above them. We will address the issues while they deal with politics. We have a strong vision while they are still seeking for the light at the end of the tunnel. We will win because we are more qualified, more passionate and more energetic, and not because we can scream louder or destroy more.
If we do not do things differently, we would just be joining their path of failure and destruction year after year. Let’s show them our voice with our votes and not insults. Let’s unite and do the right things for the sake of US Chess and the USCF. Thank you for your support and thank you for doing the right things. Please feel free to check out my US Chess discussion blog at www.uschess.blogspot.com.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Susan, you truly show class and dignity. This is what we need, leadership. You have my vote and so does your team. Thank you.
You’re right. We shouldn’t stoop to their level even though I’m very angry to receive this. This is an abuse of my privacy.
Estimados Amigos del Ajedrez,
Querría preguntar todo nuestro amigos que hablan español para votar para Susan Polgar y para el resto de su equipo. Con su voto, usted expresará un cambio del estatu quo. La mayoría de las personas son cansadas ese ajedrez no ha cambiado en los últimos 20 años. Susan hace synergize la federación del ajedrez. Vote por favor para ella y gracias para su apoyo.
Susan I’m afraid even a small federation such as Chess Scotland suffers from similar attacks of character and infighting as can be seen if you read the notice board posts.
Chess Scotland Noticeboard
There should be no peace until Susan and her gang drop out of the election. Our Prez Bill Goichberg and Sam Sloan have spoken. There should be no Susan Polgar or Paul Truong in the USCF. They’re bad for chess and we don’t want them. I’ll vote with Bill’s recommendation: Don Schultz, Joe Lux, Stephen Jones and Jim Berry.
It does raise some very troubling questions. Where did Goichberg get the mailing list to mail the postcards? From the USCF or from CCA? If from the USCF, is that a permissible use of the mailing list? If from CCA, by registering in one of his tournaments, did I agree to receive campaign literature? How much money did his mailing cost and where did he get the funds? (Maybe chess promoting is more lucrative than any of us thought.) Also, considering that he is not running for office himself, it is at best unseemly for him to be injecting himself into the campaign this way. I had nothing against him before (though I know that others grumble about the high entrance fees at his tournaments and the one tournament I did play in was not very well organized) but this tactic puts him in a very poor light in my book. I also wonder how he is going to handle the inevitable situation of serving on the board with two people who he has put down (unfairly and inappropriately). Whether he likes it or acknowledges it or not, GM Polgar has a huge fan base among chess players in this country and I think she will be elected despite his desperate campaign tactics. I think it will backfire and end up mobilizing her base and turning his (to the extent he has one) off.
Goichberg is the reason why Sam Sloan was elected. He’s very political. He did bad things to his political opponents and when he and his slate won in 2005, they decided to get back at him by endorsing and campaigning for Sam Sloan as a revenge in 2006. So the entire USCF has to suffer because of Bill and his chess politics. His political feud went back to 20-30 years ago.
It’s a conflict of interest to run a multimillion dollar for profit company Continental Chess Association and a non-profit USCF. I haven’t made up my mind about who to vote for but definitely not anyone he recommended because they’ll end up carrying out his agenda.
First, when is Goichberg next up for re-election? Maybe people who were turned off by his direct mail/e-mail campaign tactics should start looking for candidates? Or better yet, support efforts by others to organize chess tournaments. Second, I have to say that the posts that discuss the national/ethnic origins of the candidates should be deleted by the moderator. I think they cross the line and our country is already embroiled in a heated debate about immigration. I would hate to drag that debate (or the war for that matter) into the chess community.
Thank you for your wonderful attitude Susan! Your integrity, class, dignity, and passion makes me want to see you working to improve the USCF.
I sure hope people will put in good consideration to who they choose to the USCF executive board.
I agree with most of what you said but I think she should leave them up. It shows how some of these people in the USCF have operated for a long time. They’ve insulted other players who immigrated from elsewhere. Heck, they’ve even gone after Nakamura and he’s a US citizen from birth.
Goichberg’s term is up in 2009. I hope I’ll never see him in office again. He thinks he owns it.
Goichberg, over many years, has done a lot for chess. Personally, I would like to see both Goichberg and Polgar working together, since each in their own way has gotten a lot of good things done for chess.
Steven, what has Polgar do to Goichberg? She’s all class and even after he and his people insulted and attacked her, she still asked people to respect him. Is there anyone else in the USCF that can do this? I think not. I’m not sure why he went out of his way to insult her.
