Travel Inn, Fond du Lac, May 30, 1999

First and foremost our great thanks to Bill Williams for editing and sponsoring Badger Chess. First published in 1982 by Bill and several others along the way, Badger Chess has had a remarkable run that will end this year. Wisconsin chess players owe a great deal of gratitude to Bill for working the long hours putting the magazine together.

The WCA Publications Committee queried players around the state asking them what they wanted in a state magazine. They were also looking for talent to lead a successor to Badger Chess. Of course it is always difficult to follow a success. Sadly no one came forward to volunteer. The committee also looked into cost issues. The WCA does not have any plans for producing a magazine at this point. Our options include but are not limited to doing a state-wide mailing to publicize all state events. This could be done on an annual or semi-annual basis. Alternatively, a new magazine has sprung up in Minnesota. The Midwest Chess Review desires to cover chess from Winnipeg to Chicago. Currently the Minnesota Chess Journal is incorporated into the pages of the magazine. Dale Gustafson, the editor, is open to a similar arrangement with Wisconsin. Please see me if you wish to review a copy of this magazine.

One function of Badger Chess is to announce future tournaments. In its absence tournament organizers must work together more efficiently to avoid conflicts. Whether running a large weekend Swiss, a small scholastic event, an RBO or a weekend club event, I'm asking all organizers to request weekend assignments from the Wisconsin tournament clearinghouse which is currently Guy Hoffman. His address appears in each Rating Supplement.

Another ongoing problem is the cost of quality playing sites. Typically chess groups do not spend much money at the playing site. The sites need to make money. To keep these sites organizers across the state need your help. Consider staying in the playing site hotel even if the one across the street costs a few less dollars. Consider eating at the restaurant on site. If everyone helps, we will keep our quality sites and keep them at an affordable level. The benefit in return for you the player is to allow the organizers to keep the entry fees as low as possible.

Congratulations to Alex Betaneli and Victor Chubukov for being members of the team that won the Midwest and national amateur team championship.

Congratulations also go to organizer Alex Betaneli for his work in creating the Scott Kittsley Chess Festival. Over 130 players participated. This included two GM's and an IM. Alex told me that with his impending medical school course load he will be unable to be the point person for a repeat but that he would work with an organizer in procuring titled players.

Our condolences to the family and friends of Henry Meifert who passed away last October. Henry was a tireless worker for Milwaukee and Wisconsin chess. He served as WCA President in the early 1980's.

An important change is taking place in the way that the USCF is governed. The procedure to elect state delegates to the USCF will change next year. As a compromise between the status quo where the state association selects the state delegates who vote for the candidates for national office and those who wanted direct elections by the members for national office candidates (One Member One Vote -- OMOV), State One Member One Vote (SOMOV) has all adult members of the USCF of a state voting for their state's delegate(s). These state delegates will in turn vote for the new Executive Board who will in turn vote for the officers of the Federation from the Board's own membership. The Board will be comprised of seven members with staggered terms of office. Elections will be held every two years with terms of office running four years. As I understand it, this process will begin next year with the elections at the state level followed by national elections the following year.

As announced last year the WCA and the Milwaukee Chess Foundation attempted to bid on the 2000 National High School Championship. Unfortunately, we were unable to complete the bid for downtown Milwaukee due to a lack of affordable hotel rooms and a high playing site cost. We turned our attention to The Grand Milwaukee Hotel and thought we had a deal for the entire hotel until their Executive Board nixed the deal a day before the bid was due. The WCA will continue to investigate the possibility of bringing national events to Wisconsin. My thanks to Arlen Walker for doing a tremendous amount of work on the project.

Last October I attended the Wisconsin Education Association Council's convention in Madison. My thanks to USCF Scholastic Coordinator Beatriz Marinello for coming to the convention. She and I also spoke at a breakout session to 25 people about why and how chess should be included in their school. The presentation was very well received as we were given many compliments. Follow ups continue. My thanks to Jerry Noel, John Rummel and Victor Chubukov for assisting in our booth.

