129 - Leland,                                Wojo was allowed to play in the NC Open because the NCCA members voted in 2004 to have the 2005 State Championship to be open.. also it may have escaped your notice that Lopez defeated Tapper, myself, IM Nepo and Tarok ..ALL NC players.. Kirby defeated IM Nepo in the last round.. it was announced that we would do "class pairings" to determine the NC Champ in a fairer manner..and the NCCA members voted several years ago to tiebreak the Open section only if 3 players tied..two players would be declared co-Champs..you may remember that Karnik tied with Tapper last year,you even listed them on your website as Co-Champions..the NCCA voted this year for the NC Championship to be "open" in 2006.. some may agree/disagree.. however while I am president,the NCCA members decide how their tourney will be run.. I will be moving the tourney to Charlotte in 2006..you may want to consider seeking an NCCA office again..you could make changes as you see fit.. I have done more than enough and will be stepping FAR AWAY from NCCA officership ..hope this helps..., best regards, Neal Harris ************************************************ Good President Harris: You have done an excellent job revitalizing and strengthening the NCCA and I am quick to admit that you have been one of the most effective Presidents this organization has ever seen! However, I respectfully disagree with some the current policies. Since the first one back in the 1940's, the term "State Championship" has been used. The purpose was to determine the individual champion of our own state. To bastardize it with out of state players, and then to ignore the many tie-break systems and allow multiple champions has destroyed the possibility of producing a single sovereign Champion. (In my opinion, the participation of only 20 NC players in the "Open" Section is hardly a true test of skill. Many strong NC Masters and Experts simply did not compete). Also, the players with ratings between 2000 and 2100 were basically ignored. Re-adjusting the prizes paid to lower rated, inexperienced players and using that money to reward those who have spent a lifetime studying our Royal Game would certainly attract more Experts. And finally, the NCCA should use our own resourses to organize and conduct our State Championship. Again, an out of state agent was allowed to profit from our tournament (by using NC labor?!? I don't get it...there are other NC tournament promoters who could have done the same thing and kept the money here!) We already have a half-dozen big money "Open" tournaments in our state per year. Why can't we have just one sovereign one? Respectfully, LF