US JUNIOR CLOSED FIASCO

Running Chess Tournaments
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Hey everyone, my name is Brian Goldstein. I was the qualifier for this year’s US Junior Closed to be held in Lindsborg Kansas (where is that?) based on my performance last year in the US Junior Open Qualifier. All of this seems irrelevant, but it has a great story. Anyways, the event is to be held June 13-18 or something like that. On May 29, I had yet to receive my invitation! Well done USCF. I emailed the host of the tournament, Tom Brownscombe, as to why I haven’t been invited. He told me, he checked MSA and caluclated the results manually and I came in second place. Why didn’t he just search for the results online…I know for a fact they are on the Florida Scholastic Chess League Website. So the person who tied with me, Edward Lu, who got second on tie breaks, apparently got my invitation. That’s fine, I don’t even care about that. Finally, Mr. Brownscombe invites me and admits his mistake by email, this was yesterday, June 1, by the way. The tournament is less then 2 weeks away. Flights are very expensive now and from what I’ve heard, there are no taxis to the event site from Wichita Airport. I have sent numerous emails to Jerry Nash and Tom Brownscombe himself, and have yet to get a satisfactory response. Here are some of the emails.

To: Mr. Nash and and others it may concern (Mr. Brownscombe)

I would like to voice my opinion about the travesty that is the US Junior Closed. I was the winner of the US Junior Open U21 in 2007, entitling me to play this year in Lindsborg Kansas. As you know, there was a mix up and I did not receive my invitation. I do not blame any one individual, but rather all of USCF. Today, I was told I am invited, but the tournament is less then 2 weeks away. Travel arrangements cannot be made under these time constraints. The ticket prices are too high along with other various reasons. I do not believe I have been treated fairly in this regard. I have been a member of USCF for over 10 years, and I cannot imagine a National Organization treating it’s members this way. I request that USCF admit its mistake and offer me something, whether it be to pay for my airfare this year, or invite me to next year’s US Junior Closed, though I will be 21 as of May 5, 2009.

Sincerely,
Brian Goldstein

Jerry’s response to me:
Any suggestions, Tom?

Jerry

Tom’s response to me:
I have yet to recieve one

Most Recent Email by me:
This is ridiculous and unacceptable. How am I supposed to organize any travel arrangements or for that matter anything at all with a week to go until the tournament. It is unfair to me and to all of the other participants and any event run this poorly should not have been run at all. I demand a resolution to this situation before I go public with this debauchery.

Any Solutions? Just goes to show you how deep USCF is in the metaphorical shitter. This is a prestigious event, only 10 players can play in it per year. 9 are invited, 1 qualifies (me). I can’t imagine how USCF can fix this. How can they be a prestigious national organization if they cannot organize 10 players. Oh, and by the way, no event should ever be held in Lindsborg Kansas, the population of the city is somewhere near the number 200.

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The fiasco extends not just to the US Junior but also the US Cadet (same place, same time). Clearly the USCF messed up big time. In fact, I am in possession of one apology already and believe more are warranted to other people. Unfortunately, by the time I found out about the error(s), most of the invitations were already accepted and it was too late to correct. It is sad that apologies cannot make up for opportunities lost by deserving young players.

PROBLEMS:

  1. Several players who were supposed to have been invited to the Cadet were not on the invitation list created by the USCF office. Specifically, any player lacking a published FIDE rating was ignored, even if their USCF rating is sufficiently high. Note: having a FIDE rating has never been a requirement and the USCF office has apologized for this mistake. I estimate about a half dozen players were affected, including one of my students.

  2. A number of players did not respond at all to their invitations. I know that one high profile master did not receive any notification at all. The mother wasn’t even aware of the Cadet until I asked her.

  3. The US Junior and the US Cadet are scheduled in direct conflict with a major camp featuring Garry Kasparov in New York. Some of the nation’s top juniors had already committed to the NY event, booking airline tickets, well before the Junior and Cadet invitations came out. I know both events were schedule in (approx) January. Why on earth did nobody in the USCF office talk to both parties months ago to seek a resolution for the sake of the kids caught in the middle?

I don’t know what went wrong. Obviously a lot did. The invitation lists of both tournaments came down to about 25th on the list of eligible players. I have been in contact with Tom Brownscombe and I appreciate his responsiveness to my questions. I don’t blame anyone, as long as we can figure out a way to prevent these annual problems from recurring. Yes, this isn’t the first year with problems. Case in point: last year’s Cadet didn’t even get 8 players.

SUGGESTIONS:

  1. The organizer (or the USCF) shall post to the internet an updated list of invitees and alternates, adding/subtracting players as they accept or decline. This allows other players to see their spot on the waiting list and also offers oversight to coaches/parents in case someone was overlooked. Players shouldn’t have to find out later that a lower rated person was invited and they never heard anything.

  2. It is the duty of the USCF office to coordinate a variety of summer activities. I realize that sometimes this task becomes difficult, but direct conflicts within the same pool of players must be avoided. Obviously, if the invitation list for both the Junior and the Cadet gets down into the 25th spot on the rating list, then something is seriously wrong. In this case, at least a dozen eligible players had committed to the Kasparov event.

  3. The USCF should publish an Under 16 year old Top 100 list again, as this list is important for the US Cadet. There already is an Under 21 list to use for the US Junior.

Michael Aigner

P.S. Brian: You might laugh, but I know one California kid who received his invitation to last year’s Cadet (it was in Florida) literally 48 hours before round 1. Of course, he couldn’t go. History keeps repeating.

