Business

Documents covering the Business of the Wisconsin Chess Association. Here you can find minutes of the board meetings, the current bylaws, letters from the President, and other official documents of the WCA.

2007 President's Report

  • Written by Administrator
  • Published: 07 June 2009
  • Last Updated: 07 June 2009

WCA President’s Report

2007 Annual Membership Meeting

Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, Madison

May 27, 2007

After an exciting 2006 that saw us host the National High School Championships, the year since has been a relatively quiet one for the WCA. As you will see in the treasurer’s report, with the stipend from the USCF we had a very good year financially. We actually had a pretty good year without the National High School, and we’ll have to continue to have good financial results because if we are to host another national event, we most likely will not receive any funding from the USCF. The stipend was a reward for local organizers to produce plentiful and quality volunteers. Since some areas around the country have not done that, the USCF hired a Volunteer Organizer and now has him manage the volunteers at each event. These volunteers tend to be parents and coaches who’d rather do something than just sit around all weekend. They are usually fed but the financial bottom line is better for the USCF.

One interesting effect of the event last year is that after a very successful event in Milwaukee for state scholastic players, they traveled well to the three spring national events this year including being the fourth largest state contingent at the National High School in Kansas City behind Missouri, Kansas and New York!

Preliminary word is that the USCF will run a small deficit again this year. Membership numbers are strong with the continuation of the dues sales for $41 for adults. They also extended Youth memberships to age 25 and re-labeled them Young Adult. Work continues on Chess Life Online but much work still needs to be done.

Similar to the previous year the Executive Board didn’t do too much this year. Much of their time was spent responding to Board member Sam Sloan’s erroneous postings and assumptions. Sloan continues to violate Board ethics policies by releasing closed session information and by writing postings that are uninformed or even posting links to pornographic websites on the USCF Forums. His seat is up for election this year and I urge everyone not to vote for him.

The June issue of Chess Life will include a ballot for all eligible voters age 16 and over. The election will be for four members of the USCF Executive Board. (Three four-year terms and one two-year term.) The last two issues of Chess Life contained statements from the ten candidates. If you have any additional questions, please contact Guy Hoffman, Arlen Walker or myself for our input on the candidates. But do vote!

Once again Wisconsin tournament organizers seemed to have spaced out their events pretty well this past year. I did not hear of many conflicts. When deciding on when to hold an event tournament organizers should continue to contact the state tournament clearinghouse Guy Hoffman to find open dates on the tournament calendar. Guy can be reached at HYPERLINK "mailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The WCA sponsors the Marshall Rohland Memorial/Wisconsin Closed Championship, the Arpad Elo Open, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open, the Wisconsin Memorial and the Junior Open/Veterans Tournaments. All are open for bids from state organizers and/or tournament directors. If you are interested in more details on how to bid for these events, please contact any board member.

Congratulations to Madison West for winning their fifth consecutive State Scholastic Team Championship. Last March 467 students participated. In a rare double University School of Milwaukee won both the K-8 and K-5 team championships.

Good luck to Chris Brown, Jr. of Fox Point in the 2007 Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions and to Anna Ganster of Tigerton in the Susan Polgar Invitational for Girls Tournament. Both of these events will be held during the US Open in Cherry Hill, New Jersey in August. The WCA uses the Wisconsin Junior Open as the qualifier for these nominations. Preliminary word for 2008 is that the Polgar and maybe the Denker may move to Texas Tech University as they may become the college scholarship sponsors of the events.

Congratulations to Guy Hoffman for recapturing the Wisconsin Chess Tour title. Organizers desiring to have their event considered for tour status need to contact Guy by November of the year before the tour.

Arlen Walker maintains our website free of charge to the WCA. He states that no one submits content to him. If anyone has any content to submit, please contact Arlen for details.

The terms of office of Dave Granik, Guy Hoffman and myself expire today. I want to thank all of the Board members for their hard work this past year.

2008 President's Report

  • Written by Administrator
  • Published: 07 June 2009
  • Last Updated: 07 June 2009

WCA President’s Report

2008 Annual Membership Meeting

Radisson Hotel and Conference Center Green Bay

May 25, 2008

The WCA had another successful year. Tournament attendance continues to rise and our treasury is strong. Our youth continues to impress. Additional city clubs have or are opening in Manitowoc and Hartford. New organizers and tournament directors are emerging but there is a need for mentoring. If you are one of these new organizers or TD’s, just ask to assist at an event run by a more senior organizer or TD and they’ll be happy to show you the ropes.

Preliminary word is that the USCF will run a six figure deficit this year. The president wishes to cut costs. One such idea is to move Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids online. Members would have the option for less expensive dues to get their Chess Life content online or for the current membership rates to maintain a hard copy. However, there is great debate that the per copy cost of the remaining magazines would be too prohibitive to maintain a hard copy. Note that online memberships would still receive a quarterly newsletter with TLA’s and some chess content in it.

