4. Who is the favorite in the Anand – Kramnik match? Cecil (New Orleans, Louisiana)

This is a tough match to call. Kramnik is known for his tough match play. When asked which format he would prefer, Kramnik said match play because he only needs to win one more game than his opponent. He has a very difficult style to defeat and when he is in the lead, it is almost impossible for his opponent to catch up, as Kasparov and others have found out.

However, I give Anand equal chances in this match. Anand is very experienced and he is very diligent. When I spoke to him in Mexico City, he seemed absolutely determined to win the match and I am sure he will train very hard for it.

5. What does the USCF have to do to make chess more popular without causing a budget crisis? Jaime (McAllen, Texas)

This is an interesting question. The popularity of chess has little to do with the USCF actually. As I stated in an earlier interview, there are a lot more tournament players in the U.S. who are not USCF members than there are members.

However, the USCF is the official governing body of chess in this country. There are many things that the USCF needs to do to be more successful in this regard and I hope to be able to push some of these agendas forward in 2008 if I can get the majority votes of the board:

Much more grass roots chess promotion that can help raise much needed USCF revenues.
This is an area where the USCF has failed miserably for many years. The USCF needs to do a lot more promotion regarding the benefits of chess for children and adults. We also need to assist and work with the local and state affiliates to be more successful. This costs little, but can bring big results in return. It can help bring in more members and raise revenues including rating fees from more chess tournaments.

Promoting the success of USCF players at all levels.
Chess players are proud of their accomplishments, regardless or their rating. We need to promote this much more and it costs little to do so on the Internet. The problem is the USCF has spent over $50,000 to redesign the website twice (since it did not work the first time and it is still not working properly after the second redesign). Because of this waste, we are short of funding to maximize the benefit of the USCF website and Internet technology. Other sports and organizations heavily promote their successes and we should do the same.

Working closely with chess professionals.
For some reason, many people seem to have an anti-professional player attitude. I have heard countless criticisms and attacks when well known players such as Gata Kamsky, Alex Onischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Maurice Ashley, etc., receive publicity in the media. In other sports, top players work with their federations or national organizations to promote their sports. This benefits both sides and the USCF should be working much more closely with our most recognized players to help promote the game.

More efficient spending of USCF revenues.
This is an area that has haunted this federation for years. In 2007, the USCF spent $15,000 in Internet insurance for the USCF issues forum, which perhaps has a few dozen regular posters. Around $10,000 was spent on insurance deductibles. More than $10,000 was spent on legal fees and this number can potentially be much larger in 2008. It could be as high as a few hundred thousand dollars. As I mentioned above, more than $50,000 was spent to twice redesign the website. The job was not open for bidding by the most qualified companies and the members ended up paying for these horrendous mistakes. Unfortunately, many decisions are made by the Executive Board and I do not have the majority votes to set the course of this federation. IM John Donaldson stated recently that the waste could have funded many important chess projects and he is absolutely correct.

There is more that can be done, but these are some of the critical issues.

The full article can be seen here.

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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