Bleak Future for the NC Invitational...(Revised) By NM Leland Fuerstman  Though it was specifically required in the official minutes of the NCCA annual meeting, the 2015 Invitational did not transpire. (shouldn't they amend the minutes in order to reflect what really occurred?)   Charlotte, NC 1-3-16: Some curious chess pundits were wondering about bidding for the upcoming 2016 NC Invitational Championship by Monday, February 1, 2016 (Bidding?? Are you kidding?!!) This is an event which is required by the Articles of Incorporation for which the NCCA officers are directly responsible! Why isn't International Arbitor and National Tournament Director President Kevin Hyde stepping forward to simply do "his" job?? (And, who knows how "little" money they are planning to offer the invitees?) Thirty years ago, in order to qualify as a potential candidate, a players must have been a member of the NCCA for at least 6 months prior to the event! In addition, he must have participated in at least 6 NCCA "recognized" events and have played at least 24 games. (the idea was to prevent prima donnas from only showing up for the money and rewarding those who were more active!) Once the requirements were met and the calculations were made, from a list of players who had already earned their "seat," the remaining seats were decided generally by rating. Then, invitations were physically sent in the mail so invitees would have some real evidence of the honor whether they accept the invitation, or not. But, simply participating with the best chess players in the state was an honor in of itself! My, how times have changed... Thank goodness the list of current NCCA members has diminished to only 24 Regular Members and 28 Life Members (of whom only 5 are even marginally active) from a total of 2,093 members of the USCF who live in North Carolina? It makes it easier to calculate! The remaining Life Members  have either relocated to another state, are completely inactive or deceased. Therefore, if you include the active Life Members and waive the required number of tournaments and games, the field would include: 1. FM Craig Jones (2223), 2. LM Neal Harris (2200), 3. Sulia Mason (2021), 4. Ken Baxter (1969), 5. Jeff Jones (1967), 6. Mark Smith-Soto (1943). With Alternates: Richard Smith (1914), Tom Hales (1832), Garret Allen (1752). And, though each of these players may have talent in his own right, it is hardly a list which is representative of the strongest players in the state?! (Hey Tom; If 2 people back out, you're playing!.. good luck!!) I strongly recommend that the completely failed policy of requiring members to renew their memberships on January 1 of each year be reversed. Organizers and directors don't want to waste their time with some confusing amortization scale? Of more concern is the fact that not one NCCA Officer nor any other member has made one statement either on their "webpage" nor their "Forum" nor their "Facebook" page reminding members to "renew?" (Besides that, the address listed to send payment for renewal is for the previous guy who just resigned). Furthermore, President Kevin Hyde, Vice President of Scholastics Venkataraja Shanmugavadivel and Sec/Treas. Sara Walsh might want to renew their own memberships, as well... (wow, Sara (1917) would have qualified to be 1st alternate!) In the final analysis, if the "nomination committee" follows the simplest rule of requiring players to be current NCCA members, the list posted above is accurate! I believe that most readers can easily observe that there are major problems with the NCCA, only one of which is the "invitational." After a new member to the NC chess community studied the situation more carefully, he stated, "I thought this was a registered 'non-profit organization?' but, what I see is some kind of banana republic government where you have no right to vote and the same regime controls all of the appointees and money year after year? What good are they doing?" (a concerned CCC member who wishes to remain anonymous) Finally, last week, I made a request to a current NCCA officer to post CCC  "club" information and "tournament" information on the NCCA website lists. After all, we do have 65 certified members compared to their 29! Furthermore, they already publish the info of events for organizers who have NEVER even been members of the NCCA. So, why not us? So far, I have received no response... I hate to be a party pooper, but I seriously doubt that the 2016 NC Invitational will actually receive a bid by February 1, 2016... after all, what's in it for the organizer who wins the bid? Why don't they just do the jobs they were "appointed" to do? I remain, NM Leland Fuerstman The Charlotte Chess Club