Oklahoma’s USCF Clearinghouse

Harold Ball has become an Oklahoma Chess Icon over the years for faithfully tending to his Official USCF Clearinghouse responsibilities. He has deftly stayed clear of the politics to fulfill this obligation with unquestionable integrity. The result is the most complete list of non-conflicting chess tournaments available for Oklahoma. The OCA always keeps Harold’s most recently received Clearinghouse document linked from all pages of www.ochess.org , exactly as received.

The USCF states the following about Clearinghouses on its website, and similarly in all tournament organizer instructions they publish:

The USCF recommends that tournament organizers cooperate with each other to anticipate conflicting tournaments with the help of area clearinghouses. The submission of a “Tournament Life” announcement (TLA) should be the last step in the process of scheduling a tournament — after the date has been coordinated with the dates of other organizers through the clearinghouses.

The USCF National Office arranges for recognized clearinghouses to assist organizers in avoiding conflicting tournaments. The clearinghouses undertake to notify organizers of possible conflicting tournaments and to help organizers schedule non-conflicting tournaments. Though the clearinghouses are in no way agents of the USCF nor have binding authority to establish dates or settle conflicting events, we urge the voluntary cooperation of organizers with the clearinghouses to avoid conflicting tournaments.

The current OCA leadership is purposely not dominating the tournament schedule, so that all who would like to organize tournaments may have an opportunity to do so. The handful of OCA organized events includes the Official State Championship, Class Championship, Quick Championship and Speed Championship, as part of its responsibilities to the USCF, possibly with a couple of other tournaments. They’re spaced well apart and scheduled far in advance through the Clearinghouse. This is a sincere effort to try and avoid scheduling conflicts and make room for all others who want to do the same.

The OCA actively encourages more people to organize tournaments, and stands ready to help. You don’t need to be a USCF Tournament Director to organize a tournament. There are several in Oklahoma and the OCA can help you recruit one for your event if needed. Considering the current number of active Oklahoma players, providing at least 2 and preferably 3 weeks between sizable money tournaments is suggested, so that all can have reasonable turnouts. If all tournament organizers are respectful of the USCF Clearinghouse system and each other, the coordinated efforts of more organizers should result in a schedule full of good quality events for all Oklahoma chess players.

Of course, the OCA encourages organizers to conduct OCA tournaments requiring OCA membership. This is how your USCF State Affiliate funds itself to better serve Oklahoma chess players and publish Oklahoma’s Official Chess Publication, the OCB. In exchange for this simple support of the OCA, organizers receive help promoting their tournaments through the OCA’s periodic Oklahoma Chess Update email broadcasts, and tournament listings on www.ochess.org and in the OCB.

You can find information about all properly organized tournaments on the OCA website. Events requiring OCA membership are listed on the tournaments page at www.ochess.org/events , with occasional exceptions added. Everything is on the Clearinghouse page at www.ochess.org/events/clearinghouse.rtf  . If it’s not listed on the Clearinghouse, please consider that participation in a conflicting event can be harmful to the quality of Oklahoma Chess overall.

If you would like to schedule a tournament, first contact Harold Ball in Ponca City at 580-762-3860, and be sure to thank him for a job well done. Then we hope you’ll contact the OCA so we can work together to take Oklahoma Chess to new heights.