---------- Original Message ----------
From: mordue andrew <tyson.mordue@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Alan <adicey415@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 21 August 2019 at 20:32
Subject: Re: Dear Jim, and Chris, Excellent and prompt response to my
message, Thank you!
Hello everyone,
Further to the specific point which Alan has included below.
Just to clarify in case anyone is unsure.
I am a sighted, English FIDE Master (aka an FM) who is a consultant to the
USBCA in addition to contributing to this group. I'm also a English Chess
Federation (ECF) Arbiter which is why I'm occasionally called on to clarify
rules.
I'm not an expert on IT and have no knowledge of Jaws of other VH software
and aids. However, I do annotate games in English so please bear with me if
'color' is written by me as 'colour'. Some software may pick up on this.
Happy to serve the group in any way that I can subject to the obvious
restrictions.
Regards,
Tyson Mordue
On 21 August 2019 at 04:05 Alan <adicey415@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Jim,
Excellent and prompt response to my message, thank you!
I will of course read it over a couple of times.
I hear what you are saying, and you are correct in many areas and with many
points.
However, I am still hopeful some day we shall have in this America the
beautiful, a
United States blind Chess Association USBCA!
Like all the countries in the world have their own Blind Chess Group!!!
Instead of a International Blind Chess Association.
And Jim, I will use all the contacts I have made since I became legally
Blind in 1990 to do what you suggested.
It will take time, not an over night thing.
By the way, I am now totally Blind in both eyes, due to RP.
I wonder why others like Bob Rathbun, did not try to promote chess to the
Blind more vigorously, or that group, or call it a click of perhaps 10
players that ran the USBCA from it's beginning back in 1968 to when I took
over leadership, and left with 66 American members who were solid Players
who were willing to pay $15 for 2 years membership!.
Chris and Tyson, do not count as they are consultants and advisers, not
members Jim!.
By the way, a very important question I cannot wait to ask.
Why is the USBCA Annual Championship Tournament always in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania?
I was born there, but the only annual USBCA Championship
Tournament I ever attended was in Fort Lauderdale Florida, with my good
friend and Chess enthusiast William Rivera.
I would have needed to spend ?$900 to play 2 days or 4 games of Chess!
Crazy, man, Crazy, the day that happens and it will not!!
I suggested moving the USBCA Annual Championship Tournament around the
country each year, to a different location, but Lord and Master Big Al, and
a few others vetoed that idea, why?
LOL
Because it was so easy for them to attend that Pittsburgh location!
Thank you for all you have done, you and Chris, I seriously appreciate it
Jim, and I do not blame you for the situation I see, and let's be good
friends that we are already and work on things.
Thanks again Jim!
With best regards.
God Bless.
Alan
Plantation, Sunny South Florida
----- Original Message -----
From: "JT" <hazelnutt2001@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Alan'" <adicey415@xxxxxxxxx>; "'Chris Chaffin'"
<chaffin102468@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "'Vinnie Beatty'" <vbeatty1@xxxxxxxxxx>; "'Curtis Cockayne'"
<blueskys012@xxxxxxx>; "'Zolotarevsky, Edward'" <eddyz69@xxxxxxx>; "'David
Rosenkoetter'" <davidrosenkoetter260@xxxxxxxxx>; "'Evan Reese'"
<mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "'John Sherrer'" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "'randy
kruzeniski'" <randy.k59@xxxxxxxxxx>; "'William Rivera'"
<billmyster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 6:39 PM
Subject: RE: Dear Good Friends, and Excelent Chess enthusiasts
Hi All,
Alan, I understand your angst over the ratio of US players to international
players. I, too, would like very much to see more US players actively
participating in USBCA or any other chess event. However, like the old
saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!"
Some points:
First and foremost--and perhaps most telling, At the beginning of last
year,
the USBCA voted to waive the membership fee, slight as it was, in an effort
to draw more people into our events. And it worked. Participation in our
tournaments increased dramatically. Of course, most of the new participants
were from outside the US!
