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1994-01-05
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EVANS ON CHESS
By GM Larry Evans
August 4, 1989
CREEPING SECRECY
A key scene was cut from Rain Man when the movie was shown on at least
15 major airlines--the scene where Dustin Hoffman's autistic character
cites airplane crash statistics as he balks at boarding a plane. "It's
our policy to remove portions of feature films that could create
discomfort for passengers," said an airline spokesman.
That same brand of logic was applied by the United States Chess
Federation (USCF) when its amateur Policy Board recently banned tape
recorders at their open sessions. With this kind of leadership the USCF
remained utterly stagnant during the great economic boom of the 80s,
and membership has not grown in a decade.
The board also imposed more secrecy on internal documents, and not
without good reason. Officials of the tax-exempt, non-profit USCF went
on junkets to the Olympiad when funds were supposedly lacking to send a
team coach, and the bylaws were changed so a certain treasurer could
succeed himself in office.
Columnist Sydney Harris noted: "Not many decades after it began as a
simple form of lawn entertainment on a lazy summer afternoon, tennis
assumed an official structure. What happened within a relatively few
years was that the structure began to dominate the game and control the
players. The institution became not a means, but an end in itself. It
has nothing to do with sport anymore; inevitably politics has taken the
reins."
Tennis boomed only after the players took over, but this won't happen
in chess without changes in its governing structure. Currently a small
group (mostly organizers) selected by state affiliates elect national
officers, but some 50,000 USCF members don't have a vote.
When a player asked, "If I'm good enough to take my dues money, they
why not take my vote?" a former USCF president grumbled, "It's about
time we stop this one-member, one-vote poppycock permanently!" Fearful
of being swept out of office, the old guard fights tooth and nail
aqainst this democratic reform.
In his book THE ADVENTURE OF CHESS Edward Lasker 50 years ago tried to
explain why mediocrity often holds sway: "World champion Emanuel Lasker
was the hero of the great masses of chess fans, but he had few friends
among chess officials. Like its counterparts in too many other
countries, the German Chess Federation was run by politicians who were
mainly interested in their own glory. For them this meant getting
reelected every year, thus surrounding themselves with the nimbus of
authority. Since more votes come from mediocre players than from
masters, these politicians would always cater to the little vanities of
local chess talent rather than make an effort to advance the cause of
master chess."
Lasker predicted: "If mediocrity is favored, the organizers are at
fault. The future belongs to the creative master and to an organization
which works in unison with him."