The WCA normally sponsors six events each year. The State Closed Championship starts off the year. During fall we hold the Wisconsin Junior Open and Veteran's Tournaments, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open and the Herman Schramm Memorial. Our chess year ends each spring with the Arpad Elo Open.

We were able to run all of the events during the 1998 calendar year. The North Central suffered its poorest draw in recent memory. We will be looking at moving it back to a larger metropolitan area during the board meeting following this meeting. Already in 1999 the Elo was not held due to the lack of a site bid. Wisconsin clubs and organizers are encouraged to bid for any WCA event. See me or our secretary for more details on the bidding procedure.

John Rummel has notified me that he will continue to be our webmaster only until the end of the year. The WCA is looking for someone to take his place. John stated that the new webmaster may take over sooner if they are willing. If you are interested, please see me after this meeting. Our current address is

http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrummel/WCA/WCAIndex.html.

Please check it out and send John your tournament announcements, tournament reports and games. He'll be glad to hear from you! Websites are only as good as the information they present. The information needs to be accurate and current. Please continue to send our webmaster the data. I've heard many good remarks about our site. Organizers, remember that this is free advertising! In addition, if you or your club have websites, let's work together and link them up.

The WCA received $599 this year from the USCF for our state's share of the State Affiliate Support Program money. In addition, we held $186 over from the previous year. So in all we had $785 to spend on SASP projects.

First, for the Junior Open we reduce entry fees for those that send in more than four entries in the same envelope. This helped ease the huge workload for the TD's at the event. Seventy eight participated in this program that invites juniors and schools to get active and recruit others to come to the tournament thereby benefiting both the schools and the event long term.

Second, we mass mailed a Junior Open flyer to every high school in the state. This always locates new scholastic clubs and lets them know we exist and are able to help.

Third, the above mentioned WEAC booth costs were paid for by SASP funds. No direct WCA funds were used for this purpose.

Fourth, we continue to strive for excellence in tournament organization and direction by funding the Merit Award Program. (If you are interested in more detailed information on this or any other WCA program, please contact me later.)

Fifth, the WCA donated $50 to help defray the cost of flyer printing and mailing for the 1999 Wisconsin Postal Chess Championship.

Sixth, the WCA purchased the Marshall Rohland Cup awarded to the winner of the reserve section of the State Closed Championship.

Last, the WCA helped Josh Kaul, the highest finishing high school player in the 1997-1998 Junior Open, attend the Denker Tournament of High School Champions at last year's US Open. Although not faring well in the Denker Josh had the privilege of playing GM Joel Benjamin and GM Julian Hogdson in the US Open itself. Good luck to Morgan Feeney in this year's event.

The 1999 Wisconsin Scholastic Championship attracted 423 participants! Congratulations to Madison West for winning their second consecutive team championship.

Congratulations to Neal Gleason for winning the 1998 Wisconsin Chess Tour. In the closest race yet, Neal overtook Bill Williams in the last game of last year's last tour event! If organizers want their event on the tour, they should contact me or Guy, who is the Tour Committee chairman, by the middle of November of the year before the Tour. The Board revised the prize fund for the 1999 Tour. With the recent rating deflation we moved the class prizes down one level. This means that the expert prize will disappear and the 'C' and Under prize will be split into a 'C' prize and a 'D' and Under prize.

A great deal of thanks go to all the Board members for their hard work and many hours of time spent on chess endeavors this past year. Special thanks to Josh Kaul, Kelly Borman and Chris Krumenauer who have their terms of office expire today.