Maybe it just takes some time. Gradually, some US players are coming back
to
the USBCA. The rift that occurred a number of years ago, which sent some to
the blind-chess List, and others to the skype-chess List, (the one headed
by
Kathy Mertz until her death), and others just away, that rift is, I
believe,
slowly healing. As I said, a few blind players have reconnected with the
USBCA, but not all that many.
Another point: For what it's worth, I do believe that the USBCA has
benefited, not suffered, from the influx of international players. There
are
some very strong blind players around this world of ours. Anything that
smacks of isolation from or exclusion of those players must not be
tolerated. I have learned so much from the likes of Olivier Deville
(France), Edgar Rico (Colombia), José Saponara (Argentina), Jim Slagle
(USA), Paul Benson & Chris Ross & Tyson Mordue (UK); And leave us not to
forget that Paul, Chris, and Tyson have been integrally, intimately
involved
with the USBCA for years! The efforts of Mahendra Galani, Viral Trivedi,
George de Nobrega, & Max Maccaferri have done nothing but motivate and
enhance the level of participation over the chessboard. Not to mention that
we now have Americans playing in Peter Ellinger's German correspondence
tournament.
Here is our challenge, and maybe you're the man for the job, Alan. To my
knowledge, no one possesses a comprehensive list of blind chess players in
the US. I've been working at one; Curtis and Chris have been working at
one.
Not even the USBCA subscription list nor the USCF role is anywhere close to
comprehensive. Alan, you have perhaps more contacts throughout the blind
community than anyone I know of. You are, of course, free to create any
sort
of group you wish to, but, with respect to chess and the USBCA, what would
really be helpful would be a comprehensive list of blind chess players with
the contact info they wish to share and the venue of chess and activity
level. Something like the following questionnaire:
Name:
Email:
Phone:
Skype id:
Mode(s) preferred: via correspondence, phone, skype, USPS, etc:
USCF affiliation yes or no:
Man, a comprehensive list something like that would enable us to notify
people of upcoming tournaments, activities, measure who would be interested
in learning opportunities,...
You know, Olivier gets more than 140 participants in each of his
tournaments
and has for at least the last seven iterations with a skill range of total
beginner to near master. Maybe another question to add to the above
questionnaire would be: To what extent are you interested in
learning/improving your game?
When I was running my free Chess Gather, it was rare to get more than three
people into a session. I've given this whole issue much thought. This issue
encompasses the questions: To what extent do you want to improve your game?
How much time do you have to spend on chess? It is directly impacted by the
age and health of a player: Are you still working? Are you physically able
to travel? Can you afford to travel? Even family situations affect to what
extent a person can be involved with chess. Chess is, or certainly can be,
a
major time and energy hog. So maybe it's worth mentioning that maybe it's
less important to worry about how many US folks we have actively involved
with chess, and worry more about what we can do to get more people,
especially the younger set, involved in the game.
Most of you probably know that I had the good fortune to spearhead an
effort, supported by the USBCA, which resulted in bringing ten-year-old
Nathaniel to our national tournament this year. I believe this marks the
first time ever that we have had a school-aged player at our tournament. In
case you're wondering, though he didn't win a game, he said loudly that he
had a ball and can't wait for next year. We also managed to build a good
relationship with the Florida School for Deaf and Blind. They actually have
a group of some ten or eleven youngsters, basically 9-12-year-olds, who are
not only interested in learning chess but also doing it actively, that is,
going out to local mainstream tournaments. That is the sort of thing we
need
to be happening all over the US. Maybe this time next year we will be
celebrating having had more than one FSDB student at our 2020 tournament.
Maybe next year we can celebrate having played an integral part in getting
another chess team started up at another school for deaf and blind. At
least
this year we also got to celebrate having ten players at our national
tournament. The last time we had more than nine was in 2007 when we had
eleven.
One last thing, and then I'll shut up. You know, Al Pietrolungo and I have
the same conversation every year. He lists off the names of players who are
still living who used to attend our national tournament. And I say
something
back like, well, we haven't heard from them in years, but I guess it can't
hurt to try again. And then later we have another conversation which runs
something like: "Did you hear from anybody?"
