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

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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

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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