The River Center, UW-Oshkosh, August 31, 2003

The past year has proven to be a mixture of success for us. First, with the proceeds of the 2002 National Junior High School Tournament, the WCA is once again on a sound financial basis. Our treasurer will present the numbers shortly.

However, the USCF has run into severe financial difficulties. For the details, please see the memo that I’ve posted in the playing room but, to summarize, the assets of the Life Membership Account (both the USCF building and its portfolio) equal the amount of money the USCF owes. When the Delegates gathered in Los Angeles we were under the assumption that the year ended in May at either a break even status or running a slight surplus. When the audited financials came in, we were surprised to find a $365,000 deficit. The net change was due to four problems: First, the accrual accounting system for multi-year members was incorrect. Second, the Life Member Assets (LMA) reported a huge loss for the year. Third, payroll expenses from the last payroll period in the fiscal year needed to be accrued and fourth, over $50,000 in TLA’s went uninvoiced.

Clearly the last item can be corrected and the TLA’s invoiced but that would be in the current fiscal year. But the other three can not be made up.

The Delegates, Executive Board and office know that adult dues can not be raised again. It has been discussed that Youth, Scholastic and Scholastic Economy dues may be raised. Alternatively, expenses need to be cut. The first look was to reduce the number of Chess Life’s that the Youth and Scholastic members receive. The Scholastic Council, of which I am a member, has proposed a reduction in the number of Chess Life’s for all membership categories with the thinking that reducing contributor fees, printing and mailing costs for an entire month would save the most money. President Beatriz Marinello is reviewing the options.

In the meantime, seventeen USCF employees were laid off last week. Hopefully, this will allow them to meet their payrolls over the next few months.

The current plan is to sell the building to a developer who is willing to pay fair market value for the property, pay off some severances to employees who won’t move and then move to Crossville, TN. The Tennessee county has deeded the USCF a parcel of land to put up a building and offered free use of an existing building while the permanent building is put up. With the proceeds of the sale of the building, the USCF will also purchase long needed computer infrastructure and software to update their systems. Money to put up the building will come from a bank in Crossville when the USCF mortgages the land.

How can you help ensure the future of the USCF? Consider renewing your membership early! Consider buying from the USCF catalog!

Separate from raising dues it was suggested to raise rating fees. Various rates were discussed but anticipate a flat fee around 20 cents per game on disk and 40 cents per game on paper. The reason for this is that although the USCF takes in $100,000 from rating fees it loses $50,000 in the transactions in time spent processing the reports. It was thought that scholastic events cost more because many of the players are new and it is their first event. Scholastic events also tend to have a lot of missing ID’s. So, in essence under the existing rating fee structure, scholastic events were charged less but created more work for the office. Now there will be a flat fee for scholastic and open events.

The office and Executive Board has set a deadline for the end of the year to get up and running a pilot program for on-line submission of rating reports. I pointed out that eventually it should cost less for on-line submission of rating reports and that the charged fees should fall back.

One outstanding upgrade to the members only area of the USCF website will be a section that is currently in beta test. The new pages will allow you to view the rating reports of all of the events you’ve played in since 1991. To view the beta site log onto http://msa.uschess.org.

Only a few Wisconsin USCF members took the time to vote for the Executive Board elections last June. Next year Wisconsin’s USCF members will be asked to choose delegates and alternate delegates. Please support the choices put forth by the WCA Board of Directors. They will be marked as such on the ballot.

Be advised that there will be a new rule book out soon. Major changes will be highlighted in a Chess Life article by rule book editor Tim Just. I posted a summary of the rules changes in the playing room. This list is from www.uschess.org.

Congratulations to Madison West High School for recapturing the State Scholastic Team Championship and for capturing nearly every trophy in the two varsity sections of the 2003 State Scholastic Chess Championships. A record 475 players participated. Next year the event will expand from four sections to six sections. We’ll add a third varsity section and a K-6 section.

The trophies kept heading to Madison as Madison West Coach, Alex Betaneli captured the 2002 Wisconsin Chess Tour trophy.

The WCA is pleased to announce that the North Central is back! After a two year absence Arlen Walker submitted a bid to hold the event at the Country Inn and Suites in Brookfield over the Thanksgiving weekend.

WCA tournament attendance excluding the Junior Open was down for the year. Tour event attendance was also down. If you take a look at the tournament calendar, you’ll notice a preponderance of the events falling in the fall. My personal opinion is that organizers, including the WCA, need to re-examine the schedule and spread out the events better over the year. This includes moving the State Championship back to Memorial Day Weekend. Very few Wisconsin players go to the Chicago Open that weekend anyway.