Part of the proposal is also to reduce the number of membership categories and then just have an online or hard copy price for each category.

Another proposal to raise revenue is to open up the regular rating system to online play. There has been great opposition to this proposal since the regular rating is a great asset of the USCF and ruining it will harm the Federation. If this proposal moves forward, restrictions will need to be in place such as to have an unbiased TD present or somehow monitoring the event.

The June issue of Chess Life will include a ballot for all eligible voters age 16 and over. The election will be for two delegates from Wisconsin for two year terms beginning after the US Open this summer. The WCA Board of Directors has placed the names of Mike Nietman, Guy Hoffman, Arlen Walker and Sandy Pahl into nomination and they will appear on the ballot. We urge you to vote for two of the four nominees. But do vote!

When deciding on when to hold an event tournament organizers should continue to contact the state tournament clearinghouse Guy Hoffman to find open dates on the tournament calendar.

The WCA sponsors the Marshall Rohland Memorial/Wisconsin Closed Championship, the Arpad Elo Open, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open, the Wisconsin Memorial and the Junior Open/Veterans Tournaments. All are open for bids from state organizers and/or tournament directors. If you are interested in more details on how to bid for these events, please contact any board member. Note that the NCO has not been held recently due to a lack of bids.

We continue to be astounded by the talent of the Wisconsin youth. Brian Luo became the first Wisconsin player participating in the World Youth. He finished seventh in the Under 10 event in Turkey last November. Elo Open winner Alex Velikanov is also eligible to compete in World events. Both are ten years old and are the winners of the last two Wisconsin Junior Opens.

At the recent National High School event in Atlanta, two of the three under sections and the unrated section were won by Wisconsin players! In the third under section a Wisconsin player was playing on board one in the last round but lost. For the second straight year Wisconsin had the fourth largest delegation. At the recent National Elementary event in Pittsburgh one Wisconsin school won the K-3 Unrated section and another player tied for first in the K-6 Under 1000 section. Schools should start preparing now for next year when Supernationals IV occurs in Nashville, Tennessee.

Congratulations to Madison West for winning their sixth consecutive State Scholastic Team Championship. Last March 425 students participated. Congratulations to Marion and University School of Milwaukee for tying for the K-8 Team Championship and to New Berlin Glen Park Elementary and Muskego Mill Valley Elementary for tying for the K-5 Team Championship.

Good luck to Chris Brown, Jr. of Fox Point in the 2008 Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions and to Mira Ensley-Field of Appleton in the Susan Polgar Invitational for Girls Tournament. Both of these events will be held in Texas in August. The WCA uses the Wisconsin Junior Open held in November as the qualifier for these nominations.

Congratulations to Alex Betaneli for recapturing the Wisconsin Chess Tour title. In one of the more dramatic Tour finishes in recent history, several class prizes went down to the last tournament and in a couple of cases, the last game of the last tournament. Unfortunately one of the events advertised as being on the Tour this year wasn’t held and a second may not be. Organizers desiring to have their event considered for Tour status need to contact Guy by November of the year before the tour.

Arlen Walker maintains our website free of charge to the WCA. He states that no one submits content to him. If anyone has any content to submit, please contact Arlen for details. The terms of office of Sandy Pahl, Arlen Walker and Dennis Kosterman expire today. I want to thank all of the Board members for their hard work this past year.

2006 President's Report

  • Written by Mike Nietman
  • Published: 07 June 2006
  • Last Updated: 07 June 2006

WCA President’s Report

2006 Annual Membership Meeting

Howard Johnson’s, Wisconsin Dells

May 28, 2006

It was an exciting year for the WCA!

Last month the WCA hosted the 2006 National High School Chess Championships in Milwaukee. 1423 players from 37 states descended on the Midwest Airlines Center to compete for the title of National High School Team and Individual Champion.

I am proud to report that Wisconsin’s scholastic programs came out in force to support the event. Over 300 individuals and over 70 teams from the state participated. And were they rewarded! Wisconsin individuals took home 33 top 25 trophies over the five sections of the event while Wisconsin teams took home 31 trophies. Including individual tied for 25th place trophies and class trophies, Wisconsin accumulated 85 trophies in the main draw of the event.

Although several of our tournament directors were able to work the event and gain valuable experience working with National TD’s, several others wanted to work the event but were shut out because the USCF filled many positions with experienced scholastic TD’s from across the country. One of the side effects of the USCF taking over organizing the events back in 2002 has been that local tournament directors wanting to get their foot into the door have been unable to and local organizations are losing valuable opportunities to gain experience. If for no other reason, it makes economic sense to hire local directors and I’ll continue to pursue that view as co-chair of the USCF Scholastic Council.

