Lev Alburt

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Someone once quipped that if Russian and American chess officials changed places, nobody would notice the difference. Have you ever wondered about how policy is made or what goes on behind closed doors of the United States Chess Federation?

Lev Alburt was the first grandmaster elected to the seven-member USCF board of directors and soon became the odd man out. In this exclusive interview he pierces the veil of secrecy and begins naming names.

After defecting from the USSR in 1979 he settled in Manhattan, married, and quickly became a fixture in American chess. After capturing our nation’s highest title three times, he retired from tournaments to write books and give lessons. Is what he had to say in 1989 after completing a three-year stint on a dysfunctional policy board still pertinent today?

INTERVIEW WITH GM LEV ALBURT

EVANS: You are the first grandmaster ever elected, yet on most major issues you were outvoted 6-1. How would you sum up the experience?

ALBURT: Disappointing. At the Delegates meeting I said I was leaving without any great sense of accomplishment but with a great sense of relief. This sentiment was probably shared by most of my colleagues on the board who joined in the general laughter.

EVANS: What were some of your objectives when you ran for office?

ALBURT: I wanted to reverse our FIDE policy and condemn such extravaganzas as the Soviet blacklist that our leadership accepted in the hope of launching a USA-USSR Summit Match in 1986. But my main goal was to work with the board to pursue what I thought was our common interest: to promote chess in this country, to help our federation grow towards the 100,000 mark. This certainly shouldn’t be a big task since all polls indicate that tens of millions of Americans know how to play chess.

Excerpt from THIS CRAzy WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans
Original post by former Chess Life Editor Larry Parr

USCF Announcement

The USCF just announced the news of the death of Jerry Hanken (1934-2009). More information can be found here: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9756/556/

Q & A from Chess Fans

Q & A from Chess Fans

Jackson (Denver, CO): I read on the USCF website about the revocation of your USCF memberships. Is it true and why?

PT: It is true. The Executive Board’s action is deplorable. Instead of doing what is best for chess and the USCF, these people appear to put their personal and political interests first. They are doing everything they can to hide their misconduct from the USCF members and delegates, even if this costs jobs for USCF employees and perhaps even cause the collapse of the entire federation. They used Chess Life and Chess Life Online to spread false information to hide the truth. But the facts will come out eventually.

JS (Los Angeles, CA): I have read only the USCF side of the story. Could you please summarize the cause of these lawsuits?

PT: Our position is that the USCF Executive Board and the USCF Executive Director continuously violated the USCF bylaws. I believe they abused their authority and used USCF members’ money for their own political agenda. I believe the legal cost so far exceeds $1 million for both sides, not counting what the USCF insurance has paid separately on behalf of the USCF. These people claim that the USCF has no money to support scholastic chess, college chess, women’s chess, professional chess, or chess promotion, etc. But they have no problem spending over $600,000 of members’ money for their own political agenda. It is inconceivable that these people are doing this in the middle of the worst economy in decades, and where countless USCF members have lost their jobs. These people could not care less about the welfare of chess or the USCF. They tried to blame this on us, while this has been their pattern of conduct for years.

These individuals can try to hide the facts, but the truth will come out in court. We have received tremendous support from countless USCF members encouraging us to stand tall and fight against these corrupt chess politicians.

The USCF has to cut their operating schedule to a four-day work week. The position of USCF Scholastic Director and FIDE Director had to be cut because of a serious financial meltdown. We offered to drop the lawsuit against the USCF for $1. The Executive Board rejected the offer because if the lawsuit against the USCF is dropped, they can not longer hide behind our federation to conceal their misconduct.

It also appears that they are also hiding from USCF members that Susan’s lawsuit against the USCF and its board members is covered by the insurance company. Mr. Jeff Jones is representing the USCF, and individual members of the Executive Board. These same people spent over $500,000 of members’ money to file frivolous lawsuits and to defend the misconduct of their political supporters from the lawsuit. They simply conveniently forgot to tell the USCF members this.

Chess Mom (Detroit, MI): Is it legal for the Executive Board to revoke your USCF Life Memberships and Executive Board status?

PT: We don’t think so. But it is up to the court to decide. But we do believe their actions directly violated the USCF bylaws.

