Corruption??: Did the USCF change rules so as to block "Dream Team"
from competing?

It has come out in the last 24 hours that in August 2003 the Activity
Rules for USCF Invitational Competition were changed. The new rules
are posted at:

http://www.uschess.org/scholastic/03...quirements.php

I would like to know who changed these rules and the process by which
they were changed. Did the delegates change them or did the Executive
Board change them? Was this done in open or closed session?

The relevance is that this rule change could have the effect of
destroying Woman's World Champion Susan Polgar's "Dream Team". It is
clear that Susan Polgar did not know about these changes until
yesterday. It is also apparent that there were some acrimonious
encounters between members of the board and Susan in August 2003, just
when these exchanges were made. Also, Tim Hanke, who was elected to
the board at that time, has repeatedly made personal attacks on Ms.
Polgar, so it would be relevant to find out the extent to which Hanke
were involved in these changes.

The reason these changes could have the effect of destroying the
"Dream Team" (the formation of the team was previously announced on
the cover of Chess Life) can be seen from the following provision:

ACTIVITY

Players must play a minimum number of USCF-rated games
(defined as including games played in the FIDE World Championship
cycle, or other recognized world championship competition). Games
played to satisfy the activity requirement must be played under the
rating system used to select players for a particular event (see
above). Thus, games played under the USCF?es Quick Chess rating system
do not count toward the activity requirement. There is no minimum
number of events.

1. Play at least 10 USCF-rated games (including games played
in the FIDE World Championship cycle, or other recognized world
championship competition) during the twelve month period prior to
computation of invitational ratings.

2. For the U.S. Championship or FIDE Olympiad, players may
satisfy the activity requirement by their participation in the
immediately preceding event.

The killer is in paragraph 2. It says that the activity requirement to
play in the Olympiad can be satisfied by playing in the previous
Olympiad. Two of the players in the previous Olympiad have played no
games at all during the past 12 months. They are Elena
Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite. The average player in
a Woman's Olympiad will play 10.5 games. That number comes from the
fact that there are 14 rounds in an Olympiad and four women on a team,
but three play in a match. Thus, 14 times 3 divided by 4 equals 10.5.
Therefore, under this rule change a player with a high rating can play
no games at all for a two year period and still meet the activity
requirement.

Before this rule change, a played had to play 21 games within the
preceding 12 months to meet the activity requirement. All five members
of Susan Polgar's "Dream Team" have played 21 rated games in the past
12 months. Now, two of them stand to be kicked of the team and
replaced by Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite who
have played no games at all.

Another killer is the reduction from 21 games to 10. Anna Hahn played
only three rated games in the past 12 months, except that she played
in the US Amateur Team Championship East, a six-round event, and she
played just one game in a New York Masters two days ago and dropped
out. In the tournament in which she played three games, she lost all
three games and dropped out. In the tournament last Tuesday she lost
one game and dropped out. These were quick play 30 minute games. Her
results for the US Amateur Team East have not yet been reported. Thus,
she has failed to complete even a single tournament and she has lost
every game she has been reported to have played, and yet under the new
rules she has met the activity requirement.

The activity requirement first came about in 1988 when Joel Benjamin
complained that Lubomir Kavalek was playing in every US Championship
without playing in any other events.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/10188407

Kavalek was living in Germany but was a naturalized US Citizen. (He
defected from Czechoslovakia in 1968). Every year he came to the US
Championship, drew all or almost all of his games, collected his
paycheck, and went back to Germany. He never played in any other
events except for the US Championship. He was invited every year
because of his high rating. So, he got paid every year while making no
contribution whatever to US Chess.

The result of the activity requirement was that Kavalek simply stopped
playing altogether. Since 1988, Kavalek has never played in a USCF
rated tournament except for a few exhibition events.

In about 1999, the activity requirement for women was made higher than
the activity requirement for men. The apparent reason was to stop
former Soviet players like Levitina from getting automatic spots
without ever playing. Levitina also has been dropped from the events.
The point is that it is not enough to be a strong player. One must
play too, in order to defend the rating against improving young
players.

The Susan Polgar Dream Team was created out of Susan plus four young
women who were working hard at chess and rapidly improving. Their ages
are 20, 23, 23 and 24. The players that by these rules changes could
be put on the team are mostly in their 30s and 40s and never or rarely
play chess any more.

