From the NY Times:
A qualifying tournament for the United States Championship was held last weekend in Tulsa, Okla. Seven players earned spots, and five qualified based on their national rankings after five of the country’s best players declined invitations.
Top players are passing up this year’s event, to be held in May in Tulsa, because they are unhappy about its prize fund and location.
Hikaru Nakamura, Larry Christiansen and Joel Benjamin, all past champions, are not playing. Ildar Ibragimov, ranked No. 10 in the country, has declined. Gata Kamsky, the No. 1 player and a past champion, did not respond to his invitation.
The prizes range from $8,000 for first place to $1,000 for the last five in the 24-player event.
Nakamura said he did not have fond memories of last year’s tournament, held in Stillwater, Okla., where he finished in a tie for 10th. The “prestige has gone down,” he said, blaming the United States Chess Federation. Christiansen said: “A lot of professional players will sit it out for 8,000 bucks. It is lot of work. The equivalent of one of these top-level games is like taking the bar exam.”
Source: NY Times
Did the Berry brothers ask Susan or Paul to help promote the US Championship?
i think that the same people declined the last year champ, except for naka… still was a great tourney.
2 cents,
What was Jerry Hanken convicted of?
Sloan was elected to the board because Jerry Hanken fought Redman’s motion to exclude convicted felons from running for the USCF EB. This is the problem with chess. Hanken is getting writing gigs with the USCF because he’s a long time friend of Bill Goichberg and the Berrys.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Berry’s and Goichi’s crimes are hidden, but a good audit from the IRS and FBI would uncover their crimes!
Count on it!
Susan and Paul,
You have done a great job promoting chess. But you may have to step away from the USCF before it self destructs. With you and Paul safely out of the way, we can sue the USCF into non-existence. Then you can start over with a new federation. The USCF is beyond redemption.
The USCF is totally dependant on Scholastic revenue. If the scholastic people put their membership into a new organization then USCF will collapse within the year. The new scholastic organization could then pick up the remains like FIDE affiliation for free.
A big advantage to this strategy is that the problem people will remain in USCF and the new organization will not have to deal with them as members.
However, the new organization still needs a good structure so it does not morph into a similar organization with problem people.
I recommend making membership a priviledge not a right.
The new organization needs a rating computer program. Then it might use an online magazine to control costs and if costs are low enough it might be willing to grant membership to life members of uscf. This would gain a large group of loyal members and gain immediate long term validity to the organization. These members would then support the organization getting FIDE recognition which is essential for long term viability.
I never thought I would be defending enemby for life, Jerome Hanken, but what’s right is right. Hanken is not a felon, he was involved in accident. Definition of ACCIDENT: a: an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance; b: lack of intention or necessity; c: an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance; d: an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious; e: an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct, but for which legal relief may be sought.
Pedestrian Dies After Being Hit in Crosswalk; Driver Arrested
08/28/2000
Los Angeles Times
Valley Edition
Page B-5
Copyright 2000 / The Times Mirror Company
GLENDALE — A 41-year-old pedestrian in a marked crosswalk was struck and
killed Saturday evening by a motorist later arrested on suspicion of drunk
driving, according to police.
The unidentified victim was crossing Colorado Boulevard at Langley Street
with his wife and 10-year-old son when they were hit about 8:15 p.m., said
Sgt. Jim Woody of the Glendale Police Department.
“The 10-year-old was riding his Razor scooter, while his parents were walking
behind him,” Woody said.
They were in the crosswalk when struck by a car westbound on Langley, Woody
said. The father suffered severe head injuries. All three were taken to Huntington
Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where the man died later that night. The mother
and son were treated for minor injuries.
The driver, Jerome Hanken , 66, of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of felony drunk driving, Woody said.
Hanken is many things, mostly dealing with self importance, of which I wish not to dwell on in 2nd 50 years of living. Malicious felon ISN’T one of them.
Thank you so much for your time in reading this!!
