NCCA Criticism Warranted
$69 Entry Fee, 12.5% Payback Sad Commentary for a Scholastic Ripoff
By NM Leland Fuerstman
In an age where communications are conveyed at the speed of light, now that the smoke has cleared almost 2 weeks later, NC chess players are still waiting for a comprehensive article about the 2016 North Carolina Scholastic
Championship? -- An event which has
been touted by some parents as "the
worst Scholastic Championship in history?!"
(See Msg 607) Most
folks want to read today's news, tomorrow morning! But,
as usual, nothing but the bare bones of the results were
published by website "editor," NCCA Vice President
Jeffrey "Pig" Jones? Though he did
include the names of the winners of each class and their
school and hometown, no other information was offered,
such as images, personal info, games nor any anecdotes
associated with the event. Every chess tournament
produces the elements of a good news story! And, this
one was no exception. Why no mention of Charlotte
Chess Club members NM Emmanuel Carter (2215) who became Expert
and Master at the CCC last year at the
tender age of 14
and NM Daniel Cremisi
(2270) who remains as
the CCC's highest rated active player!? Their
amazing Rd:3
encounter included sacking a piece to achieve a R&B
vs R ending which lasted over 140 moves and resulted
in Draw!! The crowd and STD Tom Hales were carefully
monitoring the progress of the game as well as the move
count. (And, if that's not
newsworthy, I don't know what is!) In fact, the "Master of Excuses," VP Jeff Jones, posted the following explanation: "We are in the process of tabulating all the scholarships and receiving pictures from the event. We are also going to wait until Sunday in the event there are any appeals of results before submitting the event for ratings." How ridiculous?!? Exactly how long does it take to "tabulate scholarships?" or "receive pictures" from the event? They should all be in his E-mail in-box patiently waiting to be processed. Furthermore, what other director waits one week for players to "appeal their results?" It was up to the many directors and assistants on hand to make sure that results were already reported accurately. Anyway, unless one is standing right there observing the results for comparison, how in heavens name could anyone derive any conclusion one week later at his home? How absurd?? His entire excuse doesn't make sense. One disillusioned bystander remarked, "...Jones is just lazy. He makes excuse after excuse and puts everything off for so long, it never gets done..."
The 2016 NC Scholastic Champion, NM Aaron Balleisen, certainly deserves more accolades than simply having his name and score posted? Where are all of those images? Where are his games? And, exactly how far does a $1,500 scholarship go when the annual tuition of most reputable colleges exceeds $25-30,000? Furthermore, increasing the total scholarships to $5,000 this year only accounts for 12.5% of the revenue collected? Which leads directly to the question, what happened to the other $35,000? Seems to me that they have it backward! The organizers should be claiming the $5,000 and the remaining $35,000 should be distributed to the winners! Anything short of that has allowed individual promoters to take extraordinary profits over the past few years with NO controlling arm of the NCCA preventing them from doing so. And, in each case, absolutely no comprehensive public accounting nor explanation... and, NMLF is the bad guy for bringing it to everyone's attention...
Please allow me to remind everyone that in past years, the NCCA only promoted a scholastic event as an afterthought. Considering the fact that scholastic players were not even allowed to become members of the NCCA!? (...and still don't have the right to vote in the elections... But, since those are already rigged, what difference does it make?) So, how did all of this confusion come about? Well, it seems as though, someone, through the years, who had on-line access to the "constitution" or "articles of Incorporation" simply keyed in wholesale changes unbeknownst to the members or other officers? ... and without legal ratification. I still maintain that the NCCA can not produce one document which proves that the current "Articles of Incorporation" have ever been ratified by the members? But, since the "silent deletion" when all members lost their right to vote was decreed, what difference does it make, anyway? Nothing that the members may decide upon now has any bearing on the execution or neglect of their current policies? Nor, their decision to completely abandon an important event like the 2015 NC Invitational? Apparently, the idea is that the members are not intelligent nor experienced enough to understand the complexities of their state chess organization and must, therefore, leave all of the decision making in the hands of 4 people; some of whom have either failed miserably as officers in the past or who continue to demonstrate their inefficiency both as administrators and chess players. One popular chess pundit quipped, "they only show up when there's a paycheck waitin' for 'em!?"
Finally, after his dubious tenure as NCCA president in 2000 when he was cited for misappropriation of funds and bankrupting the NCCA treasury, when Jeffrey "Pig" Jones decided to reemerge and make a bid to become an officer of the NCCA again, an "insider" assured me that: "don't worry, he's just running for VP; he won't be handling any money..." (yeah... famous last words...) Therefore, one can only assume that Sec/Treas Sara Walsh secured all of those thousands of dollars in cash which had been received as entry fees on Saturday morning and then promptly deposited every dollar into the NCCA bank account bright and early on Monday morning! After all, they weren't paying out any cash prizes... As I stated in my previous message, "A complete published independent accounting of all revenues associated with this $40,000+ event would answer all questions."
Now, let's give them the benefit of a doubt and assume that the NCCA just put $40,000 in their bank account. According to most recent figures, that would increase their balance to over $65,000! And, just exactly what do they intend to do with all of that money? The fact is, no programs have been designed nor initiated to bring new chess players into our sport, nor have they supported our "top players" by sending them to tournaments around the country in order to qualify for norms, nor did they even conduct the Invitational? Nor, do they provide membership to indigent folks who can't otherwise afford it but want to play rated chess. So, just exactly how have they "spent" the money over the past few years? Inquiring minds want to know...
"Either lead, follow, or get out of the way." Lee Iacocca
I remain,
NM Leland Fuerstman
www.charlottechess.com