Albert (Henderson, NV): What is your future plan with chess?

SP: We will continue to promote chess in multiple aspects. Nothing has changed. The SPICE Cup is the next big event on our calendar. You can follow our activities by checking out www.ChessDailyNews.com.

Jim (Des Moines, IA): Can you still compete in chess tournaments?

SP: No. The Executive Board revoked our USCF memberships. They claimed that we can still play. But there is no such thing as being able to play rated chess and not being a member. They are just making things up as they go along and this is clearly against the USCF rules. In addition, I cannot play in world championships or Olympiads unless I am a member of a national federation. So basically what the Executive Board did is to destroy what is left of my playing career.

RR: Paul, a few newspapers published some articles about problems with the chess federation. Can you explain? What does this mean? There are people out there writing things in papers and online that don’t do your good work justice.

PT: As the saying goes, you can either lead, follow, or get out of the way. We’re trying to lead, and they’re trying to make us get out of the way. Susan has worked very hard to get to where she is, and when you’re at the top of the game there will always be people who are jealous. The U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) is very political and extremely ineffective.

The bad PR we’ve received, yes, has been very unfortunate, and it came from people who want to see Susan and SPICE fail. It is a concerted effort on their part to try to stop our success. This is hurting our entire sport. Unfortunately, there is little we can do when people are not telling the truth. Things people claim are highly misleading and even slanderous. But, we’re doing good work, and it shows.

Source: http://www.chesscafe.com/polgar/polgar.htm

Ousted members of Florida chess board sue

Ousted members of Florida chess board sue to reclaim their volunteer positions
By Luis Perez, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, August 26, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG — The future of chess belongs to the young. On this, these chess fanatics agree.

As for everything else, well, they'll hash it out in court.

Andrew Scherman, a chess master at 51, says he had the brainy board game's future at heart when he collected 16 written votes supporting him and two 20-somethings as officers of the Florida Chess Association.

They won in a 2008 coup, giving them three seats on the statewide 13-member board. Then, a few months ago, the St. Petersburg Chess Club members were swept off the board like plastic pawns. The proxy votes, the other officers voted, were illegal.

Check. But not mate, apparently.

Scherman is a retired lawyer who has been butting heads in local chess politics for years. On July 21, he moved the game into Pinellas County Circuit Court.

"It wouldn't be so bad if they just did it to me; I might have moved on," Scherman said. "But they did it to Skippy and Joe, too. They're punishing them. They are young. They are active. If you believe in anything about that kids are our future, you can see this is wrong."

Skippy is Robert Foreman, 21. He and Joseph Virgin, 23, of Orlando are also plaintiffs.

Board members Harvey Lerman, 71, and Chuck Hall, 44, call Scherman a troublemaker with an ax to grind and a possible conspiracy to take over the board.

Here is the full article.

Bribery, dirty politics, and USCF corruption

Below are various emails which clearly show the involvement of USCF President Bill Goichberg, Chess Journalist of America President Jerry Hanken, and others in a bribery scheme for votes in July/August 2008. They also clearly show that USCF President Bill Goichberg clearly mislead me and the USCF members about his own involvement.

When I ran for the USCF Executive Board 2 years ago, this is one of the areas I said that I will do everything possible to clean up. This is just the surface of it. Because I am exposing these unethical individuals, they and their supporters have tried to trash my name and reputation.

In the past two years, instead of working with me and helping me promote chess to benefit our entire sport, some of these chess politicians have spread the most outrageous and vicious rumors and lies, trying to destroy my reputation, my employment at Texas Tech University, and my family. They even stooped so low as to use my children (who are only 8 and 10) as one of their targets.

Knowing that I am a one of the biggest advocates for scholastic chess in this country, especially for girls, some of these people spewed out the disgustingly offensive rumor that my husband and I were child abusers. They claimed that we abused my children and we even forced them to consume hot sauce. This sort of despicable thing made its way to the internet and even made its way to my employer Texas Tech University as well as to sponsors and potential sponsors. This outrageous lie was even tossed around within the USCF leadership as a way to pressure my husband and me to resign from the board even though they knew that it was false.

