More questions for the USCF

Bill,

Thank you for your response. However, your response does not address my original question. In addition, IM John Donaldson clearly stated that he was asked to take over this task by you on June 10th. Why did the USCF wait so long before sending out invitations to players?

In addition, John said the following:

"With no previous Mind Sports Olympiad invitation criteria to go by, I stuck with something simple. I invited the top ten men and women on the July 2008 USCF rating list. This produced a few positive responses, but I ended up having to go to numbers 20-30 to eventually complete the teams."

On the bottom of this email, John showed us the list of the top 10 players according to the July 2008 list. When he did not get enough response, he then went further down the list to number 30.

Could you please then explain the following:

Individual Men:

Blitz and Rapid
Shabalov Alex, Akobian Varuzhan and Friedel Josh.

Individual Women:

Blitz and Rapid
Krush Irina (only blitz), Shahade Jennifer, Abby Marshall (only Rapid) and Zenyuk Iryna.

Pair events: Irina Krush and David Pruess

Men's team: Alex Shabalov, Eugene Perelshteyn, Josh Friedel Jesse Kraai and Dmitry Schneider

Women's team: Iryna Zenyuk, Cindy Tsai, Abby Marshall, Chouchanik Airapetian and Shirley Ben-Dak

This was posted on the USCF website. According to USCF's own MSA, Jennifer Shahade last played in 2004 while my last event took place in 2006. Why is there a different standard for me? Why did one get an invitation and one did not?

We cannot have things work both ways. If I am not qualified because of the activity requirement then how come another player who also did not meet this requirement received the invitation and I did not? And if the activity requirement does not apply in a blitz and rapid event (since this is clearly not the Olympiad or US / US Women's Championship) then why was I not invited?

You responded by saying: "Susan, I apologize that you feel that you were unfairly treated regarding this. I can assure you that there was no slight intended to you." So if that is the case, how do you explain what happened?

Thank you.
Susan Polgar

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

In a message dated 7/25/2008 5:34:39 P.M. Central Daylight Time, bhall@uschess.org writes:

All,

John Donaldson is not at fault in any way for any perceived errors on this issue. John put a tremendous amount of effort into this project and deserves all of our appreciation. Susan, I apologize that you feel that you were unfairly treated regarding this. I can assure you that there was no slight intended to you.

Regards,
Bill Hall
Executive Director
United States Chess Federation
P.O. Box 3967Crossville, TN 38557-3967
Phone: (931) 787-1234
Fax: (931) 787-1200

1 Kamsky, Gata (12528459) NY USA 2782
2 Nakamura, Hikaru (12641216) NY USA 2747
3 Onischuk, Alexander (12625186) VA USA 2725
4 Shabalov, Alexander (12544264) PA USA 2704
5 Ehlvest, Jaan (12514557) NY USA 2687
6 Seirawan, Yasser (10509459) WA USA 2685
7 Kaidanov, Gregory (12543746) KY USA 2682
8 Shulman, Yury (12741541) IL USA 2673
9 Christiansen, Larry M (10460921) MA USA 2670
10 Akobian, Varuzhan (12740522) CA USA 2666
11 Benjamin, Joel (10102511) NJ USA 2646

1 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2530
2 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2490
3 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2384
4 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) CA USA 2342
5 Rohonyan, Katerine (12973020) MD USA 2322
6 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2294
7 Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg (12925481) CA USA 2290
8 Melekhina, Alisa (12726115) PA USA 2286
9 Battsetseg, Tsagaan (12719650) MD USA 2251
10 Ross, Laura R (12630804) NY USA 2216
Zenyuk, Iryna (12846035) NY USA 2216

How could it happen?

Bill Hall,

Could you please explain why I was never invited or asked to participate in the 1st World Mind Sports Games (Blitz and Rapid) in Beijing, China? I would have been happy to compete in all the possible events to try to bring home the titles for the United States.

I understand that I have to meet the USCF activity requirements for the Olympiad / US Championship. However, the regulation does not apply for an event like this.

Even if you believe that I may not accept the invitation, I would expect a courtesy inquiry. When I received the invitation to represent the U.S. in the Women's World Chess Cup in Dresden, Germany (July 2006), I accepted and I won.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... orts-games
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8575/468/

The last time I played in a rapid event (which was the strongest RR Invitational rapid event in U.S. history - June 2006), I finished second 1/2 point behind Kamsky and ahead of Onischuk, Ibragimov, Gulko, and Stripunsky (http://main.uschess.org/component/optio ... temid,181/).

As I stated above, I also won the Women's World Chess (Rapid) Cup in Dresden, Germany without a single loss.In addition, I won the last 3 US Open Blitz I played in, the latest one in (August) 2006, by a margin of 2 points. (http://main.uschess.org/component/optio ... temid,181/)

I am enclosing the names and ratings of some of the top players in the U.S. for comparison.

