The new USCF board

POLITICAL ANALYSIS

I have been on the transpacific blower and
exchanging e-mails with some Federation politerati.
Here is some of what I have heard:

1. A long-time California USCF observer figures
that the schism among members of the oligarchy or, as
he puts it, "the club," had everyone fighting so much
that they failed to notice an invasion from outer
space. In this rendering, Susan Polgar and Paul
Truong are the space invaders.

2. This same California observer believes that
Bill Goichberg could win reelection as president,
though Jim Berry is a definite candidate for the
office. \o bet on either Goichberg or Berry -- a view
that I also heard from an observer in New York, who is
on the inside.

3. What about the Polgar-Truong mandate? I buy
Sam Sloan's analysis that Randy Bauer and Jim Berry
owe a lot to Polgar. Their victories, though they
would rightly insist on serving as their own men,
reinforce rather than detract from the Polgar-Truong
mandate.

My New York observer states that the mandate will
be ignored COMPLETELY by a Board majority. Bauer has
pledged not to support anyone as president who has not
previously served on the Board, which likely
eliminates both Polgar and Truong from the presidency.

4. A third observer, who is friendly enough with
the Polgar-Truong couple, states that neither is
interested in the post of vice president or secretary.
That leaves only the treasurer's position, which
Randy Bauer will likely assume.

5. Neither Polgar nor Truong will hold office on the
new Board, though they are the clear winners of this election.


6. The California observer says that this is the
first election in which the Old Guard has been unable
to keep events under control. (Not quite true. 1990
and 1991 were other examples.) He attributes the sea
change to OMOV.

7. One more election necessary? There is
general agreement that Polgar-Truong are here to stay,
and they will eventually put together a Board majority
in the next election or the one following. They are
the products of OMOV, which this writer and Larry
Evans did so much to bring about and which has
empowered those with reputation and enormous energy.

8. Two personal observations:

A. For once, an election result ought to be respected, and Susan or
Paul Truong should be offered the presidency, if they want the office.

B. The victory of Randy Bauer bodes ill for those favoring free
speech
and basic decency in chess affairs. He is a censorship type who
will maneuver behind the scenes with a political knife to ban writers
and
purge dissidents. He will work hard to ingratiate himself with the
FIDE
types, including Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is accused by human
rights organizations of both torture and murder. Such is the nature
of the Bauer person.

Yours, Larry Parr

On Jul 27, 12:28 am, " wrote:
POLITICAL ANALYSIS


B. The victory of Randy Bauer bodes ill for those favoring free
speech
and basic decency in chess affairs. He is a censorship type who
will maneuver behind the scenes with a political knife to ban writers
and
purge dissidents. He will work hard to ingratiate himself with the
FIDE
types, including Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is accused by human
rights organizations of both torture and murder. Such is the nature
of the Bauer person.

Yours, Larry Parr

Larry,

Isn't that just a little over the top? What, exactly, would you point
to that proclaims me "a censorship type?" Actions speak louder than
words - while I was on the Executive Board, I was the strongest
supporter of Don Schultz' move to reinstate the BINFO system. Hardly
the agenda of "a censorship type." For that matter, I hung around
this place and participated when most of the members of the Executive
Board had long since gone. This past year, I pushed to get Donna
Alarie included in financial meetings in Crossville, even though she
is a vociferous critic of many of the USCF's past financial
practices. Would "a censorship type" invite the epitome of financials
free speech to the table? Of course not.

I hope we will shed additional light on the USCF. I, for one, don't
understand why the BINFOs have a one week time delay; perhaps there is
a need of some sort of filter process to ensure that confidential
information isn't breeched, but it seems curious to me to try to
follow along with conversations that have often lost their relevance.
I sincerely hope the financial reporting becomes more regular and the
data more consistant.

Come on, Larry, lose the chains of the memories of past
disagreements. Don't forget that I, too, was one of those people on
the front lines of the fight for OMOV and carried on many a debate
here with Tom Dorsch in particular on the subject.

