I am extremely disappointed to see what is happening to the USCF. The level of nastiness and unprofessionalism by some members and even board member(s) have reached an all time high. To be honest, I am embarassed to be a fellow member of the USCF with some of these people. I brought up these points to 4 of the current board members. I am waiting to hear their replies.
Here is my message:
Questions for Mr. Goichberg, Channing, Schultz and Hough
This is the official USCF Chess Forum. What kind of message are you giving the members when board member(s) is/are allowed to post outrageous, damaging (and repeatedly proven) lies, misinformation and personal attacks toward other USCF members almost EVERYDAY?
How many strikes does one have to have the right to post here be revoked? What is your official policy or will this be another rec.games? I for one would want to have nothing to do with this forum if this serious and embarrassing problem is not fixed.
Thank you.
Susan Polgar
This is precisely why I decided to run for the USCF Executive Board in the next election. I love chess and I have enough of this nonsense. I am determined to change this.
As I mentioned earlier, here are 4 of the many areas that I feel the USCF must improve on immediately:
* Restore the respectability and credibility of the USCF.
* Restore a balanced budget.
* Restore the strong cooperation between adult, collegiate, youth and scholastic chess as well as military, correspondence, email and Internet chess, etc. The USCF needs to support and promote all its membership categories.
* Recognize that the USCF is in need of Professional Marketing and PR, etc.
What would you like to discuss? It is Saturday Open Forum. The forum is yours. Please keep it clean!
You’re a more than welcome to disagree with my positions. However, all rude and obnoxious posts will be deleted. In addition, I am not going to allow anyone to lie, attack or post misinformation. This is not rec.games or the USCF forum. This is my forum and this is my standard.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
I am sure you saw the latest interview from Topalov where he came out and called Kramnik a cheater and that they found a cable in his bathroom ceiling. This after the challenge issued for a match with Kramnik. If this is any indicator of how low World Chess has gotten is it any wonder USCF is any different? It seems the world is decaying and it is refreshing to have someone like yourself who is trying to do good for USA Chess. I appreciate and though I may not agree with everything you say I know you are trying your best to better chess here and I will definately back you and the people you recommend. You have done great things for chess here already and meeting you in person in Las Vegas this year only makes me marvel at what a great Chess Champion you are. Thanx :o)
MayanKing,
Thank you. I definitely do not expect everyone to agree with me. I also do not expect to be perfect.
But one thing they can be sure of is I would always try to do my job with the highest level of care, diligence and professionalism.
And most important of all, I will always put the best welfare of chess first.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
I doubt it. All posts containing false information might be though. Also anything with a personal attack towards Susan or anyone else for that matter probably would as well. If you have a valid argument learn to use common sense and explain it rather that calling someone names, or attacking character which is opinion rather than fact. I can sit here and call USCF board member X a know it all wind bag butt kisser with nothing but their own political interests in mind, but that would be an opinion and a personal attack if I mentioned a name. I could also take the high road and say USCF board member X voted to cut funding for chess education and was quoted as saying “blah blah blah”…..this would be fact and I highly doubt something along those lines would be deleted.
My recommendation is if you actually have an opinion worth while….take the time to learn how to express it without having to revert to 4 letter words and personal attacks towards anyone.
You may think the posts about Mr. Sloan and his escapades are personal attacks, but the FACTS are that he has bragged about his sexual conquests, has a felony record, and has made personal attacks against Susan and others. These are just facts and not someones opinion. In fact much of the specifics of that information can be garnered from Mr. Sloan’s personal website.
“In addition, I am not going to allow anyone to lie, attack or post misinformation. This is not rec.games or the USCF forum. This is my forum and this is my standard.”
For the last few months, it’s been stated repeatedly by various posters that Kramnik used computer assistance (although no evidence has ever been offered), and that Topalov’s unpopularity is the result of lies told about him by Chessbase (though nobody seems to know exactly what the lies were).