Thanks.
Susan Polgar

(The USCF had more than 6 months to handle this invitation. On the bottom of this post is the original announcement by FIDE dated January 3, 2008!)

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

Standard rating:

Susan Polgar 2597

1 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2530
2 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2490
3 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2384
4 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) CA USA 2342

Blitz / Rapid (Women):

Susan Polgar 26211

Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2432
2 Rohonyan, Katerine (12973020) MD USA 2322
3 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2285
4 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2240

Overall Blitz / Rapid:

Susan Polgar 2621

1 Nakamura, Hikaru (12641216) NY USA 2698
2 Christiansen, Larry M (10460921) MA USA 2626
3 Sokolin, Leonid M (12541565) NJ USA 2615
4 Palatnik, Semion (12542096) MD USA 2604

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

1st World Mind Sports Games

Thursday, 03 January 2008

The 1st World Mind Sports Games will be held in Beijing, China from 3rd to 18th October, 2008. There will be 5 sports represented, Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Chinese Chess. The Games will be under the aegis of GAISF and organised by the International Mind Sports Association of which FIDE is a founding member.

The 1st World Mind Sports Games will be held in Beijing, China from 3rd to 18th October, 2008. There will be 5 sports represented, Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Chinese Chess. The Games will be under the aegis of GAISF and organised by the International Mind Sports Association of which FIDE is a founding member.

There will be competitions of Rapid and Blitz chess for individuals, pairs and teams. Altogether 10 gold medals will be available for chess plus a trophy for the leading federation over all chess disciplines. Thanks to generous sponsorship, free full board accommodation for participants will be available. There is also the possibility of substantial help towards travel costs through the provision of air tickets from set points.

The full schedule and details for federations to nominate entries will be circulated shortly.

Source: FIDE.com

No direction, no vision, no success

Zarathustra wrote:

"After reading your postings a number of times it begs the question why so many people that volunteer they leave within a short period of time. Just think of the high turnover rated with just the United States Chess Federation Forum Oversight Committee. After reading your comments it is very clear that being a volunteer you place your personal life up for judgment and your volunteer work is taken for granted."

Volunteers leave. Supporters leave. Sponsors leave. Members leave. Many of them go on and form their own organizations and groups and they continue to thrive. Some are so fed up with the garbage within the USCF and they quit.

But the same people who dragged this federation down for decades continue to hold on to their pseudo power and they will do everything possible to maintain the status quo. They have no idea what to do to make the federation better. However, they will stand in the way of the people who have proven that they can help make things better.

Some of these people told me the following back in 2003:

- The USCF cannot get girls to be interested to stay in chess.
- The U.S. women’s teams cannot win Olympiad medals. They have never done it.
- It is not possible to get large sponsorship.
- Chess cannot be promoted or marketed.
- College chess can never be big.

Prior to 2004, there was virtually no all-girls event. Today, many states run all-girls championships to send top players to the annual SP National Invitational for Girls. Some of our all-girls events draw a few hundred girls. We won not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 Olympiad medals in 2004 (2 Gold and 2 Silver) because of a program I created. Once I left the program thanks to Bill Goichberg, it went back to the no direction and no leadership mode. I came to Lubbock, Texas less than one year ago. Within this time, Paul and I are able to raise nearly $3 million in sponsorship and organized some of the most prestigious tournaments in U.S. history. I get more publicity and coverage for events and programs I am involved with / attend than the USCF. Last but not least, SPICE was created with multi-million dollar budget with long term commitment from TTU.

These are the facts. And instead of allowing us to turn around the USCF with our experience, connection, and expertise, Bill Goichberg and his entourage started to play political games from day one. They tried to block what I do and smear my name and reputation, even if it ended up costing the USCF money and sponsorship.

And where is the USCF today? Membership is down and we are losing money again for the 10th time in the last 12 years. But the USCF continues the pattern of under the table dealings, unethical business practices, and hiding the truth from USCF members. USCF insiders continue to get jobs, contracts, and other perks without an open bidding process.

It is absolutely ridiculous that the USCF only has 80,000 members when it is the official national chess federation in the United States. And this number continues to go down and there would be no USCF it it was not for the scholastic chess boom.

If these chess politicians would spend the same amount of time doing something productive for chess instead of wasting so much time on the stupid chess politics, the USCF would not be in this mess today.

Paul and I conducted a training course today for teachers in region 17 in Texas. Region 17 has 59 school districts in West Texas. Lubbock is one of the 59 districts and Lubbock ISD has around 55 schools alone! We did not have enough room to accommodate all the teachers who want to come and learn. Some even came from a thousand miles away just to learn.