Give peace a chance. Let it be. Obla dee, obla dah, life goes on,
bra.

Oh, and one other thing: I don't have the slightest, even the most
minute interest in the current FIDE cast of characters. If you can
find even ONE post of mine on the newsgroups that suggests otherwise,
I will eat my hat.

Randy Bauer

"Randy Bauer" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jul 27, 12:28 am, " wrote:
POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Give peace a chance. Let it be. Obla dee, obla dah, life goes on,
bra.

Oh, and one other thing: I don't have the slightest, even the most
minute interest in the current FIDE cast of characters. If you can
find even ONE post of mine on the newsgroups that suggests otherwise,
I will eat my hat.

Randy Bauer

Ah, there you are! I seem to have interviewed most all the winners in the
past 24 hours, but I can't loose the goose. Which is better than the rumor
mill and something I thought of myself! "I'll just ask 'em!" I thought.
Brilliant, no?

It was good of you to already inform me of your new title, Sir, by private
e-mail, and in fact, good to have an evil-politician among us again.
Welcome!

Sam has been here a lot, but, he never talked with the likes of us, he jus'
talked at us. But enough pleasantries! Here are some questions already, Sir:

(1) As the most famous hide-away censorious and brutal politician,
government trained and certified, in the entire hystery of American chess
[see my new book], how will you prove anything to such as Larry Parr by
making arcane references to pop groups he has likely never heard of?

(2) And as for the rest of us, how do we know you are going to actually do
what you say, and I quote:

"Obla dee, obla dah",

which I take to be a reference to the title of a painting by Cranach the
Elder, and allegory of the broken-mirror of Hysphoraldnees [book iv];

so that on the left of the picture is the real 'dee' but reflected in the
broken mirror there is no 'dah'?

(3) A poster here, who I shall call The Man in White, who is rumoured to be
one of the Rob Mitchells [don't ask why I say this], has said that you
actually play chess. And we have a team you know, except our team-captain
ran away.

Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes of
us, Sir?

Cordially, Phil Innes
A Plain Vermont Fellow

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes of
us, Sir? -- Phil Innes to Randy Bauer

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.politics, rec.games.chess.misc
From: "
Date: 10 May 2006 07:59:39 -0700
Subject: Evans says name the date!

RANDY WANTS TO COME TO RENO

Randy Bauer himself suggested using his frequent flier miles
to come to Reno and suggested that all four games be played
in a single day (12 hours plus breaks in between).

Randy also claimed that he intended to win the match [vs. GM Evans]
but would be satisfied to draw it 2-2. Angelo predicted that Randy
was way over his head.






Chess One wrote:
"Randy Bauer" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Jul 27, 12:28 am, " wrote:
POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Give peace a chance. Let it be. Obla dee, obla dah, life goes on,
bra.

Oh, and one other thing: I don't have the slightest, even the most
minute interest in the current FIDE cast of characters. If you can
find even ONE post of mine on the newsgroups that suggests otherwise,
I will eat my hat.

Randy Bauer

Ah, there you are! I seem to have interviewed most all the winners in the
past 24 hours, but I can't loose the goose. Which is better than the rumor
mill and something I thought of myself! "I'll just ask 'em!" I thought.
Brilliant, no?

It was good of you to already inform me of your new title, Sir, by private
e-mail, and in fact, good to have an evil-politician among us again.
Welcome!

Sam has been here a lot, but, he never talked with the likes of us, he jus'
talked at us. But enough pleasantries! Here are some questions already, Sir:

(1) As the most famous hide-away censorious and brutal politician,
government trained and certified, in the entire hystery of American chess
[see my new book], how will you prove anything to such as Larry Parr by
making arcane references to pop groups he has likely never heard of?

