From the USCF President

Some people say that the USCF is loosing money and providing less service to members. We don't know that USCF will lose money this year, though it is possible. We are a very seasonal business, and a nine month loss which includes our four worst months does not prove there will be a twelve month loss.

Since its financial low point in the summer of 2003, USCF has shown a cumulative surplus of over $500,000.

As for "providing less to its members,"

In 2003, most tournaments took a month or more to rate. Today most are submitted online and are rated in less than a day.

In 2003, rating report errors had to be corrected manually and the office had a backlog of more than a year in making these corrections. Today not only are the corrections done quickly, but the opponents of the corrected players are also appropriately corrected.

In 2003, many tournaments were rated out of chronological order, which distorted the true ratings. This situation is now corrected by the regular use of rerating.

Chess Life has been redesigned and its appearance significantly improved.

We now have a USCF website which, even though the redesign is unfinished, has substantial chess content.

We again have a scholastic publication after several years without one, and Chess Life for Kids is an improvement on the old School Mates.

We now have a USCF Issues Forum which allows members like you to post how terrible the Federation is and allows other members to discuss issues with each other.

We just went through a 6 month period in which adults could join or renew for only $39, the lowest dues since 1994. Even today, adults can join/renew online for $41, just $1 more than the 1995 cost.

We have restored the Tournament Membership, and for most tournaments, non-members can pay $10 rather than the old requirement of $49 or $27.

The result of all the above is that during the six month period from 9/1/06 through 2/28/07, USCF had the fourth largest membership increase of any six consecutive months in the Federation's history, and the largest increase in adult members for any 6 month period since 1994.

By Bill Goichberg, President of the USCF. Used by permission.