In the years to come, there is a potential for thousands of new members in this one area alone. There are countless areas like this one across the USCF. But not even one single board member is focused on promoting chess or building the future membership other than Paul and me.

They cannot lead. They cannot do the job. They continue to fail. But they will not get out of the way to let others fix the USCF. This is where we are at.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Strange USCF Business Practice

Paul and I have repeatedly asked to see the financial report and we were told that it will come soon... This was a while back. We still do not have it.

Today, we received the report from Ms. Alarie and the following note:

Since they were leaked to me and not sent to me by USCF's Finance Chair or the USCF office, I see no reason not to continue the leak and send them to Executive Board members who are entitled to see them. These reports are the way I received them except I've added yellow highlight to show the $144k loss in the first preliminary report and the $82k loss in the second preliminary report.

The names on these two reports are changed from what they were when they were sent to me. I changed them just so I could set up different spreadsheets and not have them become confused. #1 was the first one created and #2 was the second. I don't think I changed anything on these spreadsheets other than the yellow highlights because I created a third spreadsheet for my own analysis.

Why am I doing this? Because it's the right thing to do. USCF has a major financial crisis and cannot afford the political games if it wants to survive it. It will be crucial for everyone on the EB and the delegates to understand the differences between the auditeds and the office's reports. If USCF office management is producing reports with $100k revenue swings in them, it is impossible for EB members to be able to make informed decisions based on reality.

It is also my understanding that a request went from the office to the LMA to borrow $50k from the LMA. I don't honestly understand that since USCF has a credit line of $150k - unless USCF has already tapped that line or expects to have it tapped before the delegates meeting - something which I have no knowledge of one way or the other at present.

Donna Alarie
Massachusetts Delegate

I am against the new proposal by Bill Goichberg. I do not think it will bring in new members. However, the "business as usual politics" by the USCF will cause the membership to go down, especially with the current national economy.

I am against borrowing money from the LMA. I have stated this back in last September. If our management cannot run the USCF with the current budget and revenues then it is time to bring in new people to do the right job. We cannot continue to dip into Life Members' money.

I have also proposed to have a "quality control" system so we can pinpoint the problems. There are way too many backroom and under the table deals now and everything has to be out in the open. After all, if no one knows where the problems are, how can we fix them? The board and the USCF have no interest to implement such a system.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

The board cannot answer tough questions

Zarathustra wrote:

Then we ask ourselves why organizers and volunteers have left the United States Chess Federation. Then we have to ask ourselves, if an organizer and volunteer accept this type of abuse – what would they do to other organizers and volunteers? Even to be blunt, what would they do with the average member of the United States Chess Federation?

Members have left the United States Chess Federation; organizers have left the United States Chess Federation, the decline of business deals of long term growth have become less common with the United States Chess Federation. Is there really any hope of a correction when controlling power is more important than building the goodwill of the United States Chess Federation?

Unfortunately, this has happened for years. I have heard many similar stories from colleagues of mine such as GMs Alburt, Evans, Seirawan, etc. The only difference is the USCF no longer has a strong control (monopoly) of chess news. Many of us can reach out to a lot more people across this country and around the world than the USCF website and Chess Life.

Unless these problematic chess politicians will start to conduct themselves properly and start to do what is best for the USCF, I will continue to speak out and let all members know what goes on behind the scene. What I have stated so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The USCF will not survive unless positive changes are being made ASAP.

I ran for the board to change the USCF for the better. It is my fiduciary duty to stop this kind of unethical, vicious and destructive behavior which severely harms the welfare of this federation. It is clear that none of them can dispute what I brought up because they know that I will introduce the evidence to prove what I said the moment they deny it. They know that plenty of evidence is located in the confidential binfo.

Instead of working together to save the USCF, some board members work behind the scene to try to destroy people who are against what they are doing to maintain power and the status quo. They will continue to waste members' money instead of admitting and apologizing for their conduct.

The board is now asking members to donate money to pay for our Olympiad teams. The USCF needs $35,000 to fund our national teams, the same amount frivolously spent on legal fees for personal and political reasons. Much more will be wasted on multiple legal problems.

If everything is as what they claimed then I have these questions:

- Why are they so afraid to have all the evidence presented to an INDEPENDENT expert instead of using their own highly paid person?
- Why did they refuse to go with the first expert who gave them a negative opinion?
- Why are they so afraid to allow our own experts verify the data in spite of many requests since last September?
- Why did their own expert not ask to examine the data?
- Why are they so afraid to release all information for all members to see if they feel that everything they did was proper, fair and there was no hanky panky?
- Why did Bill Goichberg hide the investigation from the other six board members and why did he refuse to recuse himself in the committee once this fact came out?
- Why did Bill Goichberg continue to defend the contractors after receiving legal opinions about the blatant violation of the NDAs?