(2) And as for the rest of us, how do we know you are going to actually do
what you say, and I quote:

"Obla dee, obla dah",

which I take to be a reference to the title of a painting by Cranach the
Elder, and allegory of the broken-mirror of Hysphoraldnees [book iv];

so that on the left of the picture is the real 'dee' but reflected in the
broken mirror there is no 'dah'?

(3) A poster here, who I shall call The Man in White, who is rumoured to be
one of the Rob Mitchells [don't ask why I say this], has said that you
actually play chess. And we have a team you know, except our team-captain
ran away.

Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes of
us, Sir?

Cordially, Phil Innes
A Plain Vermont Fellow

wrote in message
oups.com...
BLAST FROM THE PAST

Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes
of
us, Sir? -- Phil Innes to Randy Bauer

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.politics, rec.games.chess.misc
From: "
Date: 10 May 2006 07:59:39 -0700
Subject: Evans says name the date!

RANDY WANTS TO COME TO RENO

Randy Bauer himself suggested using his frequent flier miles
to come to Reno and suggested that all four games be played
in a single day (12 hours plus breaks in between).

Randy also claimed that he intended to win the match [vs. GM Evans]
but would be satisfied to draw it 2-2. Angelo predicted that Randy
was way over his head.

I challenged Larry E to a match once, and you told me not to be so daft!@
LOL
You were almost certainly right.

So, what else to say? I didn't copy you a note earlier today to two rogues,
though should, since it had not a /very/ direct inference to your fortunes,
but some, and which will take plenty tip-toe-ing through the tulips before
the tree-uprooting.

But I do not intend to say more on my new relationship with Sir Randy,
because of my new job as CL editor. I do hope this will be okay with
everyone here, and no one will cry "foul!"? Since, I think the current modus
is, to never actually correspond with anyone on again chess subjects,
certainly not with Grandmasters, nor the vox populi, neither!

Haughtily, Phil

On Jul 28, 7:24 am, "Chess One" wrote:

POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Give peace a chance. Let it be. Obla dee, obla dah, life goes on,
bra.

Oh, and one other thing: I don't have the slightest, even the most
minute interest in the current FIDE cast of characters. If you can
find even ONE post of mine on the newsgroups that suggests otherwise,
I will eat my hat.


Hat-haters everywhere will leap at this chance to retain
Dr. Louis Blair -- for a small fee -- to fetch any possible
evidence as described above. "One small hat for a man,
one less hat for mankind!", they will chant.


Ah, there you are! I seem to have interviewed most all the winners in the
past 24 hours, but I can't loose the goose. Which is better than the rumor
mill and something I thought of myself! "I'll just ask 'em!" I thought.
Brilliant, no?

It was good of you to already inform me of your new title, Sir, by private
e-mail, and in fact, good to have an evil-politician among us again.

Mr. Sloan left us? When? Why?


Sam has been here a lot, but, he never talked with the likes of us, he jus'
talked at us. But enough pleasantries! Here are some questions already, Sir:

(1) As the most famous hide-away censorious and brutal politician,
government trained and certified, in the entire hystery of American chess
[see my new book], how will you prove anything to such as Larry Parr by
making arcane references to pop groups he has likely never heard of?

Good point. It is highly unlikely that a man living half-
way around the world would ever have even heard of The
Monkees.


(2) And as for the rest of us, how do we know you are going to actually do
what you say, and I quote:

"Obla dee, obla dah",

That's selective quoting, Mr. Innes. The real point of
the song is where they cover this: "EBITDA", which as
everyone knows is Earnings Before Interest, Taxes,
Depreciation and Amortization. It's all about cash flow,
don't you know. Oh-- and their other songs were really
about doing drugs. (Or was that the Beagles?)


(3) A poster here, who I shall call The Man in White, who is rumoured to be
one of the Rob Mitchells [don't ask why I say this], has said that you
actually play chess.

Well, Rob Mitchell would know; he's seen it done,
though never quite learned how himself.


And we have a team you know, except our team-captain
ran away.

Halitosis, probably. Have you tried brushing your
teeth every week?



Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes of
us, Sir?

I think he should play your whole team, simultaneously.
Rob Mitchell is a Rook-odds player, and of course IM
Innes and the rest would need only a Knight, or since
it is a simul, how about pawn-and-move?


-- help bot

On Jul 28, 3:56 pm, "Chess One" wrote:

Randy Bauer himself suggested using his frequent flier miles
to come to Reno and suggested that all four games be played
in a single day (12 hours plus breaks in between).


Four games in one day -- does that not favor the younger
player?



Randy also claimed that he intended to win the match [vs. GM Evans]
but would be satisfied to draw it 2-2. Angelo predicted that Randy
was way over his head.

I challenged Larry E to a match once, and you told me not to be so daft!@
LOL
You were almost certainly right.

Where were you in the 1950's? A Rook-odds guy,
most likely.


Haughtily, [CL editor] Phil

Look, just go and fix all those spelling errors. I
hear there is a "performance bonus" and that it is
based primarily on how many times you can put
in references to Suzan Polgar and on how few
times you bungle the spelling and dates. A near-
perfect record nets you double your base salary,
or put simply, a 100K bonus per year. It's a living... .


-- help bot

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

According to Phil Innes, there is a reference to
rock and roll lyrics somewhere in Randy Bauer's call
to give peace a chance. Probably the bit about obla
dee, obla dah, etc.

Never heard it before. I seethe with rage and
ravening, chop-slathering anthropophagous hunger
toward anyone quoting rock lyrics. Slice up Mr. Bauer
as one would a ham and serve him for lunch in the USCF
lunchroom.

To put the matter another way, it never hurts to
put a shot or two across the bow of these USCF
politicians -- just to let them know that we are watching.

Unless Susan Polgar, who has received a clear
mandate, is given a chance by the Board at the
presidency, one predicts a period of further battling.
We cannot begin anew unless the election result is honored.

Randy Bauer -- it is claimed -- stated that he
would not support as president a candidate without
previous experience on the Board. If true, one urges
him to reconsider. The key principle in lieu of
earthquakes is to accept an election result.

While others swim with the rock and roll trends,
yours truly listened to two episodes of the Great
Gildersleeve over Sunday breakfast.

Once again, I urge any of you who cannot stand
attitude, crudeness and obligatory racial and sexual
quotas in today's entertainment to visit such sites as
www.theradiolady.com and www.downunderdvd.com for some
tremendous bargains in the popcult from the past. A
typical mp3 radio disk may have a hundred or more
half-hour programs. The cost is six bucks or less if
orders are for 11 or more disks. The dvds from the
Australian dealer at downunderdvd are beautifully
prepared, and both of these dealers are highly reliable.

We may not be able to rollback the cultural
decadence, but we need not participate in it or lend
our dollars to it.



Chess One wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
BLAST FROM THE PAST

Are you in fact intending to play chess, and will you play with the likes
of
us, Sir? -- Phil Innes to Randy Bauer

Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.politics, rec.games.chess.misc
From: "
Date: 10 May 2006 07:59:39 -0700
Subject: Evans says name the date!

RANDY WANTS TO COME TO RENO

Randy Bauer himself suggested using his frequent flier miles
to come to Reno and suggested that all four games be played
in a single day (12 hours plus breaks in between).

Randy also claimed that he intended to win the match [vs. GM Evans]
but would be satisfied to draw it 2-2. Angelo predicted that Randy
was way over his head.

I challenged Larry E to a match once, and you told me not to be so daft!@
LOL
You were almost certainly right.

So, what else to say? I didn't copy you a note earlier today to two rogues,
though should, since it had not a /very/ direct inference to your fortunes,
but some, and which will take plenty tip-toe-ing through the tulips before
the tree-uprooting.

But I do not intend to say more on my new relationship with Sir Randy,
because of my new job as CL editor. I do hope this will be okay with
everyone here, and no one will cry "foul!"? Since, I think the current modus
is, to never actually correspond with anyone on again chess subjects,
certainly not with Grandmasters, nor the vox populi, neither!

