I wanted to update you on current MCA news, and to seek your assistance on some items. Bob Ciaffone is stepping away from MCA business to pursue other interests. You may or may not know that Bob is a professional poker player, author, and analyst. And now that poker is enjoying a resurgence, he's become very busy, so he has decided to concentrate on opportunities in that arena. Even though MCA doesn't have an immediate past President position, Bob has been sort of serving in that capacity, helping to make the transition from him to me easier, and especially following thru on arrangements for some of our larger events, which has been of great assistance to me personally. I wish to thank Bob for his services to MCA.

Chess has been added to the U. S. Youth Games this year. The sponsors are looking for teams to represent their cities. The Games are scheduled for July 21-24, 2004. Birmingham will be the host city. Please check http://www.usyouthgames.com for contact information. Failing that, contact Scotty Colson (Rscolso@ci.birmingham.al.us) to inquire further. Cities not listed may be able to participate if they communicate with Mr. Colson. It is preferred however, that cities field teams in multiple sports.

Adult membership continues to slip. Even at 100 years old I'm sure Van would be saying, “Well, what we need are more tournaments!” How true. Not holding the US Amateur North this year, because of lack of a sponsor, doesn't help either. MCA has little capacity to add any more events to its calendar, so we need to look to local clubs and organizers. You can become a Club TD easily and put on your own events. See the USCF website at http://www.uschess.org/about/forms for all the forms and information you will need. Speaking of TDs, MCA is in serious need of more Tournament Directors. Those of us, like Paul Kane, Jay Carr, Jenny Skidmore, Jeff Aldrich, and myself, would like to be able to play in some of these events instead of directing them all the time. Please consider becoming a Club TD thru USCF and then volunteering to assist at MCA events to pick up some experience.

MCA can always use help placing our large events. Hotels have been the venue of choice, but other venues could work as well, as long as there are sufficient hotels/motels and eating establishments nearby. Figure on needing 20 square feet per player, plus a skittles room and a TD room. We have been using 150 players as the estimate for the Open, and more like 100 or so for the Michigan Class and Amateur. The Elementary Team event this year drew around 550 players this year, so this event needs special consideration, and a lot more volunteers to be floor TDs. Site costs used to be zero in the old days, but nothing comes free anymore, so for the large events we try to keep site costs under $1000.00. Right now, we are looking for sites to place the 2004 Amateur, and the 2005 Open.

Enough from me. Let me hear from you at president@michess.org.

Thanks for listening,

Tim Sawmiller, President
Michigan Chess Association