In his four-page (!) review of the book Bobby Fischer Goes to War (in the March 2004 issue of Chess Life, CL editor Kalev Pehme writes: "Robert James Fischer is the great "enfant gate" of chess, and his prototype appears to be the spoiled child of all spoiled children, Achilles in the Iliad." With all due respect to Mr. Pehme (who, by the way, was hired by the USCF Executive Board on a...

Long time chess honcho, Kevin Bachler, says he might drop his USCF membership come next January. If I understand it correctly, that also means his TD certification also goes out the window. One of the weaknesses in the USCF way of doing things is that when guys like Kevin throw in the towel, they take their chess oriented working capital with them. In other words, the money that runs chess is...

Check out the announcement on USCF website http://www.uschess.org Russell Miller, Chelan WA

Have we ever seen the actual 'nuts and bolts' 'nitty gritty' of the USCF financials for 2002/2003? What money did the USCF receive from what tournaments? How much money did the USCF receive from each of the Amatuer Team events? How much money did the USCF receive from each of the Scholastic events? How much money did the USCF receive from the US Open? Are the exact figures available...

Yesterday, my wife received a letter from a prisoner in Texas. Neither she nor anyone in my family knows this person. He is not due to come up for parole until 2010, and is sentenced for armed robbery until 2025. He wrote a rather forward letter looking for female companionship. He got her name out of a TLA in a 2002 Chess Life. Kevin L. Bachler

The LMA is drained, we are coming up to the time of the year where USCF has the least cash, and our ability to borrow is tapped out. So how will we make payroll in the coming months? Well, the rumor is that the building has been sold, and that the new owner has agreed to do renovations and to lease back the basement for us to move into. The reason for the sale and so on is not just to help...

USCF Rules 16C1 now requires that "Each player must operate the clock with the same hand that moves the pieces" throughout the game, and not just in time trouble. There is a local player who is in the habit of making captures by moving his piece with one hand, removing the other player's piece with his other hand, and then pushing the clock with the hand that moved his own piece. This is much...

I betcha Mensa's HQ office is nicer than the basement into which Chess HQ is moving. Betcha, betcha, betcha. How come Mensa from a $49 national dues can finance its many local chapters and USCF with its $49 national dues cannot finance corollary metro chess orgs? RSHaas

Having not been chess active since 1978, one thing that staggers me is the number of players who are now "stronger" than Fischer, Hubner, Portisch, Mecking (all giants of the game) ever were. Indeed, all sorts of people are 2700 strength. I'd guess there must be a factor than can be applied to correct back to pre Kasparov (Weinstein) days? I guess this is going over old ground, but is there a...

In my view, Libertarians are completely different from Anarchists, more different than night and day. Libertarians want a small government and a government does not interfere in our private lives. Anarchists want no government at all. Thus, the difference between a Libertarian and an Anarchist is the difference between 1 and 0, which is an infinately large difference.

Always good to get some publicity - hard to beat the Sunday Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/14/nyregion/14ches.html John Fernandez

I don't usually post to this group; Im more of a checkers player. But I thought you guys might find this news at Yahoo interesting. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040216/sfm063_1.html I personally think he is going to lose the money. Sue

"Kevin L. Bachler" wrote in message ... Repeating yourself doesn't suddenly make your argument better. Kevin L. Bachler

Just saw an ad for Fritz 8 for something like $37 (online place). Last week, because of a NYTimes article about older, but good, inexpensive software, I cruised Electronic Boutiques' cheap software. Although not what I was looking for, I found Fritz 8 there, for $20.00. I am guessing that that is probably as cheap as one might find it, I don't really know, but regardless, I thought I'd let...

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 Why is this opening so popular these days? Does it give black easy equality??

Searching for Win Moe I am searching for a chess player from Burma named Win Moe. I met him in the 1990 Thailand National Championship in Bangkok which he won. He was then living in Thailand as a refugee. I met him again in a World Open some time around 2000. I believe that he was living in Minnesota and had a 2300 rating. The problem is I do not know how to spell his name. Can anybody give

Well some seem to be saying it. Just thought I'd repeat it, though I'm neutral on the LMA problem. My view is, they paid, and deserve consideration, but also that it's their tough **** that the money is now spent. Good luck sorting it out. -- Everything you need to know about women. FREE!

I'm the author of "The Chess Artist." Thanks for the kind words. Best, JC

Why can't the many state associations simply get together and agree to set up and support a national chess rating service? In that fashion we could get out from under the greedy hand of Chess HQ and still have national ratings. RSHaas

Good Post Sam! Total Agreement.