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Mr. Aigner,

I appreciate the reply and sympathize for you and your student. For such prestigious events, mistakes like these are not tolerable. I wholeheartedly agree that their should be an under 16 rating list republished. I have yet to get a reply from Mr. Brownscombe but have been in contact with Jerry Nash who is doing the best he can in fixing this terrible mess. I suggest you speak with him, as he is the one who is sorting out my issue, or attempting to at least. Obviously this tournament has become to sour for my tastes, I can only hope that the USCF and I come to an agreeable alternative. Once again, thank you for your interest and best of luck to you and your student.

Sincerely,
Brian Goldstein

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Brian, the only reason that I care at this point is to make sure kids and their families don’t have to go through what you and others have experienced. You did the right thing to share your experiences. I understand your sour taste and you have every right to be disappointed. My own student got his consolation prize a week later: qualifying for Denker.

Best of luck to you in your future chess endeavors.

Michael Aigner

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As of today, June 4, people are still receiving letters for the US Junior. How on earth does the USCF think folks will magically travel to a remote part of Kansas on this short notice!? I will also note that this is the weakest US Junior in many years; the top seed is around 2360 and now players in the low 2200s are being invited. In fact, some people are declining their invitations simply because of the weak field.

Considering the late date, will the US Junior even have 10 players? Last year’s Cadet had only 6 out of the normal 8, so there is a precedent.

Let me make a fourth suggestion:

  1. Start the invitation process as early as possible, before people make summer plans. Lindsborg received the right to host these events in January. The April rating supplement was available by mid March. There’s no reason why invitations couldn’t go out by the end of March so that the entire field could be filled by May 1. It seems the process this year began at least an entire month too late. Maybe the USCF should consider using the February or March rating lists for these events, just to get the invitations out sooner.

Michael Aigner

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Disclosure: I have no experience or connection with these tournaments. I only offer information based on extensive business travel.

Flight costs are lowest 21+ days in advance. They go up during days 20-14, higher during days 13-7, and are highest during days 6-2. One (1) day in advance is not advisable, both for cost and baggage search concerns. If you must book a flight one day in advance, book a roundtrip – that will minimize government scrutiny and the time you spend in the security line at the airport.

I have zero detail on the situation, but considering the age level I would hope it’s on the organizers to arrange travel from airport to playing site and back. Other nonprofit organizations I’m involved in charge a fair rate (usually less than a taxi cab!) for a shared shuttle that is dedicated to transporting volunteers and participants between travel/accomodation hubs. Of course those shuttles are rented 15-passenger vans operated by local volunteers, but at least gas and rental fees are covered!

Best wishes on a resolution – if I had the resources I would say book the flights and send me the bill!!!

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Looking at the map there is no city of any size close to this site at all. I have nothing against central Kansas, but what process got this event located in an area that lacks major transportation services? Sponsor money?

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  1. Lindsborg, KS may be small, but it is “on the map for U.S. chess”. With its sizeable Russian population, it is the site of the Anatoly Karpov Chess School. And yes, he has made appearances in the past.

Linares, Spain is also small and is several hours drive from a major international airport, but the world’s elite super-GMs make the trek there as well.

  1. It may well have been that the USCF received only one bid to host the U.S. Junior Closed. Since I don’t have any information about competing bids, I can’t criticize the Lindsborg site.
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That was my question - why here? It is not easy to get to so was it the only proposal, or was it the sponsorship or just waht? How does one get this event?

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Allen:

The USCF advertises that they are looking for bidders on their events on the USCF website.

Certain tournaments are not money makers - like the US Junior Closed. So it wouldn’t surprise me that organizers would not be tripping over themselves to place bids in for it.

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The US Junior has only six players ranging from 2210 to 2360 as of June 4. Normally it has ten players, most rated over 2300 and a few over 2400. At this point, the top players in the US Cadet are being invited to the Junior and I suspect that they may switch.

main.uschess.org/content/view/8480/319/

Michael Aigner

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Who in the office is actually responsible for the invitations?

All the best, Joe Lux

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Thank you - that is what I asked.

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Has Mr. Brownscombe stated whether an armageddon playoff will be used (in either event) in case of a tie?

Alex Relyea

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And are Irina and Anna going to volunteer to serve on the appeals committee? :slight_smile:

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In July of 2004 I directed the same 2 events in Lindsborg
(event # 2004-07-25-6060) and we had very strong players. :laughing:
That is… the ave rating of the Junior Inv was 2400
with IM Bhat coming in last and Lev Milman winning outright.
The average rating of the Cadet was 2200 and was won by
FKB USA Ch of 2008 competitor Dan Ludwig.
The set-up was the same in 2008 as 2004.
Both events held in same place and same time.
The reason for this years low turnout in Lindsborg must lie elsewhere.
Chess tournaments are changing. :neutral_face:
Our NAO in Stillwater last month only drew 36 players when we were expecting 70. Frank K. Berry

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Frank, one of the complaints about the 2008 events is that they are being held in early June, before schools are closed. The events you ran were in July, so that could be a big reason for your better turnout right there.

– Hal Terrie

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Frank points out two very important things:

  1. The events have been run before with very high caliber players in all spots
  2. Chess tournaments are changing

#2 is one of the most important ones for organizers to take into consideration if they want #1 to be possible.

Chess tournaments are changing, the organizers must change with them if they want to attract players. However change means risk, and from what I have seen with organizers they are risk averse. I can understand in a bad economy could be a reason however even when times were fine, organizers (from what I’ve seen again) don’t like to change.

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Or perhaps that about a dozen of America’s top juniors are in New York schmoozing with Kasparov this weekend… You know, the same kids who are not playing in Kansas right now.