I encourage those of you with web access to monitor the WCA website. Arlen has some ideas to re-vamp it. I also ask organizers to request tournament dates from Guy Hoffman, the WCA Clearinghouse Director. We want to avoid organizers scheduling events on the same day. You may also contact Arlen so he can put them up on the website’s calendar. The website URL is www.wischess.org.

Arlen and I each maintain an e-mail list of Wisconsin chess players. We try to keep the list private to reduce the chance of spamming. If you are not on my list, please give me your e-mail address.

Be advised that the AmericInn motel chain is once again planning on doing several regional and a national scholastic chess championship. Current plans are to hold the regional events in the month of November. They are currently soliciting AmericInn properties that are interested in hosting an event. Then they will be interested in finding TD’s around the state to direct the events. Let me know if you are interested in the paid position and I’ll get you in contact with the marketing firm that is organizing the events.

I have told them repeatedly that the idea they are putting forth is wonderful. Unfortunately, the organizers continue to ignore pleas from the state and local organizers to avoid long standing events and to plan the events earlier to avoid conflicts. Last year a number of properties held an event on the weekend of the Northeastern. This year several events may coincide with the Wisconsin Junior Open and the National Youth Action event held in Rockford, IL the week after our Junior Open. We need to encourage this sponsorship but at the same time, get them to work with us not against us.

My thanks to all the board members for their hard work this past year. Chris Krumenauer, Andrew Becker and Herman Presswood have their terms of office expire today.

ADDENDUM: Wisconsin USCF membership demographics:

As of mid-July, Wisconsin had 1013 USCF members. This includes 54 affiliates and library members. The 1013 is a decline of 66 from the year before.

Of the 1013, 681 were in my database from prior years. 610 of those were in the database as members in 2002. 71 were in my database but not members in 2002. They were lapsed members who came back in.

332 were not in my database from the year before. Of those new members 187 were either Youth or Scholastic members while 94 were Regular members.

Sadly, this means that 471 or 44% of last years members were not in the list this year.

Of the 1013 members, 329 are Regular members, 219 are Life members, 212 areYouth members, 119 are Scholastic members.

728 have a rating. 470 have a different rating from the year before.

A request from a board member at the meeting asked for the number of prison members. That number is 36.

Radisson Inn, Green Bay, May 30, 2004

USCF membership numbers in Wisconsin continue to decline. Since July overall numbers have declined from 1013 members to 926 in April. 716 of the 926 remained members from July. Another 71 were in my list from prior years but not members in July. There were 210 new players on the April list but 379 members who were members in July are not members any longer. This represents a 37% loss from last year’s membership. 54 of the 927 records were affiliates. 617 of the members had a rating but only 258 had a rating different than their rating last July. These are our tournament players! In the larger membership categories: there were 281 regular members, 224 life members, 168 youth members and 100 scholastic members. All were down except life members.

But some things are looking up!

As a reward to all of the scholastic programs in Wisconsin, it is with great pride that I am able to announce that the USCF has selected Milwaukee to host the 2006 National High School Championship! The setup will be the same as the 2002 National Junior High School Championship with the playing hall in the Midwest Airlines Center and the Hilton serving as the host hotel. The USCF was very impressed with the facilities and the volunteers and, with my prodding, negotiated the deal. Upside down from the rest of the nation, Wisconsin’s scholastic strength resides in its high school programs. 2006 will also be the 30^th anniversary of Two Rivers High School winning Wisconsin’s only national high school team championship. I anticipate another record participation of 1400+ including a large turnout from the state for the April 21-23, 2006 event.

What is needed to make the event work? Volunteers! Volunteers! Volunteers! And several Tournament Directors. For volunteers, we’ll need volunteers to help set-up before the event, volunteers to pick-up and take results from the TD’s, volunteers to help at Chess Control, volunteers to assist at the airport, volunteers to help coordinate the media, volunteers to monitor the halls, volunteers to man the demo boards, volunteers to assist at the award’s ceremony and volunteers to help tear down the room after the event. Note that many of these tasks do not require chess knowledge and that several could easily be handled by coaches, spouses, parents and friends of the chess community. At the 2002 National Junior High several high school players volunteered their time. But remember also that since this is a high school event open to all students in grades K-12, most of our youth will want to play. So, abundant opportunities are available to you to assist the WCA and the Milwaukee chess community.

Tournament Directors, this is a wonderful opportunity to work a national scholastic event and to get credit towards upgrading to your next certification level. Both floor and backroom TD’s are needed. Backroom TD’s need to have experience with WinTD. Both groups will work with some of the most experienced tournament directors in the country so ample opportunities exist to gain valuable knowledge!

If anyone is interested in volunteering or TDing at the event, please don’t hesitate to let me know and I’ll put you on my list.