I would also like to challenge all board members to publicly deny that:

- There was a 5-0 vote for the USCF highly paid expert to contact the Chubb, the insurance company, to try to cancel our coverage to interfere with our defense against the Sloan lawsuit. This is highly unethical and may even be illegal.

- They had knowledge that Jerry Hanken received confidential and legal information and he used this information to negotiate with Sam Sloan. Even with the knowledge that board members did this, they refused to take actions against the wrong doers.

- Their highly paid expert asked permission to investigate bogus charges that my husband and I abused our children, etc. Then supporters from Bill Goichberg sent this bogus and disgusting info to many high level individuals at my employment as well as the media. This clearly confirms what I said about what they're willing to do to accomplish their personal and political agenda.

They claimed that they followed their fiduciary duties. Are the above actions a part of their fiduciary duties?

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

The facts which cannot be disputed

BINFO 200803055
Date 2008-07-01
From SusanPolgar Status
Standard Release Release
Date 2008-07-06
Subject Goichberg writes "The Answer(s) To The USCFs Problems"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: Chessoffice@xxxxxxx, randallhough@xxxxxxxxx, AlforChess@xxxxxxx, JABerryCG@xxxxxxx, randybauer2300@xxxxxxxxx, Joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Paultruong@xxxxxxx, bhall@xxxxxxxxxxx, Chessdon@xxxxxxx

Subject: Re: Goichberg writes "The Answer(s) To The USCFs Problems"
From: SusanPolgar@xxxxxxx

Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 10:31:18 EDTCc: pknight@xxxxxxxxxxx, queencapa@xxxxxxx, USCF BINFO System, joandubois@xxxxxxxxxxx

Delivered-to: USCF BINFO Systemxxxxxxxxx
Delivered-to: USCF BINFO System

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

Hiding the investigation from the other 6 board members, refusing to step down from the subcommittee due to clear conflict of interest, then declining to allow our experts the opportunity to inspect the database to verify the data.

Refusing to take action against contractors who blatantly violated the NDA, even after it was confirmed that the NDA was clearly violated multiple times. Leaking confidential and legal information to Jerry Hanken and others by one of the board members (Joel Channing and Randy Bauer are excluded). You even clearly stated that you're aware that Jerry Hanken received confidential information and he used this to negotiate with Sam Sloan.

Voting 5-0 to authorize the attorney to interfere with our legal defense by contacting Chubb to try to cancel our insurance coverage which is highly unethical.

Not stopping your attorney from trying to investigate the bogus claim that Paul and I abused my children. These outrageous, vicious, and damaging charges which were proven completely false were then sent to multiple high level individuals at Texas Tech as well as the local media by one of your supporters to try to get me fired from my job.

Please feel free to deny them just as Jerry Hanken.

Susan Polgar

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

More than one week has gone by and President Goichberg could not dispute the facts which I presented. The board is also clearly hiding the full truth and only presenting to the delegates a small part of what took place to try to accomplish their political motive.

According to Mike Nolan, their expert never requested to examine any of the data. The board also refused to allow our own experts the opportunity to examine the data. They do not want the truth to come out. They also conveniently omitted the fact is both Paul and I were totally prepared to cooperate with the investigation. We were even willing to turn over Paul's laptop of the past 2 years. This is in addition to the evidence we have presented already. This is also against the strong recommendation by the lawyers representing us against the Sloan lawsuit.

The key conditions were:

- The investigation and verification MUST be done by an independent expert which both sides can agree on and not one who was handpicked by the board after the first independent expert suggested by Joel Channing gave a negative opinion. The board then went with another one.

- Once both sides provide this independent expert all the evidence, no board member can contact the independent expert or interfere with the process until the conclusion is reached.

- We also want to have the same access to the database so our own experts for verification.

The board obviously turned this down and wanted the entire process to be handled by their handpicked attorney. They also refused to allow us to release all the information which clearly shows that some of the current board members are behind the leak of confidential and legal information.

In the mean time, the board is protecting people who committed numerous unethical acts since it clearly will link them as well.

Instead of focusing on fixing the USCF, tens and thousands of dollars have been wasted while the USCF continues to lose revenues and money for the 10th time in the past 12 years.

Once again, I challenge Bill Goichberg to dispute any of the facts above and give consent for me to prove all the points I made above.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

More Q&A about the state of the USCF

marknibb wrote:

"Susan, as a current EB member, do you have any intention of putting forward motions at the coming EB meeting. A great deal is being made by those calling for your resignation about your lack of proposals making it into the record. First, is this true and why? Second, do you intend to attempt to try to bring about USCF change or should we be looking to someone else to take up the "change" agenda?"

