During the just completed USCF EB election, Beatriz Marinello and Sevan Muradian were seen as allies on the FIDE front.  Now that Muradian has been so soundly beaten, how will this play out for the USCF at FIDE.

Clearly, Beatriz has no official position within her own federation on which to hang her hat with FIDE. It is unlikely that the present USCF board will make any appointment of her to a position that she can use as a base for FIDE participation.  It is being said that she may have to run for and get herself elected to the EB in the next USCF election or face an end to her FIDE involvement.  If she mends her fences with the USCF, that is possible.  I would certainly consider voting for her.

As to Muradian, the reality of FIDE is that if you can't deliver for them, they have no use for you. That Muradian not only could not get himself elected to the EB, but failed so miserably must surely send a message to Kirsan, Borg and crew that Muradian is not worth an alliance with them.

IMO, the USCF is in a better position to bargain and deal within the FIDE world as there is now clearly only one power center in US chess and that is the USCF sans Muradian and, for now, Marinello.

(Personal opinion below, and does not necessarily represent the views of chess.com management or anyone else with authority or insight.)

You clearly are way 'booked up' on the politics and machinations involved in all this federation business. Since I let my USCF membership lapse, I've all but abandoned any effort to participate - or for that matter, even try to understand what was going on - in the affairs of the USCF, much less FIDE (a truly foreign entity to most US chess players).

For me, the USCF lost its way more than a decade ago when it failed to deal in a realistic way with Internet chess and demonstrated poor management of resources. I don't know if I'll ever get back to OTB chess as a result, though I can't blame all of that outcome on the USCF (as chess is always a local thing and if the local chess scene is unhealthy or dead, resurrecting it is not at all easy).

I do appreciate hearing what's going on, though. So, thanks for writing your pieces.

I have a love hate relationship with the USCF. The internet fiasco involving Games Parlor was a big money loser for the USCF and it involved, I'm told, you guessed it, Paul Truong. The USCF is in a better position now to move forward. That said, the biggest problem I see is structural, over 100 Delegates who ARE the board of directors.  They cause the paralysis by only meeting once a year with volunteers who are not usually fully informed on issues.  Over the board chess is still my favorite although I do enjoy playing here as my membership renewal indicates.  Maybe you'd like to play an over the board game. Where do you live? I'm near Boston.