Haughtily, Phil

On Jul 27, 1:28 am, " wrote:
POLITICAL ANALYSIS

I have been on the transpacific blower and
exchanging e-mails with some Federation politerati.
Here is some of what I have heard:

1. A long-time California USCF observer figures
that the schism among members of the oligarchy or, as
he puts it, "the club," had everyone fighting so much
that they failed to notice an invasion from outer
space. In this rendering, Susan Polgar and Paul
Truong are the space invaders.

2. This same California observer believes that
Bill Goichberg could win reelection as president,
though Jim Berry is a definite candidate for the
office. \o bet on either Goichberg or Berry -- a view
that I also heard from an observer in New York, who is
on the inside.

3. What about the Polgar-Truong mandate? I buy
Sam Sloan's analysis that Randy Bauer and Jim Berry
owe a lot to Polgar. Their victories, though they
would rightly insist on serving as their own men,
reinforce rather than detract from the Polgar-Truong
mandate.

My New York observer states that the mandate will
be ignored COMPLETELY by a Board majority. Bauer has
pledged not to support anyone as president who has not
previously served on the Board, which likely
eliminates both Polgar and Truong from the presidency.

4. A third observer, who is friendly enough with
the Polgar-Truong couple, states that neither is
interested in the post of vice president or secretary.
That leaves only the treasurer's position, which
Randy Bauer will likely assume.

5. Neither Polgar nor Truong will hold office on the
new Board, though they are the clear winners of this election.

6. The California observer says that this is the
first election in which the Old Guard has been unable
to keep events under control. (Not quite true. 1990
and 1991 were other examples.) He attributes the sea
change to OMOV.

7. One more election necessary? There is
general agreement that Polgar-Truong are here to stay,
and they will eventually put together a Board majority
in the next election or the one following. They are
the products of OMOV, which this writer and Larry
Evans did so much to bring about and which has
empowered those with reputation and enormous energy.

8. Two personal observations:

A. For once, an election result ought to be respected, and Susan or
Paul Truong should be offered the presidency, if they want the office.

B. The victory of Randy Bauer bodes ill for those favoring free
speech
and basic decency in chess affairs. He is a censorship type who
will maneuver behind the scenes with a political knife to ban writers
and
purge dissidents. He will work hard to ingratiate himself with the
FIDE
types, including Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is accused by human
rights organizations of both torture and murder. Such is the nature
of the Bauer person.

Yours, Larry Parr

Just checking in to see how bad Sam got his tail kicked and I figured
that he would finish either last this time or at least in the bottom
half after being elected last time. Elect him once shame on him,
elect him twice shame on you .

Congrats to the winners. My big question is what exactly is going to
get better about USCF? I think the only thing that finally happened
that I can see is that USCF finally got out of upstate New York,
finally ditched the huge payroll boondoggle and finally started facing
reality that it is a mostly shrinking organization filled with mostly
people who think they are way more important than they really are.

I will also say that I enjoyed meeting and talking with many of these
people in the years I was in the fray but I have no desire to go back
and rejoin, particularly given the fact that the dues kept on going up
for adults and kids were getting all the breaks and most people didn't
seem to give a rats about adult chess in this country, only kiddie
chess.

I saw adult chess in this country as a dying animal resembling
duplicate bridge tournaments with average age going up and up. I
think that the fundamental problems with American chess remain
unsolved because under whatever system the brilliant minds of the
world like Mr. Parr's devise, the people elected mostly don't have a
great deal of impact on changing things a whole lot.

The political players now are the same ones mostly that have been
around since 2004 when I left here. Truong, Polgar, Goichberg. Even
Sloan and Bauer are political insiders now. I heard that Sloan won
because Leroy Dubeck backed him in the last election and everyone
thought let's give Sloan a chance what do we have to lose? So Sam got
the "What do we have to lose?" vote last year, but this year he got
the "What the hell were we thinking vote?"

wrote in message
oups.com...
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

According to Phil Innes, there is a reference to
rock and roll lyrics somewhere in Randy Bauer's call
to give peace a chance. Probably the bit about obla
dee, obla dah, etc.