Andy Becker absent. Wayne Meier in attendance.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Jeff Cooper is the State Champion on tiebreak and will accept the invitation to the Governor’s Cup in S. Dakota.
2. The National Scholastic Chess Congress has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Only 9 people signed up.
3. Don Schultz wrote a book, “ChessDon.” It deals with USCF, FIDE, politics, etc. A lot of WCA tie-ins also, Elo, Kramer, Rohland, and World Youth festival. Mike Nietman is giddy with excitement.
4. 1199 names in the WCA database. 356 new names on the list, 210 of the 356 are scholastic members. Mike Nietman takes the credit. 37% of the existing names dropped off the active list.

MINUTES from the 11/8/98 Meeting: Previously missing Minutes, MOTION to accept as previously reviewed (Noel/Krummy), Carries 8-0.

MINUTES from 5/30/99 Minutes were reviewed, MOTION to accept as corrected (Brzezinski/Krummy), Carries 8-0

STATE CLOSED FINAL REPORT: Mike Selig gives the grim details of the State Closed. 67 players participated, 42 in the Open section, 25 Reserve. Jeff Cooper (1^st on tiebreak) and Bryan Lilly won the Open Section, Don Stetzer won the reserve. The event had a net loss of $195.70. MOTION to accept the report, (Krummy/ Brzez), Carries 8-0. The Travel Inn has a new manager again; the whole business is in disarray possibly affecting future events there.

1999 JUNIOR/ VETERAN’S OPEN PROGRESS REPORT: The TLA’s are in, the flyers are printed. There will be a flyer folding party after the meeting. Those not helping will have their T.D. fees reduced accordingly. Mike Nietman says that things are going good. The trophies have been redone with better distribution.

1999 NORTH CENTRAL OPEN PROGRESS REPORT: Mike Selig distributed an information sheet describing what has already been done and a timetable for future actions.

1999 SCHRAMM MEMORIAL PROGRESS REPORT: Mike Nietman reports that the tla is due 9/10/99. The flyers are ready to be bundled after the meeting. Andy Becker will be the Chief T.D. A backup will be needed in case Andy has to work.

Y2K STATE PROGRESS REPORT: With Andy absent, Mike Nietman gives the situation. One room is too small, alternate arrangements have been made to accommodate the event. There is a question regarding the definition of ‘State champion’ for entry purposes. A player, who won the Reserve section, currently living out of country and eligible only for the Open section, would like to play. MOTION to define the State Champion as “A player named on the Reel Cup, State Championship trophy.” (Hoffman/ Webster), Carries 6-2 (MN, CK against).

WISCONSIN SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP: Discussion took place on the format and other details of the Old Patzer open. Guy then reminded those in attendance that 5 of the 7 in attendance at the meeting were eligible to participate.

OTHER OLD BUSINESS: NONE.

WCA WEBSITE: John Rummel will be done at the end of ’99. MOTION to ask Arlen Walker and Joe Hitselberger to be co-webmasters effective as soon as reasonably possible, (Krummy/ Feeney), Carries 8-0.

1999 SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP: 424 players participated under the organization of Mike Nietman and direction of Noel, Otis & Krummy, et al. This year, it was a four section, five round event. The players and coaches prefer the change. The Varsity section was a thorough butt kicking with Madison West High giving the rest of the State the boot, winning 5-0 and 185 of 200 possible game points (they were generous in the final round). 91 of the players went on to Nationals in South Dakota Tom Feeney gives a report on Nationals.

Y2K ELO BIDS: No interest so far.

(The Board takes a break to let the Secretary and President of Vice recycle adult beverages and restock.)

U.S.OPEN REPORT: Mike Nietman lists the election winners and new positions. Josh Kaul did not submit a ballot, 4 of 6 Minnesota did not vote either.

There was information regarding many meetings, most of which will be distributed in the Policy Board newsletters. Tom Feeney expressed an interest in the Scholastic Committee, at which time Guy Hoffman proclaimed Tom to be certifiably insane. Guy is now the Chairman of the States Committee (there goes that one). Guy weighs in on his meetings and workshops.