I have nothing against Goichberg but his latest shenanigan is classless. This should not be the behavior of a president.
That’s fine and maybe having both Goichberg and Polgar on the board will result in a positive synergy. I just was really turned off by the e-mail I received from Goichberg last night. He really lost my respect. If he really were interested in what is best for chess in the US and not in his own self-interest, I don’t think he would be endorsing those he chose to endorse, particularly Lux (seems like a nice enough guy, but a TD for Goichberg’s tournaments and hence beholden to Goichberg for his income) and Jones (who may have some interesting non-chess related qualifications but is clearly alligned with Hal Bogner who has a contract with USCF to update the website — what happens if the USCF is not happy with Bogner’s performance and his hand-picked candidate is on the board???).
Can someone post the email from goichberg?
Continental Chess Newsletter
June 2, 2007
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Please vote in the USCF Executive Board election!
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by Bill Goichberg
Ballots will be part of the June Chess Life! It’s important for the future of American chess to elect good board members, and the quality of the 10 candidates varies widely. You may vote for up to 4 candidates. For further details regarding the candidates, see http://www.checkmate.us.
I RECOMMEND VOTING FOR:
JIM BERRY: Good business and financial credentials, active player and TD, organizer known for enjoyable high class events, helped find sponsorship for 2007 US Championship, settled Oklahoma conflict.
DON SCHULTZ: Extensive experience in USCF governance, organizer of World Youth in Wisconsin, US Senior in Florida, New York International.
STEPHEN JONES: Attorney with Ph.D in math, FIDE Master, mediator, USCF member for over 50 years..
JOE LUX: National TD, longtime active player, scholastic teacher and coach.
Then Goichberg put Susan and Paul in the same category of unacceptable candidates with Sam Sloan and Mike Goodall.
This is what he described Paul:
“Tediously pious, appallingly self-righteous negative campaign.”
I fully support Bill Goichberg. Polgar doesn’t belong on the board. She’s nothing more than a pretty face. She’s not even a good chess player. The USCF should be promoting Irina Krush instead.
Irina is only 23 years old, which makes her much younger than most of her immediate rivals. It is unlikely that anybody will be able to catch her or pass her for at least the next several years.
Imagine being Krushed by Bonecrusher Krush.
It does not hurt at all that Irina Krush is an astoundingly beautiful and attractive woman.
In short, Irina Krush is the perfect role model for our youth, for the type of person we want to bring into chess. A beautiful young girl is obviously a more attractive role model than a divorced, middle-aged Polgar.
Does Don Schultz approve of Bill Goichberg’s tactic? Can he speak up about this? Does he feel that it’s right for Bill to attack Polgar like that? This is important for me to make my voting decision.
It seems obvious that Mr. Sloan, Mr. Goichberg and others who support them are scared to death about the upcoming election – they suspect that Susan and her slate will win and they are pulling out the stops to smear, insult, demean and threaten in a pathetic attempt to save their own hides. How unfortunate – and how expected – to see these people stooping to new lows. I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s actually pretty funny that those supporters of Sloan, et al. have to resort to posting negative insulting comments on Susan Polgar’s own blog in order to get their statements read! As for Mr. Goichberg’s postcards and emails – I have received neither – but I have never played in any of his CCA events. Since I have received neither, I assume he did not use a USCF-generated mailing list, I sincerely hope not. That would surely be a serious breach of the USCF’s own ethics rules. Unfortunately, I’ve come to expect only worse and worse from some of the current officers and EB members at USCF, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a USCF mailing list was used for such an illicit purpose.
Thank goodness for blogs – now the kinds of tactics used by Mr. Sloan, Mr. Goichberg and all those “anonymous” posters spewing their racist and sexist venom can be brought to the light of day and exposed for all to see.
Janet Newton
Mr. Goichberg has done a lot for chess but this is deplorable. I’ve lost my respect for him. And this sort of things will hurt Mr. Jones, Mr. Lux and Mr. Schultz. None of them have spoken out against Mr. Goichberg. It clearly means that they accept his conduct.
It’s unfortunate because Mr. Schultz could be a good board member again. Mr. Jones has a conflict problem thanks to Mr. Bogner and Mr. Lux has the same problem thanks to Mr. Goichberg.
I won’t be voting for any of them unless they can tell me and the voters their position regarding Mr. Goichberg. Do they accept his endorsement? Do they accept his deplorable conduct?
