Please don't answer unless you have the credentials to do so authoritatively--we need something we can rely on.... This is rather time-sensitive. 10 round tnmt, double-round robin with 3 GMs (of whom two foreign nationals) & 3 IMs (of whom at least one foreign national). Does the FIDE prohibition against "individual single matches" disallow this format for norm purposes?

This kid was rated maybe 1800 a few short years ago. Now he's strong enough to compete with GMs and dusts them regularly on ICC. This may be the real reason Kasparov decided to quit (too many talented kids from the computer-era getting ready to dust him). His opening repertoire is shoddy, his middlegame is spectacular (like a computer's), and his endgames are pretty good, especially for...

Goran Tomic wrote: I mentioned several times our famous chess player Bora Kostic. He defeated many strong chess players. After his won against Frank Marshall, he was invited on strong international tournaments. He also defeated Kupchik and Sovalter. He had very original style of playing. He liked gambits and complications. He played in almost all countries around the world. Bora...

Al Lawrence and his wife were involved in a serious automobile accident last week, apparently while driving to the US Open Chess Championship and delegates meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Al is employed by the World Chess Hall of Fame. Previously, he worked for 15 years for the United States Chess Federation including 8 years as Executive Director. Prior to that, Al Lawrence was a high...

The rumor is Larry Parr will be the next Editor of Chess Life. The price to pay is 48 hours of non-stop intimacy with Neil Brennan. Sam Sloan will be reporting the event live for all of us. Zimmer

The Delegates meeting of the USCF ended at 3:10 PM. It was announced that the new Executive Board would convene for its first meeting at 4:10. Beatriz Marinello left the delegates meeting with everybody else and everything seemed normal. However, when the meeting of the new board convened she was nowhere to be found. Then, the new board received the startling news that Beatriz Marinello had...

Did Sam Sloan show up in Phoenix? Where was Peter Leko? Zimmer

Palace Coup Fails: Beatriz Marinello ousted as President and Resigns On Saturday night, August 13, 2005, hanging around the hotel lounge, I heard someone say that a terrible, horrible thing was about to happen and there were going to be fireworks. "What is the worst thing to happen that you can possibly think of?", this person asked. I thought and I thought and the worst thing I could possibly...

Recently I received a warning about the use of this politically incorrect term, so please note that we ALL need to be more sensitive in our choice of words. I have been informed the Islamic terrorists, who hate our guts and want to kill us, do not like to be called "towel heads," since the item they wear on their heads is not actually a towel, but in fact a small folded sheet. Therefore, from...

Greetings all, I went to U.S. Chess Online to see about ordering a new vinyl mat-board with a set of plastic chessmen. I had a ridiculous time of it.

Why cannot the Libertarian Party nominate an effective speaker who can present all of the Libertarian views? Why must we keep nominating weak candidates in such important elections? Sam Sloan Because the Libertarian Party is composed of weak-minded people.

Just looked at the USCF membership audit numbers and noticed that only 48 State Affiliates are currently listed. If Northern and Southern California and DC are required to be State Affiliates, this means that at least 4 states have either not renewed their membership or that the audit is a couple months behind which is possible, seeing as how it was last updated in early June and it's approaching...

I see the USCF's homepage has been transformed into something that reminds me of web pages back in 1994. Anyone know what is going on? -Douglas

A couple of recent droppings from the smelly Parrot cage at ChessVile. They continue the policy of attacking the Marinello presidency and praising the Dream Team: http://www.chessville.com/Editorials/AlekhinesParrot/Index.htm "The proverbial Winds of Change may be about to sweep through USCF Headquarters, as the elections appear to have put into office Bill Goichberg and friends. This is a...

I would like Mr. Innes to explain, in English if he is able, and with the help of a translator if he is not, why he stated the following in a Shakespeare newsgroup: "My qualifications for saying so is that I was nearly an international master, with a rating of 2450, which is a tolerably qualified level to offer an opinion - for example, , who used to post here before splitting, so to

According to the USCF's financial statement: http://www.uschess.org/org/govern/finance/2004-05AuditedFinancialStatementsforfiscalyearending5-31-05.pdf (page 13) ~~~~~~~~~~~ The Federation now has an agreement with Chess Cafe, an unrelated entity, to process all retail sales. The Federation will receive a yearly comission of 13.5% on sales up to $2,000,000.00 and 15% on sales in excess...

Now that Hanke and Marinello have resigned from the USCF Board the federation will fall into the hands of the most conventional thinkers. We can expect a whole lot of nuttin' much to happen in the near to mid-term future. There will most likely be some cosmetic diddling with Chess Life and maybe some dinking around with the web site, but not much else. The most interesting possibility might be...

Let's have another grudge match. Phil Innes and Neil Brennen - Knight odds as suggested. You will play on ICC. I'll supply the ICC accounts. You two will *each* need to get a current USCF TD to procter. (Local level or higher. I *must* have knowledge of this TD and agree to him or her). It WILL be USCF rated.

Tim Hanke has submitted his resignation from the USCF Executive Board. Under current USCF Bylaws, the Executive Board has the option to decide whether or not to call for a special election, as well as to set the timing for such an election. When there are two or more vacancies, a special election is required, though the Board still sets the timing for it. A provision for the Delegates to elect...

"When I was young I often listened country music. My favourite song was "Hunging tree". -- Goran Tomic, 8 August 2005 Goran's too modest to mention it, but he had quite an impressive music career of his own. To see one of his best videos, go to: http://www.molvania.com/video_medium_2.html Enjoy!