Last year I reported that the USCF was nearly bankrupt. For the ten months ended March 31 the USCF was ahead $45,000 with the profitable National Scholastics still to come. So, barring auditor adjustments, the year should end with a profit. For the next fiscal year the working budget is to show a profit in the $250,000 range.

The office has completed the outsourcing of the books and equipment business to ChessCafe. This has resulted in savings in inventory and in sales and shipping personnel.

Another cost savings is that Executive Director Bill Goichberg has been working without pay since he started in early winter. The Executive Board has been very pleased with Bill’s efforts in this difficult time while maintaining his aggressive nation-wide tournament schedule.

A permanent move has been put on hold. But since a buyer is once again interested in the building, the USCF is looking at temporarily relocating. The current plan is to renovate part of the lower level of the current building and place a few workers there. Then move the rest of the employees into the building next door currently occupied by the Chess Life staff with possibly having some of the Chess Life staff working from home.

The long term solution that is still being investigated is to either find alternate facilities in the New Windsor area or to move to Tennessee or elsewhere.

The USCF continues to improve its website. Late last year a new service went on-line. The Member Services Area has greatly improved the visit for members. You may scan your rating history and review any crosstable for events back to 1991. Tournament Directors may view crosstables to all events they directed since that time.

The USCF is currently working on an on-line tournament submission system. Although promised earlier this year, the system is hoped to be up and running by the fall.

Inside the June Chess Life will be two ballots. One will be for two seats on the seven member USCF Executive Board necessitated when a second EB member resigned last fall. Most of the candidates are newcomers. Only one attended the EB meeting last weekend in New Windsor.

The second ballot will be for two Wisconsin delegates to the Delegate’s Meetings for the next two years. (2005 will be in Phoenix, AZ. I haven’t heard a site yet for 2006.) The WCA board has placed into nomination the names of four of its members: Guy Hoffman, Mike Nietman, Arlen Walker and Andrew Becker. The WCA Board nominees should be marked as such on the ballot. Please vote for at least two of these people to be our delegates to the US Open Delegate’s Meetings.

I urge all of you who are eligible to vote to please do so. Eligibility is anyone 16 years of age or older. Please read the directions printed on the ballot carefully. Be advised it will cost a first class stamp. If you are eligible but did not receive a ballot, please notify the office.

Wisconsin is entering an interesting time as new clubs are popping up all over and new and old organizers are running more events. Wausau and La Crosse have seen city clubs begin this year and thanks to Bob Patterson-Sumwalt and Randy Bubolz so have many Milwaukee area and suburban elementary schools. This trend is continuing as I know of other schools looking for coaches.

At the same time player’s spending money is limited. So, organizers must continue to work together and not step on one another’s toes when scheduling events. For any weekend event, organizers need to contact the WCA Clearinghouse Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to seek available weekends and to reserve the weekend in case other organizers request it. Guy will review the region of the state and expected audience of the event and try not to overlap competing events. Organizers of any event should contact Guy as early as possible to secure the dates they desire.

Congratulations to Madison West for repeating as State Scholastic Team Champion. Last March a record 529 students participated. It was the first year that I was able to split the K-8 group into a K-5 and a K-8 section. The K-8 team champion was Marion while the University School of Milwaukee won the inaugural K-5 team championship.

Some of the ideas that the board is throwing around for new events are a Junior Closed and a Wisconsin Closed which would both be round robin invitationals. Bob Patterson-Sumwalt has proposed a Wisconsin Grade Level State Championship in which each grade is a separate tournament. Bob has a new site lined up in St. Francis and has booked it for Friday evening, January 28 and Saturday, January 29, 2005. Numerous volunteers and TD’s are needed for this event. Contact Bob or me if you are interested in volunteering.

Congratulations to Neil Gleason for winning the 2003 Wisconsin Chess Tour.

Without a state magazine I encourage everyone to submit event and game material to the WCA website.

Arlen Walker and I each maintain an e-mail list of Wisconsin chess players. We try to keep the list private to reduce the chance of spamming. If you are not on my list, please give me your e-mail address.

The AmericInn motel chain will once again organize several regional and a national scholastic chess championship. Current plans are to hold the regional events in the months of November and December. They are currently soliciting AmericInn properties that are interested in hosting a local event. Then they will be interested in finding TD’s around the state to direct the events. Let me know if you are interested in the paid position and I’ll get you in contact with the marketing firm that is organizing the events. If the regional events are once again not USCF rated, then anyone, even those without TD certification but with enough tournament experience, may direct an event.

At last after three years they are starting earlier in the year with their planning and I hope that that will increase attendance.

My thanks to all the board members for their hard work this past year. Guy Hoffman, Dave Granik and myself have our terms of office expire today.