The USCF announced last week that WCA President Mike Nietman's nomination papers are in order and he is one of eleven candidates for the four Executive Board seats open in the 2009 USCF Executive Board contest. All USCF voting members (those 16 and over) will receive a ballot in the mail in early June. Deadline for voting will be July 20. Mike thanks all those who signed his nomination papers and hopes you'll support his candidacy.

John Phythyon and Dan Berrens were elected to the WCA board at the membership meeting in Neenah, May 29, 2005. The new board members contact information has been added to the board members page.

My first appearance at the Green Bay Open did not begin on a good note. First of all, I arrived 50 minutes late for my first round game having been caught behind a slow moving semi on a "short cut" up to Green Bay. Then I proceeded to blunder a piece away early. Fortunately, my unrated opponent missed two simple tactical maneuvers which would have allowed him to retain the piece and the game. Nevertheless, he ended up with a pawn and I had to play sharply in order to turn the game to my advantage. I managed to win a long endgame with opposite colored bishops. I had two passed pawns on opposite sides of the board, but they were not the same color as my bishop. This game went into triple time control and left me with a bad feeling about the rest of the tournament.

My second game against Kelly Borman went better, but still I was beginning to go crazy because this game also went to triple time control! I ended up in a Rook vs. Bishop ending where I had the exchange, but neither side had any pawns and Kelly's king was not trapped on the back rank. In the end, I set a trap in which one variation loses outright, one traps the king on the back rank and which requires extremely patient handling and good technique to win, and one which draws by maintaining the freedom of both king and bishop. Unfortunately, Kelly chose the first variation and had to resign because he would lose his bishop by force.

Read more: Green Bay Open

The MMCA Summer Open held on June 22 was quite an enjoyable event for me. The relaxed atmosphere, fast time control and excellent tournament direction by NM Bill Williams helped me to play my best and I ended up undefeated at 3 1/2. I tied for second with my friend, Lawrence Butler. Congratulations to NM Roman Levit on winning the event with a perfect score of 4. Although I was proud of my result, I was overjoyed when my student, Leanne Holm, age 9, won her first two games against much higher rated opponents. She was leading me by half a point! Ms. Holm ended up winning her class and scoring the upset prize! She has annotated her wins below and I have added additional notes.

Read more: MMCA Summer Open 1996