It’s certainly been an
interesting year. This report begins with where we were last July, for the
record and hopefully the last time. It wasn’t pretty. If you prefer not to
revisit that situation, you may want to skip down to “Developments Since July
2003” which presents some positive things that have happened since that time.
As with most things in life, things aren’t all rosy, but we hope you’ll agree
that things seem to be headed in the right direction. We look forward to a
positive and beneficial year ahead for all of
Mike Swatek
July 2003 Status Following Last Annual Members Meeting:
Officers:
President – Alan Pfeiffer, following resignation of Steve Wharry
Vice President – Open
Secretary/Treasurer – Open, following resignation of Frank Berry
Policy Board Members at Large – Sergey Galant, Steve Sawyer, Jacqueline Bentele
Immediate Past President – Steve
Wharry, following his resignation as President..
OCB Editor - Open, following resignation of Frank
Berry
Website – www.okchess.org (created using OCA funds) was claimed as personal property and converted to the use of Oklahoma Chess Foundation (OCF)
Funds – Received cashier’s check for $1204.13 with no supporting financial records.
Membership List – Received hard copy and electronic file on corrupt diskette. The list was later found to have numerous errors and omissions. It appears that the membership list was converted to benefit the OCF for distribution of the OCQ without authorization of the OCA.
Historical Archives – Not turned over to the new OCA Officers
Tournaments – OCA membership requirement dropped or replaced with OCF required for all scheduled tournaments.
Membership –
USCF: 721 total
OCA: 271 total, including 65 Patrons and 98 Youth Members.
Developments Since July 2003:
Officers:
Vice President – Chuck Unruh
Secretary/Treasurer position separated
Secretary – Mike Swatek
Treasurer – Jim Gray
OCB Editor – Mike Swatek in collaboration with the entire Policy Board
The Policy Board has had 7 Board Meetings and met once with the OCF and a USCF Mediator. Minutes of all meetings are published at www.ochess.org/governance.
USCF Affiliate – Unauthorized change of USCF records to show OCF as Oklahoma State Affiliate. Quickly restored to OCA and later confirmed by USCF States Committee.
OCB – Volume 20-3 published October 2003 with 20-4 and 21-1&2 published since that time.
Website –
New website created
Funds – Financial records have not yet been turned over by former Treasurer. See separate Treasurer’s report.
Membership List – Appears to now be almost entirely correct. The only exceptions are some memberships of former officers extending out several years with no financial records to validate them.
Historical Archives – Not yet turned over to the new OCA Officers
Tournaments – 7 OCA tournaments have been conducted, including:
11-12 Oct 03 OKC October Open with 27 participants
1 Nov 03 State Speed Chess Championship with 19 participants
1-2 Nov 03 Bela Rozsa State Class Championship with 29 participants
*10-11 Jan 04 Tulsa Winter Open with 24 participants
*6-7 Mar 04 OKC Winter Open with 25 participants
*8 May 04
*26-27 Jun 04
*OCF required
tournaments have been scheduled in conflict with all four of the
OCF representatives have attempted to conduct unauthorized State Championships on several occasions and have been advised by the USCF not to do so.
Membership –
USCF: 548 total as of 31 May 04
(trending downward at the same rate as the
OSCO: 323 total
free memberships for those participating in at least one of 6 OSCO tournaments, each
having over 100 players with 208 at the State Championship 27 Mar 04 in
Other –
OCA is now an Oklahoma Not For Profit Corporation.
Oklahoma Chess® is now a
registered Trade Name of the
OSCO provided $1950 in scholarships for Oklahoma Scholastic Champions and Grand Prix Winners to participate in 2004 National Scholastic Tournaments.