DELEGATES AND VOTING MEMBERS:

Jerry Noel nominates guy to be delegate. MOTION to close nominations, (Selig/Brzez.), Carries 7-0-1

Alternate delegates in order: Feeney, Noel, Krummy, Webster, and Brzezinski. Mike Nietman will still be the R.V.P.

1. SASP PROPOSAL: The WCA should normally receive $591.20, however, USCF decided to halve each state’s amount. The Fall meeting we will have more information. The US Chess Trust is a possibility for the remainder. MOTION to end the Merit Award for Organizers, (Hoffman/Noel), Carries 6-1-1 (MN against, MS abstains).
2. MERIT AWARD PROGRAM REPORT: Completed, and ended.
3. NEXT MEETING: delayed temporarily.
4. TOURNAMENT BIDDING PROCEDURES: Mike Selig requested a clarification for bids to be tendered and voted upon for WCA events. This is as a result of the North Central open bid of this year. MOTION “If there are more than one bid entered, there will be a secret ballot with ALL board members voting. If there are three or more bids, the top two will reballot to determine the bid award.” (Selig/Feeney) Carries 7-1 (Nietman against).
5. DATE FOR FUTURE STATE CLOSED: MOTION (SELIG/FEENEY) Effective 2001 the dates for the State Closed Championship will no longer be Memorial Day weekend.

Brian Brzezinski enters a motion to amend the Selig motion that: Organizers have the option of moving the tournament from memorial Day weekend. Motion to amend is considered friendly.

Motions carry 7-0-1 (Noel abstains).

ABSENT: BECKER (AGAIN), BRZEZINSKI (LAUNDRY DAY), FEENEY (UNAVAILABLE)

LATE: WEBSTER.

President Nietman called the meeting to order with the members present.

1. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Mike gave the usual announcements; area code changes, Voting member allocation, SASP, USCF Policy Board Insanity, etc.
2. MINUTES: The minutes from the previous meeting were corrected. MOTION to accept as corrected (gh/ck), carries.
3. 1999 STATE FINAL REPORT: The usual Selig bashing took place regarding the loss at the State.
4. 1999/2000 JUNIOR-VETERANS OPEN:

   JUNIOR: 101 players. Winner was Paul La Cosse.

   VET: 29 players. Winners were Bill Elger and Vlad Dima.

   Next year the Junior will have fewer trophies and the budget will be cut. MOTION to accept the report (JN/GH), carries.

5. NCO PROGRESS REPORT: Selig held a conference with the hotel. 30 entries so far. A press release will be in Sundays paper.
6. SCHRAMM PROGRESS REPORT: The TLA has been sent in. Andy Becker is still the T.D.
7. 2000 ELO BIDS: none entered.
8. 2000 STATE CLOSED PROGRESS REPORT: Andy Becker not present. Idle discussion regarding the site by the few members present.
9. SASP REVIEW: No information from the USCF office, the money has been spent, however.

   MOTION TO TABLE(GH/MS).

10. none
11. 2000 POSTAL SANCTIONING: MOTION TO TABLE (JN/MS).
12. 2000 TOUR: HOFFMAN TAKES OVER.

    WAUKESHA MEMORIAL

    NORTHEASTERN OPEN

    U.W. MILWAUKEE

    STATE CLOSED.

    GREEN BAY OPEN

    U.W. FALL OPEN

    SCHRAMM MEMORIAL

    Possibles:

    WESTERN OPEN

    BADGER OPEN

    N.C.O.

    R.K.O.

    Motion to accept with possible additions (GH/JN) Carries.

13. INSURANCE UPDATE: $212 premiums, no claims filed, not that they would payÖ

    MOTION to continue (JN/CK) Carries 4-0-1 Hoffman abstains (in bathroom).

14. NEXT MEETING: 1:30pm Sat. 2/26, Valley Inn, Neenah. Site of the Northeastern open.
15. OTHER NEW BUSINESS: NONE. Motion to adjourn, (JN), Carries 5-0.