Would these be examples of things that will no longer be tolerated here? Frankly, if you’re promising to clean up the USCF Forums, that in itself could be considered a reason to vote for you.
I stand up and applaud you Susan. Good for you. I agree more than 100%.
Everyone needs to vote for Susan and the entire slate. Lets make a positive change for USCF Chess finally.
I have been a USCF Life Member for 35 years and Susan is the best thing to come along the entire time. I can not express how grateful I am to have Susan Polgar working for chess in USA. We are so lucky to have her here in USA.
Go Susan Go.
Dont take any verbal junk from anyone. Remember you are the BEST.
I want to post a big picture of my big huge smile. I can hardly wait for the election. This is going to be wonderful.
Why is The USCF so ferociously vicious? I dont understand the interworkings (politics), of The USCF to inspire these evil lazy corrupt board members from doing nothing and thus sabatoging American chess! Is there huge sums of money to steal? Why are they such monstrous cowards that rely on lies, misinformation, and discrediting peoples reputations? What are these members afraid of to act this way? I am all for a Strong USCF that can promote and develope strong chessic leadership and a strong program. After Bobby Fischers World Championship way back in 1972 American chess is like a third world country! How can the United States of America be so bad at chess?! Most of our good players were born in another country! I say someone like Susan is needed to weed out, dispel, (show them the door), and totally get rid of anyone involved with USCF decision making and policy who is in the orginization for personal gain and not for contributing wholeheartedly for bettering American chess at all levels! Susan Polgar I salut your efforts and am glad you and your team are going to run for Executive Board!! Bravo!!!
Where does one go to read the offending comments from the USCF? I was not able to find it? I’d like to read what prompted Susan’s response, before I decide anything further.
Anonymous said… Where does one go to read the offending comments from the USCF? I was not able to find it? I’d like to read what prompted Susan’s response, before I decide anything further.
Anonymous said… There is very little free speech on this blog, and at times even less honesty. That is NOT the ideal model for USCF.
Susan Polgar I would like to know the following and I am a long time standing member of the USCF
Susan you have deleted around thirty comments that I know of that were fair questions and comments…..I also can’t find any offending comments from the USCF? if anything the USCF and some of it’s members comments were deleted when answering other comments ……your reasons given all in good time all questions will be answered and accusation proof given.
Well time is running out..You won’t be elected if you don’t put your cards on the table …the time is now???
I would like to see you GM Polgar try to encourage the US Dept of Education to introduce chess into school curriculum. Make chess respectible enough to see in the educational level would be the way to go. I would suggest you talk to Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger of California to see if he’s receptive to this idea. I understand he likes playing chess…so why not give this a try?
Another idea…why don’t you talk to Microsoft to see if this company would be willing to be the sponsor for major chess tournaments in Seattle? Put some fear into FIDE by showing them where the money could be coming from if the USCF gets its act together. I’m sure Kirsan would be worried about that not to mention the growing concern I’m sure he’d have to seeing YOU become a respected member in official chess circles. He should be afraid YOU could become President of FIDE someday!
Finally…let’s do something about classical chess itself. Bobby Fischer is right and it’s time to introduce Fischer Random to drive down the ridiculous level of drawn games from memorized openings.
Susam Polgar wrote
I am extremely disappointed to see what is happening to the USCF. The level of nastiness and unprofessionalism by some members and even board member(s)
What % of the USCF members are as bad as you say ??
When you accuse the USCF you accuse….
About the USCF
The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is the official, not-for-profit US
membership organization for chess players and chess supporters of all ages
and strengths, from beginners to Grandmasters. The USCF represents the
United States in the World Chess Federation (FIDE), linking US members to
chess players around the world.Founded in 1939 with the merger of the
American Chess Federation and the National Chess Federation to promote the,
USCF has grown to over 80,000 members and 2,000+ affiliated chess clubs and
organizations today. Under the management of a professional staff
headquartered in Crossville, Tennessee, USCF sanctions thousands of
tournaments with over half a million officially rated games annually. 25
National Championships award titles to both amateurs and professionals,
ranging from elementary school students to senior citizens. Over fifty
Grandmasters (one out of every eight GMs in the world) represent the US
internationally, and USCF supports the participation of Americans in
official FIDE championship events at all levels.