There were countless remarks and postings telling my husband and me to go “back to where we came from.” Some said this is the United States Chess Federation and not the United Nations Chess Federation, and a foreigner had no business running the USCF, while others were openly discussed ways to deport me back to my native Hungary although I have been an American citizen for a number of years and both my children were born in the U.S.But the facts are hidden from the USCF members and delegates. In the mean time, they are using Chess Life, the USCF forums, the USCF website, members' money and other means to mislead the USCF members, to cover up their incompetence and unethical conduct. I highlighted many of these facts here and here.

It is amazing that these people claim that the USCF has no money to promote chess, support chess players, chess clubs, and affiliates. But they have no problem spending over $500,000-$600,000 of USCF members money for lawsuits to go after and silence people who want to expose their misconduct.

These people crossed the ethical line and they clearly abused their political power. Their conduct directly and indirectly caused lawsuits / legal actions in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas, California, Illinois, and Tennessee. The financial situation of the USCF is dire. If we do not stand up and fight against this kind of corruption, there soon will be no USCF.

A lot more information can be downloaded here.

Here are just some of the evidence of the bribery scheme:

From:
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 1:54 AM
To: Polgar, Susan

Hi Susan,

I wanted to forward this to you to prove that I originally had no plans, whatsoever, to attend the 2008 U.S. Open. I was simply going to visit my husband in San Jose, where the two of us intended to spend a week together before I returned to where I am currently living, in San Diego. Only after being convinced to attend, by Jerry, did I change my plans. I will include that proof as well, and you will also be receiving some other forwarded emails corroborating the rest of what I have told you already.

My husband and I are also seriously considering resigning as delegates, considering the fact that we were not otherwise interested in becoming such, except to help please Jerry, and go along with what he felt was right, because it would show loyalty and solidarity to someone who has, to this point, been a good friend. I hope this serves to do at least some good.

-------------------------------------------------

From: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:58:06 -0400
Subject: (no subject)

You have a free entry to the US Open (and some possible money for a blog for Jennifer.) You can't transfer the entry to a CCA. event. If I can get your airfare paid and I agree to pick up a few meals for you and Hero, couldn't you handle the room? I think Hero would go for it if I can swing airfare. Don't say "no" quite yet.

Jerry

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From: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:11:49 -0400
Subject: Re: (no subject)

If Bill (Goichberg) says "yes", you wouldn't owe anything to him. I asked for a sponsorship gift, not a loan. At the Open, you could still spend lots of time with Hero. Also you may have some pay for the blog you will do for Jennifer. You will win games like that at 40 in two. You ARE improving-- don't let anyone tell you different. Notice that I am willing to provide some food for you and Hero. I will have a fridge which will help. As to changeing, aren't you on Southwest? They .don't charge to change or cancel a trip.

-------------------------------------------------

From: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:21:03 -0400
Subject: Re: (no subject)
To: Chessoffice@aol.com (Bill Goichberg)

Come on Bill (Goichberg), I will go half on the airfare. There are so many good reasons to do this. Give it some thought. Just think what going half means to me and what it means to you. If we lose a critical vote, you will think of this. All the money you have given the USFCF will be in the toilet if we ultimately lose this fight.

Jerry

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From: Chessoffice@aol.com (Bill Goichberg)
To: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:01:45 -0500
Subject: Re: (no subject)

The affiliate needs to go to the TD/Affiliate area and purchase a 6 month membership.

Bill

-------------------------------------------------

From: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:35:28 -0400
Subject: (no subject)

Dear Jess and Hero,

If Hero is willing to serve as a Delegate, it is important that you go on line today (when it is still July) and purchase a six month membership in USCF. It is $25 and I will personally reimburse you this money. I hope to talk with you later today, Jess.

Jerry

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7/30/2008 8:53:32 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time (11:53:32 A.M. EST), Chessoffice writes:

As I said, the $25 rate is only available to affiliates.

Bill

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From: JerryHanken@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:30:53 -0400
Subject: Fwd: (no subject)
To: randallhough@yahoo.com

Could you get this done today so we have the option of having Hero as a delegate I will pay.