I never realized how bad things are with the USCF. Having a USCF President sending out this kind of offensive messages about a chess icon like Ms. Polgar who has done so much for chess is simply appalling.
I expect this from Sam Sloan but I’m stunned to learn that it actually came from Mr. Goichberg. To make matter worse, he’s using the same information that has been recklessly and falsely spread by Sloan in the USCF forums.
I truly hope that the candidates that he recommended would speak out against him for their own sake. I certainly wouldn’t want to be “recommended” by him if I ever run for the board.
Chess is intrinsically a game where one learns to “fight” with the opponent, with no middle ground. It hence not surprising to see the chess organizers, who are mostly chess players, display the same behavior. I am afraid; chess encourages some very bad individual character.
Just food for thought, for you, GM Susan. CHESS is NOT necessarily a good character builder, as you have been crusading for so long.
— From a chess enthusiast!
I have decided to vote for Susan and Jim Berry, Randy Bauer. I think Susan has the energy to move the USCF forward.
I am voting for Jim Berry because he put his money where his mouth is by rescuing the US Open.
I am on the fence for voting Paul Truong as you’re getting 2 for 1 by voting in Susan. I am uncomfortable voting husband and wife to serve on the same board.
I have yet to take a closer look at the other candidates.
This was posted by Peter Tamburro of the Chess Journalist of America:
As has been demonstrated in the past Bill Goichberg’s political skills are lacking. Organizing tournaments is a uniquely different skill from leadership of an organization. I have to agree with you on this one, Sam. Imagine that! The postcard could just as easily have been “written” by some other high profile politico. (As an aside, the uscf might well consider doing what real politicians have to do: report who’s paying for the campaign!). As president, he will have to deal with whomever is elected. For those that he hit on the postcard, he has created a negative environment should any of them get elected. When you are a president you have to work with everyone and gain a consensus. It’s hard to do when you’re insulting people. The best advice I would have for him if any of these targets of his attack get elected is to approach them one on one, regret the remarks, and offer to start off with a “new understanding” of how to respect each other and an agreement over no personal attacks in the future. I have noticed a distinct lack of people skills in most of the board members, and it contributes greatly to much of the dysfunction there is on the board.
My opinion is that Bill Goichberg just elected Susan and her team to the policy board by a poorly thought out postcard.
This clearly shows his vindictiveness and hatred toward others. Not a smart move by the USCF President Bill Goichberg.
Yes, I received the infamous postcard and it is debasing. I am voting for Susan and her team and everyone I have spoken to is doing the same! Let us all do what is best for the future of USA Chess!
I pay good money to play at the World Open so I can get this garbage from Goichberg? This is really lame and it’s sad coming from someone who has been around chess for a long time. But this is just the tip of the chess destruction as GM Polgar has pointed out. Bill, shame on you!
Another dumb decision by the USCF politicians. I agree with Susan. How can we expect different results when we keep on electing the same type of people?
If we vote for the people recommended by Bill Goichberg, will things change? No. They will do what Bill says. Isn’t it obvious?
None of them even opened their mouths to say that they don’t condone Bill’s pathetic conduct. Of course not. They don’t dare.
It’s time for change.
First off, goichberg is self serving and conflicted by definition, he does well if he is control. second susans team is just more accomplished, credible and change is needed. by the way, beat cook 2300 last night susan first game after ur method a raging success, game tow to follow thanks for the help
I don’t play CCA tournaments, so I didn’t get the postcard/email, but I’ve seen the text. There’s one word for it: “sleazy.” I had been considering voting for Mr. Berry in place of Mr. Truong*, but, forget it. I’m voting the whole “Polgar slate” just to spite Goichberg.
*(The reason why is that I’m uncomfortable with them not revealing their marriage until the campaign was well underway. This is information material to a voter’s decision. However, it is far less offensive than Sloan’s antics, or the cheap-shot politics of this board in general.)
Moskow has a cook rated 2300?
Susan, what you have to go through reminds of a quote from Albert Einstein:
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
“Steven, what has Polgar do to Goichberg?”
Well, if Susan wins her election, as I assume she will, then she will be forced to work with Goichberg. His term is not up until 2009!
In spite of Goichberg’s deplorable actions in insulting and attacking GM Polgar constantly, she took the high road and did not retaliate. No past chess politician can do this. I think she would be a fantastic board member and the face of US chess and the USCF.
My 2 cents