Please be helpful, relevant or nice

My quest to find out Clifton's real identity once succeeded easily, but then I forgot all about it, and now I'm still in the dark... he's just a has-been NM, bitter about his past failures [he wanted to become a Life Master] taking it out on all the internet newbies. He seems to be making all sorts of inside references/allusions that nobody can possibly recognize. I like him, anyway.

Is there anything interesting going on tonight or can I go to sleep now?

His USCF was almost 2300 when I was born... Downhill ever since.

that ethical pillar named Vlad

derided those whom he found bad

his idea of fun

was to block you and run

(yet he claimed it was you who were sad)

Hey, that's not true, I never wanted to become a Life Master!  I heard once you are one they make you go out and sell cookies door to door or something like that...

Okay, go ahead and ask Reb, ya pansy!  Only don't mention the war (I think he's still pissed about Atlanta).

Then what life deception greater than this did manage to make you so bitter :p

Relocating your identity as we speak... did you know Vladimir Kramnik's USCF rating is 2288?

  Yep, i know of one guy in WV that can no longer direct Tourn. because of the crap he pulled in the 90'S

I am not bitter, I am grimly realistic!

Next you'll be calling woodshover morose.

And anyway, I thought you were going to sleep or something (or do you have another shift to put in on the dikes?).

PS  Wow, I was once 2 points higher than Kramnik (cool!). 

And now you're still sneakily one point higher than you claim to be... very clever

The parents of the scholastic chess players can be brutal especially here in the NYC area;  Rich Jackson didn't turn in tournament results and the parents went ballistic and he had to run and hide for cover.

Nooo, his real USCF rating is 2288

http://main.uschess.org/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,181/

Kramnik, Vlad

The USCF has no US tournaments he played in after 1991.  An anomaly.

Please be relative, uncle & niece!

This was their great blunder - they could have had the first mega-playing site, and stomped out the fledging competition or bought them out early, but the organization was just not designed to move quickly, and the leadership at the time was entirely composed of those who came up in chess before the internet, most were not at all computer-savvy.

But they remain the FIDE affiliate for the USA, so if you want to play serious competition under the real rules, they are the only game in town.  I found some years ago, as I got older and went to fewer events, there was no reason to join until I was planning to play one again. 

Their magazine not only sucks and has always sucked, they bought out the old Chess Review when creator Al Horowitz died, which was a far superior magazine (that non-OTB players would buy) with a more active postal chess operation, and ruined that franchise, too.

Then they spent their entire future, including monies set aside for life memberships, on helping Fischer get the title.  A lot of expensive behind the scenes work went into getting him admitted to the cycle, since he had not qualified, and had walked out of the previous cycle's Interzonal stage (with the lead), and ensuring his antics and demands didn't derail the match with Spassky.

Had he kept playing, the gamble might well have paid off, but most of the gains of the "Fischer Boom" were lost to attrition over the years, and they had to raise prices to try to play catch up with everything they neglected helping Bobby get the title.

USCF has a long tradition of being led by people who have individually done a great deal for chess in their areas or nationally, but are nowhere near equipped to run an organization either efficiently or with any chance of broadening the game's appeal.

Interesting post along with some others.  I have considered getting a membership soon to get the online magazines and play in a few tournaments this year but it still seems like a rip-off.  Perhaps a website with the right funds and leadership like chess.com could start their own recreational league or something with incentives and better hosted events and publications without going directly against USCF and FIDE.

 I think connecting online players with great big OTB events would be nice (tournament plus convention and other activities for kids and adults).  

Nice one.

It just depends what you want. I can't speak for the UCSF, but here you must be a member of the national chess federation to play in team matches and certain tournaments. Membership also comes with a magazine. 

Some people are in ''wild'' clubs and only play club matches and open tournaments.  

Well personally, playing over the board I "see" things much better than I do online.. I make less stupid blunders, I "get" the position a little better.. plus to get seriously better at chess and reach your full potential you have to play a long rated game, and unless you have the endurance to sit in front of a monitor for 4+ hours staring at a chessboard on the screen, OTB is your best bet.