Jerry

-------------------------------------------------

From:
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 2:12 AM
To: Polgar, Susan
Subject: Summing things up

Hi Susan,

By now, I've already sent you several emails, each one forwarded directly from my personal account, and numbered 1 to 9. Included are copies of both my hotel and flight reservations, whose dates exactly match those immediately following the forwarded emails from Jerry, in which he convinced us to come, just so we would be there to vote. That fact is quite clear here, and should be easily demonstrated.

Additionally, I should point out that since my real interest was in playing chess, and NOT getting politically involved, this is proven by the fact that Jerry, on more than one occasion leading up to the delegates' meeting, begged me to forego the Blitz, offering to pay for not ONE future event in speed, but THREE, if only I would be there to vote.

Now, my husband and I will also write the letters you requested, but I thought this data would prove useful in the meantime, considering the fact that it verifies my story for all those critics online. By the way, I still have not been able to locate any posts which specifically claim I am a liar, but I'm sure they are not all that far behind, since I have now pissed off quite a few people on Jerry's side, and all for voting what I could gather, based on fact, and not merely conjecture.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Take care,

-------------------------------------------------

In a message dated 8/17/2008 8:02:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, SusanPolgar writes:

Bill,

Are you saying that you are absolutely not aware of any attempt to offer incentives / pay ordinary chess players and even non-USCF members to join the USCF, come to Dallas, get certified to be delegates, to vote against Paul?

I am not aware that anyone was paid, offered incentives or given free entry in order to vote a certain way.

If board members/ delegates are caught bribing / paying for votes, should you or the USCF report them to the Illinois Attorney General or other appropriate authority? I strongly believe that this is highly unethical and illegal and I certainly hope that you feel the same way.
In addition, should board members / delegates who do such thing resign from the executive board / delegates immediately?

Susan Polgar

Bribes are unethical and illegal, and charges of same should be dealt with as recommended by our attorneys.

Bill Goichberg

-------------------------------------------------

In a message dated 8/17/2008 8:31:06 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, SusanPolgar writes:

Thank you for your response. Just to clarify, did anyone approach you about the idea of paying / providing incentives in exchange for votes against Paul at the delegates meeting on Saturday, August 9, 2008?

Thank you.
Susan Polgar

NO!

Bill Goichberg

More filings have been added

More filings are available here: http://chessdiscussion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2556

Another major legal set back for the USCF

ORDER

On this day the Court considered Paul Truong’s Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 12(b)(1), or in the Alternative, Rule 14(a)(4) Motion to Strike Third-Party Plaintiff United States of America Chess Federation, Inc.’s Third-Party Complaint and Brief in Support (Doc. #136), filed May 5, 2009. The Court further considered Defendant United States of America Chess Federation, Inc.’s Response (Doc. #143), filed on May 22, 2009.

...Paul Truong’s Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED and USCF’s third-party claims against Paul Truong are DISMISSED without prejudice.

Click here to download the full order.

Summary Judgment Motion Filed

While the USCF's held insurance to defend against lawsuits, the USCF is now approaching insolvency (it is now apparently imposing a four-day workweek for USCF employees and has set up a legal defense fund) because of the affirmative lawsuits it has filed against Ms. Polgar both here and in Illinois. Both suits have cost the USCF, based on the USCF's latest financial report, nearly $600,000 in legal fees over the past two years.

Source: Page 10 of the DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Case No. 3:08-cv-05126-MHP

The full filing can be downloaded here: http://www.chessdiscussion.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2556

The individuals who are responsible for this kind of unauthorized spending which puts the USCF in a dire financial situation are Bill Goichberg, Jim Berry, Bill Hall, Randy Hough, and Randy Bauer.

There are 8 candidates in the current USCF EB election who support these unauthorized lawsuits which cost the USCF hundreds of thousands of dollars (which caused the USCF to approach insolvency). They are Bill Goichberg, Jim Berry, Mike Atkins, Ruth Haring, Mike Nietman, and Brian Mottershead, etc.

The only 3 candidates who opposed violating the bylaws and advocate for a responsible and professionally run USCF are IM Blas Lugo, Dr. Mikhail Korenman, and Dr. Eric Hecht.