Best Western Washington Street Inn, Green Bay May 28, 2000

An important change is taking place in the way that the USCF is governed. The procedure to elect state delegates to the USCF will change this year. State One Member One Vote (SOMOV) has all adult USCF members of a state voting for their state's USCF's delegate(s). These state delegates will in turn vote next year for four Executive Board positions. The whole Board will in turn vote for the officers of the Federation from the Board's own membership.

Under the old, modified USCF bylaws, the new Board was formed last year in an election by the Delegates and Voting Members. The Board is comprised of seven members with staggered terms of office. Elections will be held every two years with terms of office running four years.

Those eligible to vote in the state elections should receive a ballot in their June Chess Life. If you don't receive a ballot it is probably because the USCF doesn't have your birthdate. You will need to call or write them to rectify the problem.

According to the new bylaws, Wisconsin has two delegates and six alternate delegates. (Thanks go to Guy Hoffman who spearheaded a multi-year effort to ensure that we would get two delegates!) These delegates and alternate delegates will be able to vote in the Executive Board election next year. Each state affiliate was to submit a list of their nominees to the USCF. These will appear on the ballot identified in some special way. I urge you to vote and to vote for the nominees of this board! Our nominees are Andrew Becker, Brian Brzezinski, Tom Feeney, Guy Hoffman, Chris Krumenauer, Mike Selig, Peter Webster and myself. The top two vote getters will be the delegates while the remaining six will be the alternate delegates. Should a delegate not be able to attend the Delegates meeting at the US Open, alternate delegates will be called to fill the state's allotment.

The USCF is currently under a severe budget shortfall. Latest estimates forecast a $300,000 loss for their fiscal year ending May 31. All this while membership numbers are at a record high at over 84,000. But more than half this number are junior or scholastic members!

As a result of this shortfall the Executive Director was let go last October. A nation-wide search yielded a new Executive Director -- George DeFeis was hired this past winter. His credentials do not include a background in chess but rather as a fundraiser for non-profit organizations. It is hoped that he can lend his experiences in the area of sponsorships to bolster the USCF.

At last August's delegate's meeting in Reno the revised budget for this year did not include any State Affiliate Support Program (SASP) money. In the past, among many programs, the WCA has used this money to fund numerous junior initiatives, to fund the Merit Award Program, to help support the annual Wisconsin Postal Championship and to help fund the purchase of the Rohland Cup. I argued that wiping out this fund for the states would harm the states as their budgets and programs were already set. So, I asked that the $30,000 be put back into the USCF budget. In the end a compromise of $15,000 was added back into the budget.

I doubt I will be able to rescue SASP this year. So, we will be unable to continue some of our programs and will need to cutback others.

I would also like to inform you that Guy and I have been placed on several committees. Guy is chair of the States committee and a member of the Bylaws and TD Certification Committees. I am a member of the States, Internet and Chess in Education committees. In addition I was personally asked to join the Scholastic committee by the chairman of that committee. Scholastic committee work was very hectic this year. Our most important job was to screen the resumes of the candidates for the USCF Scholastic Director. After a round of interviews by the Executive Board, the Executive Director and a scholastic committee representative, Thomas Brownscombe was selected to replace Beatriz Marinello. Thomas is from Maryland where he greatly enhanced the level of scholastic involvement and play in that state. We hope he can do the same on a nationwide level.

Lastly regarding news at the national level, the US Open returns to St. Paul, Minnesota this August. This will be the 101st US Open. The first was also held in Minnesota. There are many different playing schedules to choose from so there are no excuses not to play! Hope to see you there!!

At the board meeting immediately following this meeting, I will be submitting bids to organize the 2000-2001 Wisconsin Junior Open and the WCA Veteran's Tournament. In addition, the bid calls for the first Wisconsin Senior Open! This was requested by the members at last year's annual membership meeting. Although not finalized until that meeting I am calling for a four round trophy event for anyone age 50 or over. The dates would be November 4-5 in Oshkosh. Please be patient with us over the next few years as we tweak that event to make it better.