Mark,

I ran for the board to help the USCF. Paul and I showed what we can do (just look at the example of Texas Tech in less than one year and nearly $3 million in sponsorship committed) if we are allowed to do what we know best. Imagine what we could do for the USCF if they would allow us to do our jobs instead of wasting 9 months over a “bogus investigation” where they refuse to allow us to examine the evidence / data.

We resurrected USCF chess in a region where chess was almost non-existent for decades and signed up nearly 100 new USCF members and this number may go to thousands when all the schools are involved with chess deeper. We turned a city which is not known for chess into a household name worldwide within a year.

In one year, we are now organizing the 2nd category SPICE Cup, a category 15 event, the highest rated 10-person International RR chess tournament in U.S. history with over 50 sponsors. Over 30 strong GMs wrote to me for invitations to play in this event. Some are even over 2700.

What have they done? I am not going to play their destructive and dirty political games. Motions which you see are basically decided before they are made. I just showed one example with the military liaison. Bill Goichberg knew that I have been working and sponsoring military chess for the past 3 years. No other board member is even active in military chess. Even the military people asked me to be their liaison.

But Bill Goichberg did not want me to control another liaison. His ego would not allow it. In fact, he wanted to get rid of me from the college and scholastic committees where no board member is even actively involved. So he wrote to Randy Hough and Jim Berry asking them to nominate and vote for each other. They did and voted exactly what he wanted with a 4-0 vote the next day. This issue was leaked out all over the place. If they did this over a trivial matter like this, what would they do with important issues or issues involving lucrative jobs, bids, awards, or contracts?

So what good would any motion do? What good does it do to have a record of it? They will just spin and lie about it.

This is why board members did not even know about the contract to rebuild the USCF website for almost a year. This is why the contract was broken up to multiple parts under $10,000 so no board approval was needed.

Welcome to the USCF! This was how it worked with the election for the Presidency as well. He already got the votes before they arrived in Cherry Hill. Look at the state of the USCF today. Revenues and memberships are down and we are about to lose another $100,000. So did anyone resign for putting the USCF in this situation? Does the President or ED have the honor and decency to step down and let others fix the problems to save the USCF?

When I ran for the board, I recommended Mr. Korenman and Bauer. The other side claimed that it was a slate even though I said it is not true. I recommended the people who I thought had the best skills and experience in specific areas to help this federation. 9 months later, who is right? Can anyone name me a person who believes that Randy Bauer is a part of my slate? I recommended Randy because of his past experience with the Iowa budget.

I am not a chess politician and I will never be. I hate chess politics. I am a chess professional, chess Mom, chess teacher, and chess promoter. I care about the future of chess. I care about the next generation of chess players. If I walk away from the USCF today, it will not change my finances one bit. In fact, it would probably enhance it.

I just do what I feel is best for U.S. chess and the USCF. I do not want to see this federation go under without at least attempting to help it. I do not call or write anyone to push my views. I make my views known publicly without any interference or pitiful political games. I will continue to speak out and let all 80,000 USCF members know what is going on with their federation and why we lost money in 10 of the last 12 years. I cannot be bought by anyone.

If members do not know the truth, they cannot even demand for change. The board actually believes that the voices of a dozen or so of their politically motivated allies in the USCF forum or rec.games speak for all 80,000 USCF members. They do not.

If they want to recall me, let them. In fact, I would even challenge them to recall me. I would like to see the people who raise their hands to vote to recall me. The USCF is not going to get better until everything will come to light. This is how I intend to help change the USCF. I will expose all their unethical activities until they will stop and act ethically, responsibly, and put the best interest of chess and the USCF first.

Greetings from Rome!
Susan Polgar

Q&A about the state of the USCF

RoadRunner wrote:

"My hope is that Susan can have a solid slate to put up at the next election and that all her candidates will win in a landslide. That will finally provide the opportunity for fixing the problems at the USCF. American chess really needs Susan to lead the USCF."

It would certainly be a big improvement. However, these same corrupt, dirty, and destructive politicians can still cause havoc because they still have strong influence over many of the delegates. A very large number of delegates do not show up for the annual meeting. So basically they can stack the deck with their friends filling the seats. This happens every year. In one year, they spent more than ½ day arguing about a few dollars in dues increase or decrease.

Some of the current board members went out of their ways to lie and mislead some of the delegates recently to try to get them to sign the recall petition. I have a copy of their emails for court. They do not think twice about people’s reputation or livelihood. It did not pass and they will try again in a month.

