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2013 Invitational
Arranged and Conducted in Silence?
By NM Leland Fuerstman 3-24-13 * 11:30am: By this time, it is obvious to every chess player in the state of North Carolina that the NCCA is completely negligent in posting current information on their poorly maintained website? Again, the months have slipped by and absolutely no notice was given to NCCA members who might qualify to participate in this years Invitational. As usual, not until the last moment, was any effort taken to arrange and conduct the 2013 North Carolina Invitational Championship. And, in their haste, they seem to have violated a few of their own rules?? By the way, what is the "prize fund" for this event? And, do all of the participants get an "appearance fee?" Inquiring minds want to know?! Exactly why this info was not shared ahead of time is anybody's guess... By the way, the final results were: Ardaman 3.5, Simpson 3.5, Mu 3.5, Mabe 2.5, Shamilov 2, Timmel 0. According to the NCCA
"Articles of Incorporation"
(which should be
referred to as a "Constitution" like all other
State organizations...and desperately need to
be revised), the procedure set
forth for deciding who will participate in the Invitational
is a follows: Previous years invitational winner(s)
and State Champion - IM Schroer,
LM Mabe and NM Mu and then the 3, or in this case 4 highest rated
active players in the state?! That would leave Ardaman,
Simpson, Shamilov and Timmel. Even
though the present criteria for the previous years
winners seems to be extremely confusing and out of date,
one could easily make an argument that LM Mabe
and NM Mu should be seeded. But, the other 4 players were obviously
chosen based upon rating.
If that is the case,
then one can only assume that formal "invitations" were
sent out to a complete list of high rated players
who either accepted or rejected the invitation to
participate. The obvious problem is that, based upon
their ratings, Shamilov (2131) and
Timmell (2132) could
only have played if NM Diego Garcia (2268), NM
Craig Jones (2252), NM
Carlito Agner (2208),
NM Neal Harris (2222), NM John Kirby (2250), NM Oliver
Fernando (2201), NM Pat Sciacca (2199), Expert Shawn
Pealer (2177) and Expert Tianqi Wang (2163)
refused to participate?! -- But, when polled, Sciacca
said, "what invitational?"
Question:
Were invitations actually submitted to each of those
potential qualifiers, and exactly what was the
criteria? One would assume that the total number of
games played in the previous year in North Carolina
events would be one. And, possibly, previous
experience in Invitationals (heck, I played in 2),
but shouldn't all of them be current
members of the North Carolina
Chess Association?
Unfortunately, according to their database, highest rated player and tournament leaders SM Miles Ardaman (2375) is not a member of the NCCA? (expired 2-28-10) nor is NM Joshua Mu, who is not now, nor has he ever been a member of the NCCA? (The least they should have done is tell them that their "dues are due!") Furthermore, Ardaman has only participated in one 5 round NC event in the past year? (And, 5 rounds he played at the US Masters, a National event organized and sponsored by American Chess Promotions out of Georgia). But, what it really means is that having only played 5 games, according to their own rules pertaining to "total activity," he shouldn't have even been considered?? And, some other deserving member could have played in his place! As well as the places of the bottom 2 players, who may not have properly qualified to play, either. Dude,
what is going on?...
NM Leland Fuerstman |