Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Illinois Chess Association Newsletter!

Fresh from my email inbox!

Illinois Chess Association Newsletter 

August 4, 2010

New Prizes at the 2010 Illinois Open

Two prizes have been added to the prize list:
-- Plus Score certificates worth $20 in merchandise will be awarded.
-- Free three month memberships (or extentions) will be given to all main event registrants who send us an email with their contact details and USCF number.
GM Yuri Shulman, GM Dmitry Gurevich, GM Nikola Mitkov, IM Angelo Young and IM Florin Felecan will all compete for the title of Illinois Open Champion for 2010. A group of dedicated Illinois chess patrons has put together a modest support fund to pay the entry fees and offer a bit extra to these outstanding players. If you would like to join us in supporting the titled players of Illinois contact Carl Dolson or Tom Sprandel.
September 4, 2010 - September 6, 2010
Two Day and Three Day Schedules Available
DoubleTree Hotel: 1909 Spring Road , Oakbrook, Illinois 60523
(630) 472-6020, (630) 472-6000 (code C-CHE)

$11,000

Open Section
Reserve Section
Saturday Scholastic U1000 Trophy Tournament (side event)
Saturday Evening G/25 (side event)

Entry Fees for main events: $79 pre-entry, $90 at door.
For full details see http://chessforlife.com/

ICA Governance Takes a Step Forward

With the appointment of Mike Cardinale to Metro VP, we now have a full board, five executive officers and five additional directors. The board is ballanced by region and by focus on youth and adult chess.
Tom Sprandel, President
Michael Cardinale, Metro VP
David Long, Down State VP
Maret Thorpe, Secretary
Carl Dolson, Treasurer
Bill Barton, Director
Bill Brock, Director
Andi Rosen, Director and Chair, Warren Junior Scholars Program
Jerry Neugarten, Director and Chair, ICA Youth Committee
Garrett Scott, Director and Chair, ICA Bid Committee
The board usually meets twice a month by phone conference. Frequent meetings and sharing of views helps keep things moving forward.

Constitution and Bylaws being Updated

We're in the final stage of revising and updating our governance documents. Most of the changes are minor or involve re-organizing, simplifying and streamlining. We expect to have the changes finished and posted on our website by the end of this month.

Youth Committee makes proposal to Chicago Public Schools

Our Youth Committee, with approval from the Board, has proposed a major upgrade in the chess program in Chicago’s public schools and offered to take the lead in planning a new program targeted to students in the city’s Title 1 schools. The proposal is outlined in a four-page report entitled “Why Not Chicago?” sent to the office of CEO Ron Huberman on July 9. The proposal was requested by Mr. Huberman’s office a month earlier. It outlines the research on the benefits of chess for kids and details thriving programs in other U.S. cities. Based on experience elsewhere, the proposal says the Chicago program could be run on a budget of $300,000 to $400,000, but would not require direct financial assistance from CPS or the city. It lists other organizations which have offered to partner with ICA in planning and running the program.
The proposal is available at http://il-chess.org/non_joom/minutes/CPS%20Proposal%207-9-10.pdf.

USCF charges Affiliates with Selecting Delegates

The US Chess Federation has given the responsibilty for selecting delegates to its state affiliates. Starting in 2011 the ICA will appoint the delegates who will represent Illinois chess players at the USCF annual business meeting.
We will post a notice on http://il-chess.org/ as soon as we know where the 2011 meeting will be held. Those who want to serve must be willing to travel to the business meeting at their own expense. We anticipate that Illinois will continue to send six delegates.
The ICA Board will select the delegates. Selections will be based on demonstrated commitment to ICA and USCF as gauged by the length of the applicant’s membership in ICA and USCF and the degree of their active participation. Participation includes but is not limited to organizing, promoting, writing articles, directing and playing in tournaments, participation on committees, and attendance at meetings. An effort will be made to ensure geographic balance in the selection of delegates and alternates.

Annual Meeting and Banquet Scheduled for Nov 7th

The meeting is at 11:00 a.m. and the Banquet is from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Buca di Beppo -- 90 Yorktown Road -- Lombard, IL USA 60148
The Banquet will honor Helen Warren, who has won the ICA's Broughton Award for outstanding service to chess in Illinois.
Mark your calendars. More details will follow.

Election of Officers Coming this fall

Executive board offices are up for election this fall. That includes the offices of President, Metro VP, Downstate VP, Secretary, and Treasurer. It does not include the remaining five board positions, which will be up for election next year.
Nomination procedures and deadlines will be published shortly. If you are thinking of running you should begin collecting your nominations now. It takes the recommendation of ten ICA members who are in good standing to get your name on the ballot (email nominations will be accepted, assuming the constitutional revisions are approved by the Board this month.)
If your membership has expired, renew now. You must be a member of the ICA to vote, and you must be nineteen years of age.

Chris Merli, New ICA Membership Secretary

I'm pleased to announce that Chris has volunteered to serve as Membership Secretary. It takes a lot of work to keep the ICA running. As one of our board members keeps telling me, it takes people, people, people, and money. She's so right. Thanks, Chris, for stepping up.
On January 1, 2009 we had 168 current members. We reached 321 in June of this year and hope to continue the upward trend. Our current membership list is on the website. The web page list is powered by the same database we use to record memberships, so it's always up to date.
Go to http://il-chess.org/ and then click on "Membership". You can join or renew from that page using Paypal or a credit card. You can check your renewal date by clicking on "Membership List".

Website Anniversary

It's been one year since we switched from static HTML pages to Joomla. For the uninitiated, Joomla is a content management system (like blog software on steroids). It's open-source (read free) and is very poplular. Switching to Joomla has allowed more people to contribute to the page.
Have an urge to write? Want your own byline? Contact Maret Thorpe, secretary@il-chess.org.
Sincerely,
Tom Sprandel
president@il-chess.org


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