The vindictive destruction of the USCF's Dream Team is a serious
matter. The US Woman's team consisting of these older players has in
general finished in the middle of the field in the Woman's Olympiad,
around 20th or 30th place. Susan Polgar felt that her team of much
younger improving players had a change of wining a gold medal. Now,
unless these rules are changed back to the way they were before.
August 2003, the US chances for winning a medal are about zero and the
acrimonious exchanges over this make it clear that there is little
love lost between them. There is a real possibility that this was done
to stop Susan's team from competing.

There is a serious flaw in allowing an Olympiad to be counted to meet
an activity requirement. The Olympiad is not USCF rated. Thus, a
player in an Olympiad could lose every game. In that case, the
player's rating would not drop plus the activity requirement would be
satisfied. In theory, a player could be invited year after year
because of having a high rating, while still losing every game.

I feel that the activity requirement should be changed back to what it
was before August, 2003

Sam Sloan

Only in chess could a dream of Susan Polgar trump a dream of Anna Hahn.

--
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"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
Corruption??: Did the USCF change rules so as to block "Dream Team"
from competing?

It has come out in the last 24 hours that in August 2003 the Activity
Rules for USCF Invitational Competition were changed. The new rules
are posted at:

http://www.uschess.org/scholastic/03...quirements.php

I would like to know who changed these rules and the process by which
they were changed. Did the delegates change them or did the Executive
Board change them? Was this done in open or closed session?

The relevance is that this rule change could have the effect of
destroying Woman's World Champion Susan Polgar's "Dream Team". It is
clear that Susan Polgar did not know about these changes until
yesterday. It is also apparent that there were some acrimonious
encounters between members of the board and Susan in August 2003, just
when these exchanges were made. Also, Tim Hanke, who was elected to
the board at that time, has repeatedly made personal attacks on Ms.
Polgar, so it would be relevant to find out the extent to which Hanke
were involved in these changes.

The reason these changes could have the effect of destroying the
"Dream Team" (the formation of the team was previously announced on
the cover of Chess Life) can be seen from the following provision:

ACTIVITY

Players must play a minimum number of USCF-rated games
(defined as including games played in the FIDE World Championship
cycle, or other recognized world championship competition). Games
played to satisfy the activity requirement must be played under the
rating system used to select players for a particular event (see
above). Thus, games played under the USCF?es Quick Chess rating system
do not count toward the activity requirement. There is no minimum
number of events.

1. Play at least 10 USCF-rated games (including games played
in the FIDE World Championship cycle, or other recognized world
championship competition) during the twelve month period prior to
computation of invitational ratings.

2. For the U.S. Championship or FIDE Olympiad, players may
satisfy the activity requirement by their participation in the
immediately preceding event.

The killer is in paragraph 2. It says that the activity requirement to
play in the Olympiad can be satisfied by playing in the previous
Olympiad. Two of the players in the previous Olympiad have played no
games at all during the past 12 months. They are Elena
Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite. The average player in
a Woman's Olympiad will play 10.5 games. That number comes from the
fact that there are 14 rounds in an Olympiad and four women on a team,
but three play in a match. Thus, 14 times 3 divided by 4 equals 10.5.
Therefore, under this rule change a player with a high rating can play
no games at all for a two year period and still meet the activity
requirement.

Before this rule change, a played had to play 21 games within the
preceding 12 months to meet the activity requirement. All five members
of Susan Polgar's "Dream Team" have played 21 rated games in the past
12 months. Now, two of them stand to be kicked of the team and
replaced by Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite who
have played no games at all.

Another killer is the reduction from 21 games to 10. Anna Hahn played
only three rated games in the past 12 months, except that she played
in the US Amateur Team Championship East, a six-round event, and she
played just one game in a New York Masters two days ago and dropped
out. In the tournament in which she played three games, she lost all
three games and dropped out. In the tournament last Tuesday she lost
one game and dropped out. These were quick play 30 minute games. Her
results for the US Amateur Team East have not yet been reported. Thus,
she has failed to complete even a single tournament and she has lost
every game she has been reported to have played, and yet under the new
rules she has met the activity requirement.

The activity requirement first came about in 1988 when Joel Benjamin
complained that Lubomir Kavalek was playing in every US Championship
without playing in any other events.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/10188407

Kavalek was living in Germany but was a naturalized US Citizen. (He
defected from Czechoslovakia in 1968). Every year he came to the US
Championship, drew all or almost all of his games, collected his
paycheck, and went back to Germany. He never played in any other
events except for the US Championship. He was invited every year
because of his high rating. So, he got paid every year while making no
contribution whatever to US Chess.