There is virtually no repercussion for their unethical action other than having to drag the federation to court. Board members were caught forwarding confidential and legal information and the same information was used to attack and harm others. What was done about it? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! They will always refuse to go after their friends and political allies for gross misconduct and unethical behavior. Why? Because it is them who leaked it and they would never go after themselves.

Some of these people cannot say two sentences without insults and profanity. There is not an ounce of professionalism, the worst I have experienced in chess in 35 years. It is a good old boys network and they will hang on to the status quo and power for as long as they live. These are the kind of people who are in charge of the USCF and this is precisely why this federation lost money in 10 of the last 12 years and over $100,000 this year. They cover each other for their total failure and incompetence.

They have done almost nothing to help this federation. They could not care less about promoting chess or the USCF. In fact, they spend USCF members’ money frivolously like it is their own personal bank account. If the leader says left, they all vote left. If the leader says right, they all vote right. Once in a blue moon, one will vote differently in some insignificant issue so they can claim that they have independent minds.

There is no “quality control” system to pinpoint the problems. They do not want anyone to see where the problems are. The people who stand to benefit the most are the people are their biggest supporters. There is no open bidding system. People are awarded jobs and contracts for their political affiliation and loyalty. The current USCF system is a failed one and it is corrupt. It is ineffective and it has too much bureaucracy.

It would take less than 3 months to revamp the entire USCF and turn it into a vibrant, viable, and financially sound organization to meet the standard of the 21st century. It will never happen as long as these people have their claws inside this federation.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Lack of direction and goals

The following was recently asked by a USCF member:

by sdo1 on Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:55 am #106414

The recent controversy about eliminating Chess Life from some adult memberships to cut costs prompted some questions that I didn't ask as I thought my membership was going to expire.

In that membership growth is dependent upon member activity at the grass roots level;

1) What is the USCF doing to promote growth of existing clubs and the creation of new clubs in areas that lack them?

2) What is the USCF doing to promote USCF membership among internet players?

3) What is the USCF doing to promote USCF membership among non OTB groups such as correspondence chess, 960, etc?


The answers for all three questions are either nothing or next to nothing. These are some of the things Paul and I pushed the board to do since last August. These are the areas which we have supported for a long time (via sponsorship, promotion, and publicity). Without chess promotion and drastic improvement in the way how we conduct business, the USCF will continue to struggle very badly to survive year after year. Changing the dues structure will make little if any impact at all. This is also not the priority now. We also outlined the way how it can be done.

It took the USCF contractors from last August until last month or so ago to add one word on the main page of the USCF website. This is after countless requests. This is unacceptable. Any normal company would have fired incompetent staff or contractors long ago. Starbucks just announced that it will close more than 600 stores. Many other big companies have to change their business models or face extinction.

Start running the federation in a sound, efficient, and professional fashion or the USCF will continue to lose money until there is nothing left.

Other companies / organizations / groups / websites can do things better, faster, and more efficient than the USCF. This has become a big problem for the USCF. There is too much bureaucracy and politics and too little business sense. Many excellent and well qualified people have offered to help but they were turned away because they are not within the “political circle” of the people in charge.

The problem is the head of the USCF. There are no new ideas other than playing with dues again. This will not fix the many problems of the USCF. There is no understanding of how real businesses work. There is no concrete direction or goals other than trying to survive another year. There is no conserving our revenues. There is no marketing and promotional plan in place. There is also no "quality control" system.

On the other hand, there are plenty of behind the scene deals, deception, and cover up. It took almost a year for board members to find out about the contract to build the new website. Too many things are too slow to change. There was no competitive bidding process for many of the contracts or jobs. There are plenty of awarding lucrative works for friends, USCF insiders and allies. There is plenty of frivolous spending and waste. There is also plenty of micro-managing.

I am on the road for at least the next two weeks. Therefore, I will have very limited Internet access. The bottom line is as long as we continue doing the same thing over and over again, the USCF will continue to lose members, revenues, and its position in the chess community. We must stop all chess politics, unite, and start fixing problems now. Unfortunately, those who have been hanging around the USCF for decades will not let that happen. They will do everything possible to maintain their power and status quo.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

The same pattern of politics by the USCF

My response to Mr. LeMoine

Jack,

I told Bill Goichberg, Randy Bauer, and Jim Berry that I will not reveal the damaging information to the USCF and other EB members because I put the best interest of the USCF first. Unfortunately, they continued to try to damage my reputation and they forced me to speak out the truth.

There is ZERO doubt that leaks were made to Jerry Hanken and other USCF insiders by some of the current board members. The chance of me proving the leaks is 100%. As I stated before, it is quite simple. Board members received confidential information. Some of the board members clicked "forward" to Jerry Hanken and other USCF insiders.

