Financial crisis versus Redman's rating

Dear Mr. Sloan,

It is correct that my rating dropped below 2000, and I played in a
Southwest Open and tied for first for the A prize. An old friend from
Ohio, David Hater, playing in the same event and remembering my 2100+
rating from those years made a jocular remark about my winning an A
prize.

I took him seriously, however, and decided that it was not ethical for
me to be winning A prizes. I therefore asked for a floor of 2000 and
it was given to me.

My National Open result was atrocious but not typical. I had a
fascinating first-round game against a 2400+ player where I blundered
a pawn shortly out of the opening but fought hard to almost draw. More
typically in the few events I could manage a few years back, I would
at times move up a bit from my floor and then drop back.

Since I will be stepping down as UT Dallas Chess Program Director at
the end of August, I hope to have some time to play. I have no problem
with my floor being removed, as it will mean I'll win some A prizes as
I get back into form. But I still believe that such a course is not
ethical. It's damned if I do and damned if I don't, in your book.

But the larger issue is as follows.

As an EB member are you going to waste everyone's time talking about
these petty issues, or address the serious problems facing the
Federation.

The auditors have reported that the USCF has lost nearly a quarter of
a million dollars in the recently concluded fiscal year. Why hasn't
that report been released? What will be done to address the serious
cash flow crisis the Federation is now facing, as it does every summer
during its first fiscal quarter, historically the worst? As an EB
member what will you do? Ask for staff layoffs? Cut pages from the
magazine?

Or do you intend to focus your efforts on tracing Tim Redman's rating
history, surely the most pressing issue now faced by the USCF?

Sincerely,

Tim Redman

Dear Tim,

I am deeply shocked to receive your letter. I had no idea that the
USCF is facing such a big new financial crisis.

First, allow me to explain that it was not I who brought up Tim
Redman's chess rating. That was Eric Mark, our mild mannered newspaper
reporter who is best known for being declared one of only four members
of the chess newsgroups who really cares about chess. Eric Mark
provided a list of chess politicians who have been awarded floors
above their actual playing ability. Your name was on the list.
Otherwise, I would never have noticed the minor 20 point spike in your
rating. It turns out that almost all of our chess politicians hold
ratings above their current playing ability, with the exception of
Joel Channing who is rated 1196.

I am deeply disturbed by your revelation that we have just lost a
quarter of a million dollars. In answer to your question of why this
has not been revealed, the financial report has not been released yet.
It supposedly is still being worked on. Meanwhile, our house
accountant is agitating to stop me from taking my seat on the
Executive Board to which I have been duly elected. Perhaps he has
something to hide.

In answer to your question as to what I will do, I will tell you that
I absolutely NOT call for the firings or forced resignations of a
bunch of people. First, we need to find out why we have lost the
money. We cannot cure the illness unless we discover the cause of the
disease.

It seems to me to be almost unbelievable that we could be losing such
a large amount of money in view of the wonderful job that Mike Nolan
has done with the MSA, automated ratings and membership services,
online searchable TLAs and so many other features. With this, the
major labor intensive work previously done by the office staff has
been automated.

Next, the move to Crossville is supposed to have been a big money
saver due to the lower cost of dong business in Tennessee. However,
the information I have received indicates that Tennessee is proving to
be more costly than our operations were in New Windsor.

As far as firing people is concerned, we cannot do that because we
just finished firing the last seven members of our Chess Life staff in
New Windsor, so now we have to hire new people to replace them, unless
that has been done already. We cannot cut the magazine. We cannot cut
Chess Life for Kids either. In addition, we cannot fire Harry Sabine's
son. He is sacrosanct!

In August, 2003, the USCF had 43 employees. Most of them have since
been fired or replaced. Only a few are left.

A big question concerns the fact that the USCF just spent $10,000 on a
retreat, $50,000 on a consultant, and $40,000 on a new webmaster. What
were they doing spending this much money, if they were losing that
much money?

If I told you that I have the solution to the problem, I would be
lying. I have certain pet issues which you already know about if you
have been reading my stuff. I want to see the deed to the Crossville
land. I am convinced that we do not hold clear title to the land. I
want to get an handle on the old problem of life members which has
often been discussed but has never been solved. I want to stop giving
money to a certain Chess Promoter. However, these items do not explain
how we could possibly be losing $250,000 this year when we should be
making a bundle of money.

I can promise you that I will get to the bottom of this and I will
find a solution to the problem, unless of course the old guard
succeeds in depriving me of access to the financial figures which I
need to be able to see to solve the problem. Kindly recall that I was
a financial consultant to a major Wall Street financial institution. I
intend to put that experience to work.

Very Truly Yours,

Sam Sloan

PS I remember watching a nice game you won at the 1996 US Open in
Alexandria, so I know that you can really play chess.