The result of the activity requirement was that Kavalek simply stopped
playing altogether. Since 1988, Kavalek has never played in a USCF
rated tournament except for a few exhibition events.

In about 1999, the activity requirement for women was made higher than
the activity requirement for men. The apparent reason was to stop
former Soviet players like Levitina from getting automatic spots
without ever playing. Levitina also has been dropped from the events.
The point is that it is not enough to be a strong player. One must
play too, in order to defend the rating against improving young
players.

The Susan Polgar Dream Team was created out of Susan plus four young
women who were working hard at chess and rapidly improving. Their ages
are 20, 23, 23 and 24. The players that by these rules changes could
be put on the team are mostly in their 30s and 40s and never or rarely
play chess any more.

The vindictive destruction of the USCF's Dream Team is a serious
matter. The US Woman's team consisting of these older players has in
general finished in the middle of the field in the Woman's Olympiad,
around 20th or 30th place. Susan Polgar felt that her team of much
younger improving players had a change of wining a gold medal. Now,
unless these rules are changed back to the way they were before.
August 2003, the US chances for winning a medal are about zero and the
acrimonious exchanges over this make it clear that there is little
love lost between them. There is a real possibility that this was done
to stop Susan's team from competing.

There is a serious flaw in allowing an Olympiad to be counted to meet
an activity requirement. The Olympiad is not USCF rated. Thus, a
player in an Olympiad could lose every game. In that case, the
player's rating would not drop plus the activity requirement would be
satisfied. In theory, a player could be invited year after year
because of having a high rating, while still losing every game.

I feel that the activity requirement should be changed back to what it
was before August, 2003

Sam Sloan

I have just reviewed the minutes of the USCF Delegate's meeting and
the three USCF Executive Board meetings in August, 2003. The Executive
Board met in person or by conference call on August 7, 11 and 22.

In none of the minutes of those meetings can I find a statement that
the activity requirement for participation on the US Olympic Team or
the US Championship was changed or modified. Yet, we are told that in
August 2003 the activity requirement was reduced from 21 games to 10
games.

Obviously, Susan Polgar and the rest of her "Dream Team" was not
informed of this change. They thought it was still 21 games.

Obviously, this change should have been announced and discussed with
the players. With this change, a player could play in one all-night
Insanity tournament and qualify for the US Olympic Team, thereby
pushing another player off the team.

Examples of players who could qualify in this way:

Irina Levitina rated 2430 who has not played a tournament game since
1999.
http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12553362

Anna Gulko Akhsharumova rated 2397 who has not played a tournament
game since 1997.
http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12475421

Gata Kamsky rated 2784 who has not played a tournament game since
1997.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12528459

(I spoke to Gata about this recently and he said that he was not that
insane.)

This is to say nothing of Raymond Weinstein, who really is insane.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/12397560

I have asked the question and so far nobody has answered. Who changed
the activity rules and when were they changed? Were they changed by
the delegates, by the Executive Board or by the Executive Director?
Who was notified of these changes and if the players were not
notified, why not?

Sam Sloan

Sam What rules specifically were changed in Aug 2003? What did the
rules immediately before Aug 2003 say?

There is always a problem when you change the rules midstream and
don't clearly indicate when they will apply.


(Sam Sloan) wrote in message ...
Corruption??: Did the USCF change rules so as to block "Dream Team"
from competing?

It has come out in the last 24 hours that in August 2003 the Activity
Rules for USCF Invitational Competition were changed. The new rules
are posted at:

http://www.uschess.org/scholastic/03...quirements.php

I would like to know who changed these rules and the process by which
they were changed. Did the delegates change them or did the Executive
Board change them? Was this done in open or closed session?

The relevance is that this rule change could have the effect of
destroying Woman's World Champion Susan Polgar's "Dream Team". It is
clear that Susan Polgar did not know about these changes until
yesterday. It is also apparent that there were some acrimonious
encounters between members of the board and Susan in August 2003, just
when these exchanges were made. Also, Tim Hanke, who was elected to
the board at that time, has repeatedly made personal attacks on Ms.
Polgar, so it would be relevant to find out the extent to which Hanke
were involved in these changes.

The reason these changes could have the effect of destroying the
"Dream Team" (the formation of the team was previously announced on
the cover of Chess Life) can be seen from the following provision:

ACTIVITY

Players must play a minimum number of USCF-rated games
(defined as including games played in the FIDE World Championship
cycle, or other recognized world championship competition). Games
played to satisfy the activity requirement must be played under the
rating system used to select players for a particular event (see
above). Thus, games played under the USCF?es Quick Chess rating system
do not count toward the activity requirement. There is no minimum
number of events.