While I had to draft a few coaches and parents at the last minute to fill a few volunteer positions, all shifts were adequately covered. Many thanks to them for their donation of time.

The USCF was pleased with the turnout of the event as it was only 12 short of the USCF run event record. (As a note of reference, the National Elementary was around 300 short of its record and the National Junior High was over 300 short of our record from 2002.) I’ll continue to pursue opportunities for us to host this event again, probably not before the 2010 or 2011 cycle of events.

Preliminary word is that the USCF will run a small deficit this year. They did move into their new building in Crossville, TN. My opinion is that the Executive Board has not accomplished too much this past year. The office staff is either very experienced or experienced chess players who are able to answer questions quickly. Online systems continue to improve. USCF unveiled its Membership and Tournament Registration Store last October and has been used with great success at each of the five national scholastics to the point where first rounds have routinely started on time. The online TLA Area started up a couple of months ago.

The June issue of Chess Life will include a ballot for all eligible voters age of 16 and over. The ballot will be for two members of the USCF Executive Board and two delegates from Wisconsin. The same issue of Chess Life will contain statements from the candidates for the Executive Board. If you have any additional questions, please contact me or Guy Hoffman for input on the candidates. But do vote! The WCA Board placed me, Guy Hoffman and Arlen Walker on the ballot for the two delegates seats. We urge Wisconsin’s voters to choose two of the WCA Board nominated candidates.

Tournament organizers seemed to space out the events pretty well this past year. I did not hear of any conflicts. Tournament organizers should continue to contact the state tournament clearinghouse Guy Hoffman for open dates on the tournament calendar. Guy can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The WCA sponsors the Marshall Rohland Memorial/Wisconsin Closed Championship, the Arpad Elo Open, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open, the Wisconsin Memorial and the Junior Open/Veterans Tournaments. All are open for bids from state organizers and tournament directors. If you are interested in more details on how to bid for these events, please contact any board member.

Last summer Luke Ludwig found the Arpad Elo Trophy given to the winner of the Championship section of the Elo Open. I researched all the past events and the WCA paid to put all of the names of the past winners on the plates on a new base for the trophy.

The WCA Board passed a motion this past year that requires organizers of our events to use the WCA affiliate ID (T5009006) on our events. The main reason for this is so that future research will be made easier by being able to more easily find the crosstable on the USCF’s MSA website.

Plan now to attend the 2006 US Open in Oak Brook, IL August 5-13. The 2007 event will be back in Cherry Hill, NJ while Dallas, TX has the lead for the 2008 event.

Congratulations to Madison West for winning their fourth consecutive State Scholastic Team Championship. Last March 547 students participated. The K-8 state team champion is Fond du Lac’s Woodworth Middle School while the University School of Milwaukee won the K-5 team championship.

Good luck to Jesse Blashe of Marion in the 2006 Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions and to Tracie Klauer of Milwaukee Bay View High School in the Susan Polgar Invitational for Girls Tournament. Both of these events will be held during the US Open in Oak Brook in August. Qualifications was based on finish in last year’s Junior Open.

Congratulations to Ashish Vaja for winning the 2005 Wisconsin Chess Tour. Organizers desiring to have their event considered for tour status need to contact Guy by November of the year before the tour.

Arlen Walker maintains our website free of charge to the WCA. It can be viewed at www.wischess.org. If anyone has any content to submit, please contact Arlen for details.

The terms of office of Andrew Becker, Mike Selig and Ken Rasmussen expire today. I want to thank them for their many hours of dedication serving the WCA.

2005 President's Report

  • Written by Mike Nietman
  • Published: 29 May 2005
  • Last Updated: 29 May 2005

WCA President’s Report

2005 Annual Membership Meeting
Holiday Inn, Neenah
May 29, 2005

It was a quiet year for the WCA but next year should be exciting!

Milwaukee will host the 2006 National High School Championship April 21-23, 2006. The tournament will be at the Midwest Airlines Center while the Hilton Hotel will serve as the host hotel. 1400 of the best scholastic chess players from around the country will participate including a huge contingent from Wisconsin.

But we need your help! If you are a tournament director, this is a great chance to work with talented national tournament directors both on the floor and in the back room and get credits to upgrade your certification.

Read more: 2005 President's Report

Minutes 12/2004

  • Written by Jerry Noel
  • Published: 23 April 2005
  • Last Updated: 23 April 2005

Minutes
WCA Board Meeting
12/5/2005
Arlen’s house, Milwaukee

The meeting was called to order by President Nietman at 12:20.

Members absent were: Pete Webster, Mike Selig, and David Granik (second consecutive absence). Proxies entered: Jerry Noel holds Selig’s vote and Mike Nietman holds Webster’s (Pete gives his proxy to David if he is present).