A reminder that Guy Hoffman is our event clearinghouse. Organizers of events in Wisconsin need to clear dates through him. Do NOT assume that traditional dates are yours forever. Contact him each year to reserve the dates you want.

Traditionally the WCA sponsors six events each year. The State Closed Championship starts off the year. During fall we hold the Wisconsin Junior Open and Veteran's Tournaments, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open and the Herman Schramm Memorial. Our chess year ends each spring with the Arpad Elo Open.

For the second straight year no one bid on the Elo Open and it was not held. The NCO moved to Neenah and hopes to build upon last year's event with consecutive year's at a very fine hotel. Wisconsin clubs and organizers are encouraged to bid for any WCA event. See me or our secretary for more details on the bidding procedure.

As will be noted in the Treasurer's report, the WCA did not have a good financial year. The Junior Open/Veteran's Tournament lost money for the first time in awhile primarily due to the forced scheduling of the event on Halloween which was also the weekend after the teacher's convention. Due to my old contact not reserving the rooms for us on the weekend I wanted, we were forced to move to Halloween weekend. Other events fared poorly as well. We need you to support the WCA by playing in WCA events!

Remember that some of our other funding sources are drying up as well. We will need to try harder to be more profitable.

Our thanks to Arlen Walker and Joe Hitselberger for volunteering their time to become our webmasters. Our current web address is

http://home.wi.rr.com/joseph9617/WCA/

Please check it out and send Joe or Arlen your tournament announcements, tournament reports and games. They'll be glad to hear from you! Websites are only as good as the information they present. The information needs to be accurate and current. Please continue to send our webmasters the data. Organizers, remember that this is free advertising! In addition, if you or your club have websites, let's work together and link them up.

The WCA received $295.60 this year from the USCF for our state's share of the SASP money.

First, for the Junior Open we reduce entry fees for those that send in more than four entries in the same envelope. This helped ease the huge workload for the TD's at the event. 56 of 101 participated in this program that invites juniors and schools to get active and recruit others to come to the tournament thereby benefiting both the schools and the event.

Second, we mass mailed a Junior Open flyer to every high school in the state. This always locates new scholastic clubs and lets them know we exist and are able to help.

Third, we continue to strive for excellence in tournament organization and direction by funding the Merit Award Program. Due the budget cuts in New Windsor, this board elected to suspend the program as of January 1, 2000.

Last, the WCA helped Morgan Feeney, the highest finishing high school player in the 1998-1999 Junior Open, attend the Denker Tournament of High School Champions at last year's US Open. Good luck to Paul La Cosse in this year's event.

The 2000 Wisconsin Scholastic Championship attracted 399 participants! Congratulations to Madison West for "threepeating."

Congratulations to Josh Zillmer for winning the 1999 Wisconsin Chess Tour. If organizers want their event on the tour, they should contact me or Guy, who is the Tour Committee chairman, by the middle of November of the year before the Tour. Remember that being on the Tour is a privilege and not a right. Tour status requires that events be run in a way becoming of Wisconsin events. Jerry Noel has consented to be the Tour statistician through 2000. Organizers or directors must submit a copy of the wall chart to Jerry when the event is over. The $1 per player fee should be forwarded to WCA Treasurer Chris Krumenauer.

A great deal of thanks go to all the Board members for their hard work and many hours of time spent on chess projects this past year. Special thanks to Jerry Noel, Tom Feeney and Brian Brzezinski who have their terms of office expire today. As I understand it none wish to run for reelection. In addition Mike Selig's seat expiring in 2001 is vacant. We are in need of new blood and hope that many are interested in running!

I have heard a few people say that we need to change the structure of the board. But I believe that if more people become involved and share the burden, it will be lighter on us all.