1-2-17 CCC Alive and Well in Its 42nd Year! by NM Leland Fuerstman On the eve of the Charlotte Chess Club website receiving its 500,000th click since its inception 15 years ago, I am proud to say that our club is doing quite well! Special thanks to Charter Member Carl McKern who provided technical support and tutelage during it's creation, and others like Doug Corbett and Tim Dwight who have assisted in keeping it on-line throughout the years. I take a lot of pride in editing our website and making sure that all chess news is accurate and posted with alacrity. And, a half a million hits convinces me to proceed with my mission! Anyway, I enjoy doing what I do. As a chess instructor, I have developed wonderful relationships with many students over the years! I have fun meeting my friends each week at the CCC; socializing with other adults, enjoying a healthy meal and playing tournament chess and skittles. It's what we like to do!... And, we certainly hope to include more active players this year! Next Wednesday evening, two new members will be joining the CCC. They are SM Karthik Rangarajan (2469) and his son, Advaith, 10, (1000), whom I have granted "special permission" to participate in the Lower Section* after which we will have at least 73 currently paid members of the CCC. That compares quite favorably to other "adult" clubs in our state, (though, there are no real statistics to prove it... and there should be). There are currently 2,114 USCF members living in North Carolina. When I was President of the NCCA in 1985, we had over 300 members! Over the past 3 decades, that number had steadily diminished until which time a particularly  unqualified President decided that all memberships should be paid on January 1 of each year? Over the past 2 years, the NCCA could only boast 41 regular members, and 28 Life Members of whom only 5 are active players. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, the NCCA now only has 7 currently paid regular members?! and 5 active Life Members for an accurate representation of all of 12 chess players?! (the officers haven't even renewed?) How pitiful? So, who is responsible for their demise? Since they were "appointed," none of the NCCA officers have done much of anything save direct a couple of tournaments. Collectively, they have provided no agenda, no official reports, no individual statements of opinion, no programs to sell NCCA memberships, no programs to bring new members into chess, no programs to fund "special" players to participate in events around the country, no program to send directors to remote cities to create new venues around the state, a continually out of date website which only serves one main purpose; that of posting upcoming events (with absolutely no control nor oversight). Otherwise, it fails, miserably. The real problem is, the current officers simply don't care... (Furthermore, it is also my understanding that they all want to quit!?) --- But, hold the phone, wasn't this past State Championship supposed to have a meeting to elect new officers?? Why wasn't that posted anywhere? Well, did the meeting actually take place? Were all of the officers present? How many people were in the meeting? What important business was discussed? Who ran for election? What were the results? Where are the official minutes of that meeting? And, what about the President's report, VP report, V.P. of Scholastic's report and Sec/Treas. report? Furthermore, what is the balance of the NCCA treasury? Considering that the NCCA claims to be a 501C3 Non-Profit Organization, it would be natural to already have that information available and published for all to see.   It must be noted that the popularity of our royal sport seems to have waned in "all local forums," particularly for adults who are unhappy with the idea of playing tournament games with young children. The USCF seems to have experienced a metamorphosis over the past ten years by concentrating most of it's efforts on scholastic chess! And, this is certainly true of the NCCA who finally took my advice and conducted a major scholastic event last year which yielded them an estimated  profit of $40,000+! One chess pundit estimates that the current balance of their account should exceed $60,000! So much for not having the funding to effect various projects... these people are just lazy, and certainly don't deserve to have their names listed as officers. There are, in fact, competent people in this state who could take over the reins of the NCCA. But, some of them will not participate until a certain person is completely relieved of his life-long, self ordained position. With the proper apologies and incentives, I would consider the job. Otherwise, you get what you currently have: incompetence and negligence.  -- Happy New Year to all Chessplayers! Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will be 2 more sad years for the NCCA...   I remain, NM Leland Fuerstman www.charlottechess.com