That is a lot off good people that make up the USCF that work hard towards chess and for the good of chess::
So what % of the 80,000 members and 2,000+ affiliated chess clubs is it ??
Please don’t say just a few:: as your refering to all of us when you say the USCF
Hmmm…I just don’t know…
For instance one anonymous here offers all sort of personal attacks (argumentum ad hominem: saying “get past second grade backhanded attempts…” or “Only intelligent views will have any impact on anyone with half a brain.” are nothing more than a sophomoric character attacks which do not deal with the validity of what the other person said) and double standards (Susan insults the USFC board without substantiation, i.e. what are her SPECIFIC allegations? Merely tossing off insults like “All you board members are a bunch of unprofessional hacks” insults us, the readers of her (Susan’s) blog. As the old lady in the famous commercial once said: “Where’s the beaf?”
“If you have disagreements with Susan please get past second grade backhanded attempts at discrediting her, and find some real facts. Anyone can have opposing views. Only intelligent views will have any impact on anyone with half a brain. I guess that doesn’t include you though.”
As this forum is about Susan nominating to get elected to the USCF and may the best team win.
I know very little about the issues discussed here so I did my own inquiries ( like buying a new car comparing quality price etc..) I went to the USCF home page and was very imprest and found no fault.
I back read a lot of comments on Suans chess blog and disregarded everything I read (a lot of hear say comments)
Now I would like to hear an official posting from the USCF so I can form an opinion.
Thanks Silvia Long
The web-editor of USCF website is Jennifer Shahade. I don’t know her personally, but I have got the picture she is a sound person.
Is she a target of this attack too or not?
This is all about samsloan to Susan. It’s not about open forums, where shit always gets posted. It’s about Sam Sloan, and Sam Sloan’s campaign of character assassination, that has been directed at Susan.
We all agree that Sam Sloan has a screw loose and is a totally improper person to have anything to do with USCF, but you cannot ban Sam Sloan without restricting the free speech of others at the same time.
Sam’s lies are nasty, but no-one is taking him seriously. It’s like the war on terror. Because of a few thousand nutties you restrict the freedoms of hundreds of millions of people. That’s not the right approach.
Who are these other USCF members, activists? Shahade? Goichberg?
Or is it just about Sam Sloan? Susan has been going on about the USCF being a bunch of crooks for two weeks now, with nothing concrete to substantiate the accusation.
On the other hand we DO KNOW that Paul Truong is a dishonest person, who has been cheating on chess servers and abusing his power in different instances. Susan KNOWS it too, but prefers to censor that FACT. That is not honesty, and you can all see it.
This post will too be deleted.
Susan was absolutely correct. The level of the discussion in http://www.uschess.org/forums has degenerated to an all time low, especially in the USCF Issues Forum. I must take some personal responsibility for the tone of the discussion — though I would characterize my remarks as “counterattacks” (rebutting unjustified attacks), I’m sure I’ve occasionally crossed the line.
In spite of having “rules” against personal attacks, one member of the USCF EB has made a habit of breaking these rules with impunity.
We’re not talking about “censorship” here, but there’s no need to allow vicious destructive lies to be repeated ad nauseam. We shouldn’t allow a person to claim another’s actions are illegal, immoral, or otherwise improper without some minimal shred of proof. The bottom line is that the USCF forums are the property of the USCF — content shouldn’t be allowed that is harmful to the USCF, it’s image, or the image of its innocent members. No, I’m not for stifling the truth, but we’ve gone too far in the other direction. The TRUTH is being drowned in swamp of lies, distortions, and innuendo. It’s time to clean it up, and Susan will have my support even if she occasionally needs to tell ME to shut-up.