"Nope."
I'd add that the list of excuses we hear is too long to list, but the sad
reality is that we often just don't hear back. So it is my hope, Alan, that
you will consider using your extensive network, not to build something in
lieu of the USBCA, but rather to try to help spark or rekindle the level of
enthusiasm for chess freely expressed by our international colleagues. Just
for example, My friend, George de Nobrega, is currently working to launch
not one but two tournaments. Anybody can participate--in either or both.
One, you get to use your chessboard; the other, you don't. Why not see what
we can do to try to get people to push the envelope a little bit, show some
enthusiasm and interest in this game. Do you know how much work it takes to
run a tournament? Just one tournament? And George is willing to run two at
the same time? Now, there's the kind of energy and enthusiasm I wish we had
in this country!
Respectfully,
Jim Thoune, USBCA Board of Directors
(971) 242-9991 (Cell)
Skype: jim.thoune67
Email: hazelnutt2001@xxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan [mailto:adicey415@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 3:15 PM
To: Jim Thoune <hazelnutt2001@xxxxxxxxx>; Chris Chaffin
<chaffin102468@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Vinnie Beatty <vbeatty1@xxxxxxxxxx>; Curtis Cockayne
<blueskys012@xxxxxxx>; Zolotarevsky, Edward <eddyz69@xxxxxxx>; David
Rosenkoetter <davidrosenkoetter260@xxxxxxxxx>; Evan Reese
<mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; John Sherrer <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; randy
kruzeniski <randy.k59@xxxxxxxxxx>; William Rivera <billmyster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Dear Good Friends, and Excelent Chess enthusiasts
Dear Good Friends, and Excellent Chess enthusiasts Chris and Jim and my
other good long time friends.
It is so painful for me to see:
The United States Blind Chess Association with so few United States or
American residence!
How did this happen my friends???
I read the Membership or ratings page on our web site before writing this
message, and it is worst than this message as membership is concerned!
I can hardly believe what I am reading!
Why not just call it the International Blind Chess Association And start a
group of only United States Residence, and call that one:
"The United States Blind Chess Association I would rather see only 10
United
States residence in a group before I call it the "USBCA" or United States
Blind Chess Association!
Would you have any concerns if I started another Blind Chess group of
exclusively United States Residence?
I would love to hear from some of you.
With best regards
God Bless.
Alan
Plantation, Sunny South Florida
email:
adicey415@xxxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: JT
To: usbca_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: 'Michael Davis' ; 'J. Lauser' ; superfoxpro@xxxxxxxxx ; 'George'
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 3:29 PM
Subject: [usbca_chess] Tournament Announcement of Possible Interest
Jessica, Michael, Mario,
In case you aren’t sure, In this tournament, we connect via skype, we do
not
use any board at all, we simply conmmunicate our moves verbally to each
other. There is always a third-party timekeeper/monitor to make sure that
no
one is using a board, that no one makes an illegal move, and that the
positions remain synbchronized. Each round runs for three weeks, so even
the
unfortunate working stiffs among us have ample opportunity to get the game
scheduled.
If this is of interest to you, you can notify George either by doing a
Reply
All to this message or by writing directly to George at:
florindo@xxxxxxxxxxxx
I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Best regards,
Jim T
From: skype_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:skype_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of George
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2019 9:07 PM
To: skype_chess <skype_chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: update entries for the battle of the brains
Dear Chess friends
List of players who have entered for the battle of the brains tournament.
Should your name not appear or you would like to participate please
contact me by 23 August.
In order of ratings.
Olivier Deville
Selim Altinok
Viral Trivedi
Gaurav Khetre
Stephen Hilton
orhan yeter
Jim Thoune
Jose Maria Saponara
Rahul Navghane
Pankaj Bendre
Madhukesh Ram
David Rosenkoetter
Johannes Grib
Tuan Rushdi
Aliekber CENGİZ
Régis GERBAUX
Mahendra Galani
Massimo MaccaFerri
Yours in chess
George
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