  1. Announcements: The Grade Level Championship in Milwaukee will have a Friday-Saturday schedule. There was miscellaneous discussion regarding Bob Patterson-Sumwalt’s directing experience.
  2. Minutes of 8/30/04 meeting: Minor corrections were made to the record. Motion to accept as amended (AW/KR), carries 8-0.
  3. Treasurer’s Report: Ken hands out various items of information (attached). As usual, the Junior Open helped out or financial situation. Some of the items are estimates since the final numbers have yet to come in. Jerry makes a quip about using “Fuzzy math” while former Treasurer Guy Hoffman admitted that “I just made up numbers.”
    Ken hands out a letter to a Ms. Boardman regarding a bad check. There was discussion on how to handle future similar situations. It is the feeling of the board to let Ken try to resolve this politely before calling in the collection services of Hoffman, Smith, & Wesson. The discussion then turned to the Kittsley Fund and tagging them as “Restricted Funds” for accounting and business purposes. In Ken’s packet of old statements, the year 2000 was missing. Guy and Ken worked to resolve the question as to how much and when Scott donated and augmented the fund. 12:42 doorbell rings as David arrives.
    Motion to set the Kittsley fund at $2400 as of 1/1/2004 to fund the upset prize per Scott’s intent, (KR/JN), carries 6-0-2 (DG, PW).
    Mike Nietman brings up a question regarding Ray Hayes. It seems that Ray plays in a large number of out of state events, and Mike was wondering about giving him a Life Membership so that he doesn’t have to send out a card every year. Jerry Noel objects to that option on the grounds that every time a Life membership is given, it is followed soon after by death. As an alternative, Jerry and Arlen each ‘donate’ $5 to the WCA to give Ray a paid WCA membership for two years.
  4. 2004 State Closed: nothing new to add.
  5. 2004-05 Junior/Vet’s Financials: There was discussion about the beginner section and the situation of having “big kids” playing “small kids”. Possible split into two sections next year. T.D. coverage was also an issue. Guy covered the Veteran’s section for Arlen. Matt Roeder also assisted. There were some technical problems associated with USCF’s online membership and rating system. Mike Nolan of USCF is working on the problems. The Denker/Polgar representative has not yet been completely determined. Jeremy Kane and Siarhei Biarieshyk will have a playoff at a later time. Both are students at Madison West. Amy Volegedes of Milwaukee James Madison High will be the Polgar rep. One USCF membership came back as expired, Zac Hirschman. A note to Chris Brown, the team coach, will be sent.
  6. 2004 NCO final report: Selig apologizes for being absent from the meeting. A statement on the financials is handed out (attached). The turnout (39 players) was a disappointment. Ken has a few questions for Selig on some items.
  7. 2004 WI Memorial progress: Mike Nietman will send out an e-mail to clubs asking for a list of their deceased.
  8. 2005 Elo Progress: Arlen was considering either Brookfield or South Milwaukee. The event will be 3/5-6, 2005 at the Radisson south of the airport.
  9. 2005 State Closed: no bids entered. Guy will check with the UW. For two Chess Life issues, the TLA must be in by Feb. 10th. Guy proposes an electronic vote to the amazement of those present. There was additional discussion regarding possible sites.
  10. OOB: none.
  11. 2005 Tour: Guy lists probable and possible events for the 2005 Tour.
    Feb. 12-13U.W. Winter OpenMadison
    Mar. 5-6Elo OpenMilwaukee
    Mar. 26Marshall MemorialWaukesha
    Apr. 30-May 1Thompson MemorialMilwaukee (possibly May 7-8)
    May 28-30State ClosedTBA
    July 2-3Western OpenMilwaukee
    July 23-24 Green Bay OpenGreen Bay
    Sep. 17-18Badger OpenWaukesha
    TBAU.W. Fall OpenMadison
    TBAR-K OpenRacine
    TBALevit Mem.Milwaukee
    Nov. 25-27NCOTBA
    Dec. ?WI MemorialMadison
    Motion to accept the list with possible future changes as needed (AB/KR), carries 9-0.
    Arlen diverts the discussion to the 2004 Milwaukee Jubilee, Guy Hoffman wins it.
  12. Next meeting: Pete tenders his resignation since he usually has difficulty attending. The Board rejects the tender and accepts his other offer to host the next meeting. Feb. 27, Sunday at 1300 hrs. in Janesville.
  13. ONB: none.
  14. Motion to adjourn, (GH) carries 9-0.

Subcategories

At least annually, the president of the WCA is required to present a "State of the Association" letter (at the membership meeting held during every championship). These official announcements are kept here.
Here are official minutes of the WCA board meetings.
Here are copies of old and new bylaws.