| Many Still Confused
About 2013 Scholastic "Champioinship?" By NM Leland Fuerstman (The following are excerpts from a message which I published on the CCC Message Board in September of 2012) "...Past President GN plays down the $69 entry fee at the site by stating that the early EF is $49? (which in my opinion is still way too high and can not be substantiated). Then, why impose a $20 penalty for paying at the site? The only other tournaments that would charge that much give thousands of dollars away in prize money! Furthermore, a $129 per night hotel rate may cause a hardship on many families who are just struggling to make ends meet... Simply put, the design of this event does not serve the best interests of North Carolina scholastic players. And, as for paying attention to detail, though incredibly, this ad has already been published by the USCF, there are at least 4 glaring mistakes which give one pause?! Not only was his ad not "proofread," but it seems as though Claussen has made no effort to make any corrections??! (Click
Below and then click on "List" if necessary)
"2013 NC K-12 and Collegiate Chess Champioinship" O.K. In his haste, he misspelled the word "championship" ... and he tells everyone to renew at www.uschess.com (where they'll try to sell you a chess clock!?) not ".org," and he states that players "must attend school or live in North Carolina?" whatever that means, but could he please explain why the word "collegiate" is included in his ad? There is no "college" section listed? Does that mean that college students can play in the K-12 section?!? But, far more disconcerting is the fact that other than listing the website address for chessachieves.com, his ad makes no specific reference as to which organization or person is actually sponsoring the event? Furthermore, nowhere in his advertisement does it mention that this is the "official" 2013 NCCA Scholastic Championship? And, mysteriously, the ad makes absolutely no mention of the $2,000 scholarship prize. In fact, the NCCA is not even mentioned? ... (My question is, why, 6 months later, haven't these corrections been made?) It's high time that someone actually define what the NCCA's relationship is, or should be with these profiteers who have only played a handful of tournament games in their lives? Again, we are not bickering over a few dollars here, we are talking about over $25,000 in gross revenue that continues to be unaccounted for? The Articles of Incorporation should be more specific about such an important annual event, but, unfortunately, the by-laws pertaining to it (form a committee, decide upon format, EF, etc.) have been completely ignored? Considering their success with other major tournaments, the NCCA organizers and directors could have easily conducted the 2013 event, themselves, and made ALL of the profit! In conclusion, the entry fees need to be rolled back considerably, the expense of lodging needs to be significantly reduced, and a completely transparent balance sheet of all accounting should be made public. I remain, NM Leland Fuerstman |