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http://www.labatechess.com/ed_trice.html RE: ‘PHILLY PHRAUD’, Ed Trice/Gothic Chess
http://www.labatechess.com/robert_snyder.htmlm RE: Convicted Felon/Pedophile, Robert Snyder
http://www.labatechess.com/f_list.html RE: Lying Blackmailer Olaf Wolna
If they do not want to play, then just go down the list of great players until the quota is filled. It is their loss the way I see it.
Did this accident with Jerry Hanken happen 8 years ago or recently? Was he convicted? Just curious….
If other sponsors can garantee more prize money GREAT,but until then the Berry’s have saved the US Championship 2 years in a row!
“Can you please clarify what happened? Was Mr. Hanken arrested? Was he charged? Did he serve time in jail? Was he exonerated?
I think it is important for the facts to be presented so no one can make false charges against Mr. Hanken.
Thank you!
Blog Admin”
—– Original Message —–
From: Randall Hough
To: Edward Labate
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 10:38 PM
“…Jerry did something terrible that will plague him for the rest of his life, but he wasn’t drunk, just inattentive. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count and did community service.”
and as I responded to Randy:
“I’m obviously a sworn enemy of Hanken for life, but like I said in the post, what’s right is right…and I don’t believe labeling him a felon is accurate or fair.
Especially, since I’m confident he will take the remorse of that one, inattentive moment to the grave with him. I don’t envy his quite moments…they must be hell!!”
“Sloan was elected to the board because Jerry Hanken fought Redman’s motion to exclude convicted felons from running for the USCF EB.”
Sloan got elected *because* there wasn’t a special rule in place to keep him out?? (dubious look) Considering what a nutcase he is, that doesn’t seem to explain his victory.
Whatever Mr. Hanken did in this matter is between him, the family which suffered this tragedy and the state of California.
What matters to me is his current or recent conduct, not what happened 8 years ago.
I have personally witnessed a few incidents involving Mr. Hanken in the past 2 years and I do not condone his behavior and language.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
So are we supposed to ignore Hanken’s behavior because Sloan and Laugherty are crying foul?
They can do as they wish. I don’t want my supporters to behave the same way they do.
I have said what I wanted to say. I am moving on. If they want to, let them continue to be destructive.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Hanken never shows any remorse for killing a man and destroying a family. He’s still a vicious bully. I have no respect for this man.
Ah yes, and some of them are the same pigs who want to exploit Susan’s personal life and her children for their political agenda. Laugherty and Sloan have repeatedly done this. But they have no problem with this while defending an obnoxious man who killed someone.
I don’t agree with the person who suggested that the USCF be turned into a scholastic organization. Making chess a children’s game is not the way to increase the prestige of chess. Constantly promoting chess for children and not giving a damn about the people who have devoted their life to it may make some people some money (for a little while) but will tell the rest of the world that chess is not an art to be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, many people involved in chess do not take chess or themselves seriously. The fact that there is almost no reward for getting good at chess is a disincentive for people to take it seriously, and this harms EVERY chess business. This includes scholastic chess, your local chess club or tournament, as well as those companies that make chess equipment, books, monroi, icc, etc. A U.S. Championship with an $8,000 first prize is a black eye for the entire chess community in America, not just symbolic of the disaster for the lives of people who devoted themselves to chess. It is very hard to get average people (especially Americans) to care about something you can make no money at.
Think about it–if there were serious rewards for becoming a GM or IM, how many more people would be interested in playing chess? Think how many more parents would support their childrens’ interest in chess? Think how many more people would be paying members of the USCF? It is very simple.
This if for those people who say “why should I give a damn about those GMs?”
Sorry I’m almost 2 and a half years late. Jerry never showed remorse for me or my family 8 years ago when he killed my father. It makes me furious that he was able to take his secret to his grave without letting it harm his reputation. He knew he had physical disabilities and poor eyesight, he took pain medication, and he STILL CHOSE TO DRIVE that night. Even worse, he was let off free because the court ruled there was no point in punishing him because he’s already at old age and it wouldn’t do him or the state any good. Even I was surprised. Even worse, my mother is still a single-parent trying to support the family. We have never received any reimbursement for the tragedy. The only thing I’m happy about is that he’s finally dead.