Greetings from Palm Beach

It’s Saturday Open Forum. First of all, I would like to apologize to all the non-USCF members who follow this forum. I had no choice but to discuss many issues about the current situation with the USCF and the upcoming USCF Executive Board election. The election process will start in less than a week when the USCF members will receive their ballots in the June 2007 Chess Life issue and the counting process will begin on July 25.

Secondly, I would like to tell you my position in this matter. This is one of the most important elections in US chess history. This election will come down to 5 professionals who are non-chess politicians with an incredible track of success versus 5 candidates who will fight hard and do whatever it takes to keep the status quo.

Let’s talk about the real issues:

– What positive things have each candidate do for US chess and the USCF in the past 3-5 years?
– What are their qualifications, experience and record of success or failure?
– What can each candidate bring to the USCF?

As I mentioned before, anyone can make promises now. It is easy to make promises, especially during an election season. But what do we know about them? What have they done?

Would doctors, lawyers, artists, entertainers, chess teachers, tournament directors or even professional players make good board members? Not necessarily. People can say you should vote for me because I am a ….. and I do …. for a living. So what? If you are sick, would you go see your local florist or nuclear physicist? Of course not. It is nice when we have successful people wanting to help. But it does not mean they can.

To run a complicated organization like the USCF, you need to understand and know many things. You have to be familiar with adult, scholastic, college, internet, military, correspondence chess, etc. You need to understand the dynamics of the chess world and not only within the US. You may not be an expert but you need to understand finances and have other important skills such being able to work with people and have their respect. There are too many things to list but most important of all, you have to have a good vision and be able to formulate proper plans to reach the goals.

I asked the same questions to all of the candidates and only 5 can successfully answer them. These are my take on the 5 most qualified candidates:

– Susan Polgar: You already know about me and the countless successes I have in changing the culture of chess in this country.

– Mikhail Korenman: He is one of the key components for a successful USCF as an organization. Very few people in the USCF can successfully work with scholastic, college, adult, professional and internet chess. Mikhail not only can work and bridge all these membership groups; he has one of the most impressive records of success. Many chess membership groups do not understand each other and cannot work together. Mikhail can change this. This is why I ask you to please vote for him.

– Paul Truong: As you all know, Paul is by far the most successful person in chess marketing, promotion and PR in US chess history. He has a unique combination that few possess. He was a chess prodigy and competed at a very high level. But he gave up chess to pursue an incredibly successful professional career. So he understands the mentality of chess players and he understands how businesses operate. This is why he is able to combine them and make some of the most spectacular deals for chess while no one else can even come close to this. Without his guidance and lead in this area, the USCF will go nowhere. Anyone who spends 5 minutes talking to him will understand that he is in a different league than the rest of the field in these areas.

– Randy Bauer: How often do you have a person with Randy’s experience? He was the budget director of the state of Iowa, dealing with multi-billion dollar budgets. Randy is also a chess master and supporter. He served on the USCF EB one year and helped this federation achieve a remarkable turn around. He is a finance guy. His skills and experience in finance is crucial for this federation.

– Jim Berry: Jim and his brother Frank are two of the biggest chess lovers in America. They love chess and they would do just about anything to help our game. Jim has a long history of helping chess in Oklahoma. He and his brother saved the 2007 US Championship after members of this board caused the AF4C to pull out. Just as Randy, Jim’s background is also in finance. He is a banker. He is on the board of SNB, a $2 billion bank. Like Randy, he can also help with the financial issues.

Unfortunately, you can only vote for 4 of the 5 choices above. You have a hard decision to make but any of these 5 people can help this federation. All 5 of the candidates above have spectacular history of success with US chess. They are not people who came out of nowhere with wild campaign promises. But most important of all, all 5 of these candidates have strong visions for the USCF and they will put the best interest of this federation first.

The records are clear. The choice is yours. Please vote. You can help set the course of the USCF for decades to come.

You can discuss about the election or any other topic you wish. The candidates’ matches are about to begin. The US Championship just finished. SPICE was announced and the first major international chess event for SPICE will be held at Texas Tech University and it will be sponsored by Dr. Eric Moskow. It is Saturday Open Forum. The forum is yours.

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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