Never heard it before.

Anyone who can write about "Bob Dyland" is excused any blame ))

I seethe with rage and
ravening, chop-slathering anthropophagous hunger
toward anyone quoting rock lyrics. Slice up Mr. Bauer
as one would a ham and serve him for lunch in the USCF
lunchroom.

To put the matter another way, it never hurts to
put a shot or two across the bow of these USCF
politicians -- just to let them know that we are watching.

I am not at liberty to say what he told me this weekend - but I think your
previous guess was a good one, and he by far the best candidate for the
role.

Unless Susan Polgar, who has received a clear
mandate, is given a chance by the Board at the
presidency, one predicts a period of further battling.
We cannot begin anew unless the election result is honored.

Randy Bauer -- it is claimed -- stated that he
would not support as president a candidate without
previous experience on the Board. If true, one urges
him to reconsider. The key principle in lieu of
earthquakes is to accept an election result.

Its not a bad principle to uphold, in this instance somewhat alleviated by
experience heading up two other foundations - the SPF for a long time, and
the new Spice, in Tx.

I also spoke another candidate this weekend, and was surprised by the
response - but I wrote an editorial before that, and post hoc, etc, decided
to let it run...

---

It is remarkable that we, who had rather different ideas on this election,
should both concur in analysis of the strengths weaknesses and desirability
of the 'slate' candidates. Should this be considered a conspiracy by the
fishwives among us, it is no more matter than if they think all those who
say the sky is blue are... &c

AS FOR MR B

As for Mr. Bauer, of course one must keep a weather eye on the Grand
Auditor. I think in his chessville interview he himself raised the subject
of competency testing of USCF staff, so that they can be seen to be doing
what they say they do, or what is expected.

I thought it was a sincere comment at the time - and surely an absolutely
necessary one, since how can you [to mix a metaphor] contain all the beans
if you have a leaky bucket? So I think Mr. Bauer will need to demonstrate by
example how to go about things - and to be fair to him, since during his
last terms neither you nor I agreed with him much, he did show up here and
brave it out - and though we might wish for greater 'glasnost' he actually
seemed to be the least offending character in the line up!

As you may or may not know, there are already 'petitions' which address some
central factors of fairness in USCF business, in fact, as initiated
overseas -- though nothing can happen until these people get their feet
firmly under the board-table in a month.

RE- Su PPOLGAR

Your comment re. Su Polgar are probably the most potent of all, since it
will have greatest immediate and long-term effect - and "re-starting" some
sort of board-coherent activity will be the challenge for her, or for
anyone. I rather doubt that the heretofore tacit remodelling of the USCF
board along he lines of the CCA will be seen as a successful experiment, and
'strong-leader' in that sense cannot work in government, since what is
really means is singularity as best [or emergency] procedure method, rather
than any plural effort..

A better sort of 'strength' will be that which can bring the board together
on identified essential activity, and then deploy their talents to best
effect.

Cordially, Phil Innes

While others swim with the rock and roll trends,
yours truly listened to two episodes of the Great
Gildersleeve over Sunday breakfast.

Once again, I urge any of you who cannot stand
attitude, crudeness and obligatory racial and sexual
quotas in today's entertainment to visit such sites as
www.theradiolady.com and www.downunderdvd.com for some
tremendous bargains in the popcult from the past. A
typical mp3 radio disk may have a hundred or more
half-hour programs. The cost is six bucks or less if
orders are for 11 or more disks. The dvds from the
Australian dealer at downunderdvd are beautifully
prepared, and both of these dealers are highly reliable.

We may not be able to rollback the cultural
decadence, but we need not participate in it or lend
our dollars to it.