2007 US Championship in jeopardy!

The USCF President Bill Goichberg just announced that the AF4C will not sponsor the 2007 US Championship. In the past few years, the AF4C had offered more than $250,000 in prize funds in each National Championship plus all organization costs. These were the largest ever purses for a US National Chess Championship in history.

This is truly a severe blow for US Chess and the USCF!

Here is a part of what Mr. Goichberg wrote:

"Yesterday, USCF was in contact with Erik Anderson regarding the 2007 US Championship.

By mutual decision of USCF and AF4C, the 2007 US Championship will not be sponsored by AF4C, but the two organizations will continue to work together on different projects, and AF4C will continue to look at possibilities for future US Championships.

Erik Anderson also said that he will donate $25,000 to the USCF. We might use this money as part of the prize fund for a US Championship, with additional funding by another sponsor."

The AF4C has done so much to help US Chess and the USCF. Instead of appreciating the AF4C, I am extremely disappointed in how some of the board members have treated this premier organization. If things do not change for the better, US Chess and the USCF will face many more problems. The level of unprofessionalism by some of these people has reached an all time low.

I am very sad to hear about this news. I would like to personally thank Mr. Erik Anderson and the AF4C for all their incredible contributions to our sport!

This is what I have been talking about since August 2006 after the Executive Board election. No serious company would want to be involved with the USCF if they do proper research and find that we have a convicted felon on the Executive Board.

We have an organization like AF4C spending millions of dollars on US Chess and some of our chess politicians still cannot treat them professionally and with proper respect.

The Susan Polgar Foundation and I started an unprecedented and historic program to bring home 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals at the 2004 Olympiad for the United States. For this accomplishment, we got insulted, lied to, cussed at and more. We had our best chance in history to win the team Gold in the 2006 Olympiad and the same politicians destroyed this only chance.

Karpov and his Chess School in Kansas got just about the same from these politicians a few years ago. I know because I spoke to Anatoly and his people. They are just as disgusted about this as I am. Good deeds never go unpunished!

As I said many times before, these destructive politicians will spare no one! They DO NOT care about the best interest or welfare of US Chess or the USCF. For them, it is about personal ego, politics, revenge and destruction.

Even Mr. Bill Hall, USCF Executive Director, stated in a public meeting that the USCF approached some companies and offered them free ads in Chess Life and they turned down the offer after doing research about the USCF. Do you blame them?

And this started from decades old feud between chess political parties. One party helped elected this new board member with a conviction record to get even with the other side. In the mean time, US Chess and the USCF suffered!

The USCF members have to make a hard decision in the upcoming election. Do they want this status quo to continue or do they want changes for the better?