EDITORIAL
The ACA has never told its members where they should or should not play chess and we won't start now.
We do, however, wish to inform our
players that if they plan to play in a tournament run by the OCF (Oklahoma Chess Federation) they need to bring addition money because they are not honoring ACA memberships, they are requiring the purchase of
an OCF membership.
We will continue to honor the memberships of other state associations, and would hope that this practice is once again be used by others.
It has also come to our attention that someone fabricated a tournament,
the MO Fall Open of October 16 &
17, 2004 in Florissant, MO TD'd by
Mike Swatek, never happened, Mike never ran this tournament and the 38 Oklahoma and 2 Arkansas players listed in it were not there either. Les Kline and Caleb Taylor were listed as participants in this fictitious tourney.
The USCF is investigating this incident.
The ratings of the 40 alleged participants will be incorrect for a couple of months, but the USCF is aware of it and is correcting the ratings.
The problem as I see it is that someone would feel that this kind of a prank is justified.
This behavior is childish and unnecessary,
and I would hope that all chess
players regardless of their affiliation
would join me in condemning these
uncalled for activities. It's hard
enough running tournaments and keeping the results accurate and reported in a timely manner. Let's
set a good example and keep chess a
game for the emotionally mature.
Stephen Paulson
ACA News Editor