January 13th 07, 12:34 PM
posted to rec.games.chess.politics,rec.games.chess.misc
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Bill Goichberg and the 2007 US Championship
A TRUE TEST OF SKILL
See Who Killed Round Robin? in Evans on Chess
http://wcn.tentonhammer.com/modules....rder=0&thold=0
samsloan wrote:
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Originally Posted by chessoffice
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Originally Posted by ken
sloan
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Originally Posted by chessoffice
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Originally Posted by artichoke
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Originally Posted by chessoffice
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Reneging on promised qualifier status would be no more ethical than
reneging on guaranteed cash prizes and might even be illegal. Some
players travelled to the qualifying tournaments only because US
Championship qualification was advertised.
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I'm not sure that the
USCF as a whole defined these as qualifying tournaments. I think this
reticence was because the arrangements for the Championship were never
settled.
Going forward, we should define a process whereby USCF or a
representative designated for that purpose has the clear authority to
offer such invitations. |
Most or all qualifying tournaments stated "a US Championship Qualifier"
in the TLA and/or display ad in Chess Life, including national
tournaments such as the US Open, National Open. and US Masters. I
don't see how USCF could possibly justify revoking the qualifier status
of a tournament held by USCF and advertised as a qualifier in USCF's
magazine.
Bill Goichberg |
Who was responsible for USCF making these promises in the first
place? |
AF4C notified USCF regarding most of the qualifiers for 2007 in the
fall of 2005 and these were routinely announced, as in previous years.
Bill Goichberg |
I have been avoiding the forum ever since Bill had me suspended from
posting here, but I cannot let this one pass.
At a meeting in Seattle in February, 2006, Bill Goichberg was informed
that AF4C was downgrading its involvement in the US Championship. Thus,
Bill knew by that date that AF4C would probably not be sponsoring the
2007 US Championship.
According to the contract with the Seattle Chess Foundation, now the
AF4C, they had 60 days after the conclusion of the 2006 US Championship
to declare an intention to sponsor the 2007 US Championship. The 2006
US Championship concluded on March 12, 2006. Thus, AF4C had until May
12, 2006 to state that it would be holding the 2007 US Championship.
When that date passed and AF4C has not exercised its option to sponsor
and organize the US Championship, Bill knew that they would probably
not do so.
At my first closed session of the board, which was on August 14, 2006,
I learned from Bill himself that Erik Anderson was not returning his
calls, not responding to his letters and Bill often did not even know
where Anderson was, yet publicly Bill led the players to believe that
AF4C sponsorship would still be forthcoming.
I have learned from a variety of sources that all along the relations
between Bill and AF4C have not been good. Bill has been pressing AF4C
to agree to more qualifiers. Realizing that each qualifier means more
money that AF4C will have to pay, they have been resistant to agree.
In recent months, Bill has been reporting on his negotiations with John
Henderson, implying that Henderson was the representative of AF4C.
However, Henderson works for ICC, not for AF4C. We were led to believe
that ICC was putting up $100,000 in sponsorship money. Now, with the
announcement that AF4C would not be sponsoring the US Championship,
Bill announced that ICC would still be willing to hold two online
qualifiers free of charge. Thus, we find out that ICC was never
planning to pay the USCF any money at all.
Several months ago Bill posted a list of qualifiers to the US
Championship on the uschess.org website. He implied that this list had
been provided and approved by AF4C. However, Bill knew that AF4C had
made no commitment to hold the US Championship and that the USCF had no
other sponsorship offers in the works.
In the last few days, Bill has suggested that it is because of Sam
Sloan (me) that "we the people" and AF4C pulled out of the 2007 US
Championship. However, neither organization had ever stated a
willingness or had ever agreed to sponsor the US Championship.
I was publicly reprimanded by Bill Goichberg and two other board
members, Joel Channing and Randy Hough, for stating facts in a private
email to the board that were subsequently proven to be true. Go back
and read what I was reprimanded for and you will be able to see that
what I wrote was exactly correct.
Two weeks ago I was suspended from posting to the USCF Forum on the
pretext that I had posted confidential information. Yet, the supposedly
objectionable posting did not reveal confidential information or indeed
any information at all. It simply asked a question. I have repeatedly
asked what information did it reveal. Bill has refused to answer
(claiming that the question has already been answered).
Now, the USCF faces a serious problem. Bill has qualified 18 players to
play in the US Championship who are not qualified by rating. Bill
insists that these 18 must be allowed to play. However, this will cost
a lot of money and we do not have any. You cannot squeeze blood from a
stone. Bill is demanding that any bidder for the US Championship must
provide enough money to pay for these 18 players. This huge expense
will drive away many sponsors and may kill the US Championship
entirely.
Sam Sloan
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