Anonymous said… a lot off good people that make up the USCF that work hard towards chess and for the good of chess::
So what % of the 80,000 members and 2,000+ affiliated chess clubs is it ??
Please don’t say just a few:: as your refering to all of us when you say the USCF
When you look at it Susan don’t just say the USCF (that means all of us) Just say who it is Please!!!
It is unfortunate that many of these obnoxious anonymous posts have the same identical IP.
This is the kind of thing I was talking about. Instead of doing positive things for chess, a small group of people who do not care about anyone else but themselves are trying to vandalize various forums with attacks while hiding behind anonymity.
There is no freedom of speech for this kind of people. They can go to other sites to lie and attack people. It will not happen here.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
We 5 French here was looking Susana’s glog about USCF by look nobody like her.In France the French Look after Chess.
Why in America you need Hungarian to Look after you Chess.
GM Susana why you not Look after Hungarian Chess you people there like you ??
You Friends France
Yeah, the Anons jump in when your away. Old Usenet tactics from rec.games.chess.politics for anyone wanting to see them at their lowest.
For the questions by some about where the mud is being thrown I’ve started collecting links at:
http://yacp.blogspot.com/
Anyone in or joining the USCF, vote next election! Learn what Susan’s talking about! Compare who you’ve got to vote for and what you want US Chess to look like!
Go get them Susan!!! They’re scared already.
Ah, open forum day! Some of the posts get me mad but occasionally there is a post that is so bad yet so representative of a groups point of view that it is funny. Like the anonymous poster from France above.
He wrote, “In France the French Look after Chess.
Why in America you need Hungarian to Look after you Chess.”
Ah, so French! And here I was thinking all this time that Susan and other immigrants came to America and become Americans. My dumb!
Okay, so here’s my humble suggestion. After Susan cleans up US Chess, we send her to France. Oh, you guys don’t need Hungarians over there? Hmm, let’s see. . .
Car burnings, falling GDP, Euro integration, Ruwanda rapes – oh, the poor girl may be able to find SOMETHING to keep her occupied.
Now we all realize that France is so much better than the rest of us – especially us poor dumb Americans, but let’s get really radical and run Susan Polgar for President of France.
Kasparov as President of Russia and Polgar as President of France – what a dynamic duo. No, on second thought, let’s keep Susan and draft her for President of the US.
Sorry, France! (Grin!)
Jack Le Moine said… jack you have gone 10 point below the dumb comment your referring to with you immature respond.
the French are our friends
merci mon ami Anonymous que nous sommes vos amis (jack no nice)
Anonymous said…
Ok here is real proof:
I hope Susan won’t delete it ..maybe now you can see Susans point an confiction about this ..
If you are just as outraged as I am about the USCF Executive Board Election, you can do something about it! You can call or write to your state delegates and let them know the truth about Mr. Sam Sloan.
In order for Mr. Sloan to take office, he has to be certified by the delegates of the USCF. I strongly believe that a sexual predator (by his own
admission) and a convicted felon should not be allowed to serve on the Executive Board of a non-profit organization with tens and thousands of young members.
Mr. Sloan lied about his criminal record. He told the members of the USCF
that he has no criminal record while the chess community clearly knows that
he spent a considerable amount of time in jail. Mr. Sloan also publicly admitted that he had inappropriate sexual relations with minors. He also publicly admitted to other illegal and criminal conducts. He lied and attacked other members, sponsors,supporters and partners of the USCF. He spares no one
Just to follow up on this, it appears the thread you (Susan) started at the USCF boards on this topic has been removed. It doesn’t appear in the index of threads for the USCF Issues forum.
> Anonymous said…
Ok here is real proof:…
Anonymous link us to these supposedly famous court cases in which Sam Sloan was convicted of terrible felonies.
Enlighten us.
Merry Christmas for R.J. Fischer and
all forum Readers
K.