This is the pattern of unethical conduct which was pointed out by GM Alburt, GM Evans and others for decades. Obviously there was no Internet decades ago so they leaked info verbally. We all know that when someone clicked "forward", it shows where the email came from, the date, and time, etc.

What happened is once the confidential info was forwarded, some of these people then forwarded to others. Again, anyone can see all the info in the email. One of the people they forwarded the confidential info was so fed up with the dirty politics displayed by some of the board members.

These people have no regards for my personal or professional reputation. They have no regards for the welfare of my children. This individual then alerted me of what they are doing. This individual will most likely testify in court against these board members and the USCF.

Bill Goichberg and some other board members know who leaked the confidential info. They also know many other pertinent facts about this fiasco. They refused to act on any matter which can implicate them or their people with serious misconduct. They expect me to trust them and their attorney after he asked the board for permission to contact the insurance Chubb to try to cancel our coverage and the board voted 5-0 to allow him to do it. Amazing, isn't it?

The idea is to try to make us lose our insurance coverage so we have to spend money for representation and we may not have the same quality representation. This way it would put pressure on both of us to resign. Does anyone believe that this is ethical or legal? I would love to see Bill Goichberg and the board majority deny this. I would love to see them answer and explain to the delegates and all USCF members in August about everything they have done. Of course they could not deny so far because the 5-0 vote is recorded in confidential binfo along with other juicy stuff.

They also stood silence when their team wanted to investigate a bogus child abuse claim to destroy my reputation. This bogus info was then sent to my employers (to a number of individuals of the highest levels) as well as the local media. And they want to delegates to believe that we refused to cooperate because we have something to hide.

In fact, one of the board members personally wrote to various delegates with the same bogus information to try to convince them to sign the recall petition.

On the contrary to the misrepresentation they have been putting out there, the reason is simple. We know what they did and we do not trust them. We offered to have one / a team of independent expert(s) examine the entire case and come up with an opinion. (And by the way, Joel Channing came up with one famous expert who was in the NY Times not long before this took place. He wrote to the board about his opinion. The board did not like what he had to say. Therefore, they went with an expert who will give them a favorable opinion.) Once we can agree on this independent person, both sides will submit all the evidence to bolster their case.

The offer was if Paul and I are right, the entire board majority will resign. If we are wrong, we will resign. However, the condition neither side can contact this independent expert to interfere with the investigation. The last thing I want is for Bill Goichberg to interfere with this matter as he did from the beginning by hiding the entire investigation from the other 6 board members and protecting the contractors who blatantly violated the NDAs.

Of course the board majority refused just as they refused to allow our experts the opportunity to examine the data. Why are they so afraid to let our experts see it? And their expert also never examined the data as well. So $35,000 was spent on what? They have no case and they have nowhere to go.

I would have loved for the ethics committee to take on this case. This would have then given me the opportunity to provide all the evidence to show the truth without interfering with the Sloan lawsuit as clearly instructed by our attorneys several times.This is not about finding the FSS for Bill Goichberg. If he wanted to find the real FSS, he would have ordered a full investigation on the info we gave him which shows clear discrepancies. We showed him what to look for. Nothing was done.

It is clearly about Bill Goichberg being Bill Goichberg. He wants full control of the USCF and micro-manage it the way he wants it and he wants to get rid of people who do not support or agree with him. He told me straight to my face in Cherry Hill, NJ that it is his right, one which he felt that he earned after decades involving in chess, to be the President and he will do everything to get it.

It was never about the good of the USCF or chess. And before we came to Cherry Hill, agreements were made for him to be in at least a tie for the Presidency vote. This is why he sent out thousands of post cards and posted on his website asking people not to vote for me to be on the board.

And we can clearly see the results and assessing the current state of the USCF. I wrote to him and the board and offered him a chance to correct any of the things I stated. He cannot because he knows I have the goods to prove it.

It is time for all USCF members to see what goes on behind the scene and why this federation has failed so miserably for so many years. We cannot fix the federation unless we know the core of the problems. The people in charge cannot do the job but they refuse to step out of the way to let others come in to help save this federation. And they refused to get rid of dead woods and problems by setting up a “quality control” system. They know that this system would cost them the power and control.

As I said repeatedly, I am not like other people that they have dealt with so far. I ran for the board because I want to fix this federation and bring chess to the next level. The first and most difficult thing is to get rid of dirty and destructive politics. Then the next step is to get rid of the people who have held this federation back and bring in qualified people who can fix the many problems. Without changing the way how we do business, it is nearly impossible to turn things around. We have very little assets and room for errors. We cannot continue to lose money, members, and revenues and survive.

