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1994-01-05
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EVANS ON CHESS
By GM Larry Evans November 27, 1992
POISON PEN PLOT
Henry Kissinger quipped that academic politics are so vicious because the
stakes are so small. Perhaps this explains why chess politics are so
odious.
"Break-ins, pilfered documents, and neo-Nazi dirty tricks all play a part
in elections of the United States Chess Federation," noted former CHESS
LIFE editor Larry Parr. "It's the worst politics that I've ever seen; and
it thrives precisely because a limited and unrepresentative group tolerates
racist smears that would boomerang among a wider audience."
He was referring to the archaic USCF structure that restricts voting rights
to just 350 out of 65,000 organized players. It raises the issue of whether
anti-democratic organizations ought to enjoy tax-exempt status.
The small circle of voters are largely chess organizers who are loathe to
relinquish their perks. Year after year they kill motions to extend the
franchise to the rank and file, who pay exactly the same dues yet remain
second-class members without voting rights.
Insiders play musical chairs on the board. Today smear campaigns have
gotten so bad that a respected lawyer who is prominent in chess refuses to
run for office "because I want to keep my good name."
A former Mobil Oil president, who was ludicrously overqualified for the
post, lost to a guy who boasted, "I had more friends among the voting
members." Such an inbred system discourages topnotch candidates from
seeking office.
A band of reformers -- this writer included -- believes the way to spur
growth and attract new blood is to adopt one-member-one-vote. Award-winning
photographer Nigel Eddis made this issue the linchpin in his race for an
open seat against ex-FIDE delegate Donald Schultz.
Alas, the campaign was marred by a poison pen plot endorsing Schultz, who
won by a lopsided 221-82. The letters reeked of xenophobia and
anti-Semitism. Some samples:
"There is nothing wrong with being Jewish but I don't
believe ex-Russian Jews should be running USCF...Eddis
portrays himself as an outsider, but he is the agent of
immigrants from the Soviet Union who are trying to take
over the USCF...Don Schultz isn't perfect, but he offers
us an AMERICAN federation."
Each side accused the other of these screeds by fictitious people using
phony addresses. The board decided to forward details to the postal
service, where the case almost certainly will be shelved.
"If they really wanted to clean house," said Eddis, "they'd also hire
someone independent to examine the evidence and take testimony."
This writer has since learned that on the same day the first piece of hate
mail was posted from San Luis Obispo, board secretary Randall Hough, an
avid Schultz supporter, drove through that city on his way from LA to a
wedding in San Francisco.
Schultz insisted that this didn't mean much. Hough refused to comment.
Later, however, he claimed his route did not pass through San Luis Obispo.
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(Copyright CHESSTOURS)