Another sad day for the USCF

The resignation by Mr. Joel Channing from the USCF Executive Board is now official. He is probably one of the most successful business people who were ever elected to the USCF Executive Board.

This is from the NYT: '...Channing, who was in the third year of a four-year term, said that he had been become increasingly frustrated by the workings of the federation. Channing, who owns a real estate development company (it put up PGA Commons West, above, among other developments), said, “My original reason for running for office was to try to bring business experience to the board, which I found sorely lacking, and to run a professional organization and that was a lot more difficult than I thought. There is something about business, it is more like a team sport. You want to have a win-win situation. That is the way to get things done effectively. The way that things work with chess, it is a zero-sum game and that is not a good environment for getting things done.”'

I fully agree with Mr. Channing. This is a man who has built companies and worked on projects far bigger than the USCF. I have been to his home. I have visited him at his office. He is well respected in his industry and community.

But when it comes to this federation, it is nearly impossible to succeed. Instead of allowing or asking the most qualified and most experienced people to help the USCF, the opposite happens.

And this is why the USCF continues to fail miserably, losing money year after year. The losses this year may exceed $100,000 and the USCF is expected to lose even a lot more next year. How many good volunteers, sponsors, organizers and members has this organization lost? How many more good people will we have to lose before we can turn the USCF into a professional and viable organization?

In the mean time, I will continue to work hard to positively promote chess, chess and education and chess in the schools, as well as obtaining and awarding chess scholarships for young players, organizing world class tournaments for our professional players, and much more.