1. Play at least 10 USCF-rated games (including games played
in the FIDE World Championship cycle, or other recognized world
championship competition) during the twelve month period prior to
computation of invitational ratings.

2. For the U.S. Championship or FIDE Olympiad, players may
satisfy the activity requirement by their participation in the
immediately preceding event.

The killer is in paragraph 2. It says that the activity requirement to
play in the Olympiad can be satisfied by playing in the previous
Olympiad. Two of the players in the previous Olympiad have played no
games at all during the past 12 months. They are Elena
Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite. The average player in
a Woman's Olympiad will play 10.5 games. That number comes from the
fact that there are 14 rounds in an Olympiad and four women on a team,
but three play in a match. Thus, 14 times 3 divided by 4 equals 10.5.
Therefore, under this rule change a player with a high rating can play
no games at all for a two year period and still meet the activity
requirement.

Before this rule change, a played had to play 21 games within the
preceding 12 months to meet the activity requirement. All five members
of Susan Polgar's "Dream Team" have played 21 rated games in the past
12 months. Now, two of them stand to be kicked of the team and
replaced by Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya and Camilla Baginskaite who
have played no games at all.

Another killer is the reduction from 21 games to 10. Anna Hahn played
only three rated games in the past 12 months, except that she played
in the US Amateur Team Championship East, a six-round event, and she
played just one game in a New York Masters two days ago and dropped
out. In the tournament in which she played three games, she lost all
three games and dropped out. In the tournament last Tuesday she lost
one game and dropped out. These were quick play 30 minute games. Her
results for the US Amateur Team East have not yet been reported. Thus,
she has failed to complete even a single tournament and she has lost
every game she has been reported to have played, and yet under the new
rules she has met the activity requirement.

The activity requirement first came about in 1988 when Joel Benjamin
complained that Lubomir Kavalek was playing in every US Championship
without playing in any other events.

http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/10188407

Kavalek was living in Germany but was a naturalized US Citizen. (He
defected from Czechoslovakia in 1968). Every year he came to the US
Championship, drew all or almost all of his games, collected his
paycheck, and went back to Germany. He never played in any other
events except for the US Championship. He was invited every year
because of his high rating. So, he got paid every year while making no
contribution whatever to US Chess.

The result of the activity requirement was that Kavalek simply stopped
playing altogether. Since 1988, Kavalek has never played in a USCF
rated tournament except for a few exhibition events.

In about 1999, the activity requirement for women was made higher than
the activity requirement for men. The apparent reason was to stop
former Soviet players like Levitina from getting automatic spots
without ever playing. Levitina also has been dropped from the events.
The point is that it is not enough to be a strong player. One must
play too, in order to defend the rating against improving young
players.

The Susan Polgar Dream Team was created out of Susan plus four young
women who were working hard at chess and rapidly improving. Their ages
are 20, 23, 23 and 24. The players that by these rules changes could
be put on the team are mostly in their 30s and 40s and never or rarely
play chess any more.

The vindictive destruction of the USCF's Dream Team is a serious
matter. The US Woman's team consisting of these older players has in
general finished in the middle of the field in the Woman's Olympiad,
around 20th or 30th place. Susan Polgar felt that her team of much
younger improving players had a change of wining a gold medal. Now,
unless these rules are changed back to the way they were before.
August 2003, the US chances for winning a medal are about zero and the
acrimonious exchanges over this make it clear that there is little
love lost between them. There is a real possibility that this was done
to stop Susan's team from competing.

There is a serious flaw in allowing an Olympiad to be counted to meet
an activity requirement. The Olympiad is not USCF rated. Thus, a
player in an Olympiad could lose every game. In that case, the
player's rating would not drop plus the activity requirement would be
satisfied. In theory, a player could be invited year after year
because of having a high rating, while still losing every game.

I feel that the activity requirement should be changed back to what it
was before August, 2003

Sam Sloan

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...

In none of the minutes of those meetings can I find a statement that
the activity requirement for participation on the US Olympic Team or
the US Championship was changed or modified. Yet, we are told that in
August 2003 the activity requirement was reduced from 21 games to 10
games.

You were the one that made that declaration. Knowing the facts i couldn't
help but laugh. Another Sloan lie where he didn't lie. Right.

StanB