I will be very busy in the next two weeks. Therefore, I will not be able to post much.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

Zarathustra wrote: "If Paul Truong is recalled because he has not given his personal computer records to the Internet attorney, then the board majority is guiltier not releasing the same information. Paul Truong personal computer is his personal computer, the United States Chess Federation computer records belong to the members of the United States Chess Federation."

Actually, we would have no problem providing access to Paul's laptop (and other info), the one which he used in the past almost 2 years, the same one used in Mexico, to an independent expert and not the USCF attorney or the board.

I would never allow any possibility of tampering with the evidence. In exchange, we would like to have full consent by the board to release all information which we have to show clear misconduct / illegal conduct by some board members relating to this issue since September 2007.

Again, the offer is very clear. If the independent expert comes back saying that we did something unethical / illegal, we will both resign.

However, if we can prove that the board majority did something unethical / illegal, they would resign immediately to spare the USCF more damages.

On the other hand, if the expert feels that both sides did something unethical / illegal, all 6 board members would resign.

The ball is on their court.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar

If the USCF continues this kind of pattern of conduct while this federation continues to lose (losing over $100,000 this year and 10 of the last 12 years), I have no choice but to let all USCF members must know the truth. I made my commitment to all USCF members when I ran for the board to stop the dirty and destructive chess politics. This is a monumental task but because those who have controlled the USCF for decades will not let go of their power and control. Unfortunately, if I do not do it, the USCF will continue to crash and burn.

More facts about the USCF legal and financial mess

In a message dated 7/1/2008 9:01:13 A.M. Central Daylight Time, Chessoffice (Bill Goichberg) writes:

What "board act" do you have in mind?

- Hiding the investigation from the other 6 board members, refusing to step down from the subcommittee due to clear conflict of interest, then declining to allow our experts the opportunity to inspect the database to verify the data.

- Refusing to take action against contractors who blatantly violated the NDA, even after it was confirmed that the NDA was clearly violated multiple times.

- Leaking confidential and legal information to Jerry Hanken and others by one of the board members (Joel Channing and Randy Bauer are excluded). You even clearly stated that you're aware that Jerry Hanken received confidential information and he used this to negotiate with Sam Sloan.

- Voting 5-0 to authorize the attorney to interfere with our legal defense by contacting Chubb to try to cancel our insurance coverage which is highly unethical.

- Not stopping your attorney from trying to investigate the bogus claim that Paul and I abused my children. These outrageous, vicious, and damaging charges which were proven completely false were then sent to multiple high level individuals at Texas Tech as well as the local media by one of your supporters to try to get me fired from my job.

Please feel free to deny them ....

President Bill Goichberg was given the opportunity to deny these facts. There is absolutely no dispute by him.

More clear facts:

This was an admission by Brian Mottershead, the contractor who blatantly violated the NDA:

"...you were not a party to the discussions between me and USCF officials such as Bill Hall and Bill Goichberg before the information became public. After first encouraging me to pursue the investigation..."

I immediately called the USCF ED 9-10 times long distance from another country when I found out about it last September. This was before any board member was aware of the details or facts and before any report came out. According to both the ED and President, the only 2 USCF officials who knew were themselves.

I left multiple messages on the ED’s voicemail as well as through his assistant. I left the number of my hotel room. There was a specific reason why I did this. I wanted to let him know that something was not right, inform him of my exact location, and have him test something to catch the perpetrator. It was crucial that we did this right at that time when the perpetrator did not suspect it. We were willing to cooperate immediately to clear everything up.

He never returned my calls while he admitted that he was in communication with the contractor(s) about this investigation. In fact, I never had a chance to speak to him until many weeks later.

Bill Goichberg also confirmed the statement by the contractor. This matter was completely hidden by Bill Goichberg and Bill Hall from the other 6 board members. I immediately asked back in last September to allow our experts the opportunity to examine the data which was used for this "political" investigation. And since Bill Goichberg clearly acted on his own with his own political motive (he went out of his way to smear my reputation back in December 2006, asked USCF members not to vote for Paul and I, and wanted both of us out of the board), I asked for him to recuse himself in this investigation and I also asked to have our experts the opportunity to examine the data.

He rejected both requests. He wanted to be involved to make sure that his vote would tip the balance. He got exactly what he wanted. Multiple lawyers examined the NDA and concluded that the contractor(s) clearly violated the NDA and suggested to terminate the contractor(s) immediately. Bill Goichberg fought against it and protected them. He refused to go after any of the people in his camp.

Then confidential and legal information was purposely leaked by some of the board members directly to Mr. Jerry Hanken and their insiders to harm the other side. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As I stated before, now that I have the written consent from Mr. Jerry Hanken to release all the facts, things will start to come out to show the exact conduct of some of the board majority and why the USCF is in this financial and legal mess.

Best wishes,
Susan Polgar