I don't see enough benefit to USCF

To be a TD you only have to buy the rulebook, read it and the downloadable rules update, be a US Chess member, and fill out the form saying you read the book. You'll be a Club TD.

You'll also need an affiliate to actually rate events, so it's not zero cost, but if you have enough local players, you can offset that cost with a small portion of event entry fees.

Higher TD certification levels have other requirements.

You forgot to mention that in order to be a TD you are not allowed to play in the event. So just take one of your most interested parties out of the player pool.

I'm not recalling all the details off the top of my head because it's been a while, but there were restrictions to what a local TD could do, which one coupled with the lack of TDS around here, basically handcuffed us for having any sort of rated tournament event.

In short, their organizational structure, and I use that terminology loosely, is not conducive to growth. I will also say that most if not all of the old timers in our local Club had no interest in any affiliation with the ufcf, and this was bourne of past experience.

I think most of this problem evolves from 2 things.

The US is a large country, and not a lot of people are interested in chess (compared to something like little league).

You went through a whole situation where the venue requires you get insurance (a very common request, but is different state-by-state) and blame USCF for not having that for you?  Do you not see the problem?

Martin already discussed the TD issue.  That is solved in 10 minutes.

Not true.  TDs will often play in local events, but if there is an issue, they have to handle the issue so many do not play often (or only do it if there are an odd number of players) while being the TD.  For larger events, TDs do not have the flexibility to play.

From the sounds of it, he lives in a rural area in the Northeast.  I have traveled all over the country for work, and I have never had to drive more than 40 minutes from a work site to visit a local Chess club.  I am sure there are remote areas in some of the western states that someone might have to do so (but they would also have to drive that far just to go grocery shopping), but virtually every suburb on the coasts has a club within commuting distance.

I was wrong in my last post, that requirement was for a Club TD; I'll edit my post, but the rest is true.

TDs not playing is absolutely not true. TDs can play in their own events. When I do, I only act as a house player, or to allow players to have a game if they otherwise would get a bye. However, that is not a requirement.

As to limits, if a Club TD is using a computer pairing program, they're allowed to hold events of up to 50 players, if I'm remembering correctly. It's lower if pairing is done by hand but you won't be prevented from submitting larger events if you stray outside that a little, as far as I'm aware. It also doesn't take much to get certified as a Local TD once you have enough directing experience and score well enough on the open book TD exam

For me personally, to play in any tournament worth playing I need to travel over 1.5 hours. I don't like it, but I do try to make it work when possible 

I don't have that problem at the moment (I can still gain rating points from Class A/Expert players), but I understand the issue.

To the OP's point:  if you aren't playing in USCF-rated games regularly, it makes little sense to pay the annual dues.  I would just wait until you are ready to play in a tournament and renew your membership then.  But, if you are playing in weekly events at a local club, it makes much more sense to keep your membership active.

Bizmark is partly correct. The US is very spread out. The population density is nowhere close to like it is in europe. But I think there's plenty of Interest if there was more opportunity to play.

PawnTsunami, try to find one in central pennsylvania. There was a club some years back in State College which is about an hour west of here, but they haven't met in several years. You can drive to Philly, New York City, to a small local Club in Lansdale, and other than that I think you're headed to New Jersey or New York, or pick another state. If there are other clubs, they want nothing to do with the USCF which then makes them even more difficult to find. If you notice a pattern forming, we keep coming back around to me talking about their lack of organizational effort/ability...

Yes, I can close my business and spend all my time and money doing marketing to find chess players in the local area and then organize events. Or the USCF could spend some of the last 85 years working on that so folks like me wouldn't have to.

I wasn't too far off in my statement earlier.  I used to go to wrestling camps in that area many years ago (Lock Haven and Maple Lake).  The issue up there is not that "the country is spread out" - it is that area is rather rural.  There are 2 clubs that used to meet in Harrisburg (West Shore Chess Club and Harrisburg East Shore Chess Club).  I'm not sure if they still meet.  There is also an active club in Bethlehem (Lehigh Valley Chess Association) and Allentown (Center City Chess Club), but those may be a bit of a drive if you are in State College.

We keep coming back to you wanting someone else to do things for you.  That isn't their role.

You make my point for me.  You want them to take on a role they are not designed to do to fill in a gap in rural areas.  Even if they took on that role (helping clubs get off the ground), it would have to be where more people live, which would still leave rural areas lagging in that.  If you lived closer to NYC, or Phili, or DC, or even Bethlehem or Allentown, there are several clubs that are very active.

I was told about the Harrisburg clubs but as best I could find out they don't meet in Harrisburg anymore. Allentown is a little past Lansdale from me so let's call that 3 hours 15 minutes. Harrisburg is 2 hours. State College is one hour but as I mentioned they don't meet there anymore.

You keep saying that organizing chess or helping to organize chess is not a function of the uscf. Then I'll ask again, what is their function? Even if their only purpose is to fleece people for money, I would think they would want to fleece more people.

That is the unfortunate part of living in a rural area:  you have to drive further to get to things.  The benefits are you don't have to deal with people and traffic ... life is all about trade-offs.

Regarding what USCF does:  https://new.uschess.org/mission-and-vision

Basically, they operate at a high level.  They set the rules, have scholarship funds, store the ratings, etc.  They do not set up clubs, nor manage clubs, nor even help you to do either (other than give you a basic set of requirements for having one affiliated with them).  Complaining "they didn't set up a chess club in my area" is silly - they haven't set up a club in ANY area.

I don't blane USCF for this, since it is the locals requiring club membership in addition to the tournament fee. I just think USCF needs to be more accurate about what membership offers. It does not get us into tournaments, at least some local ones with rules that USCF has no control over.

Maybe USCF should only guarantee prize money to tournaments that don't require local memberships. This would increase enrollment and get them more of their money back.

US Chess handles the national rating system, sponsors various national championships and Scholastic events, is a FIDE member, provides a central location to advertise US Chess affiliates/clubs and events.

https://new.uschess.org/mission-and-vision

The use of local affiliates to hold clubs and events has been essentially there since the beginning. Local volunteerism and support is core to chess in the US. The organization would have to get a lot more money to be able to support chess more deeply at a super local level and likely wouldn't get very many additional players interested in competitive play (i.e. creating new members for the organization)

Local clubs are allowed to require additional dues to play in their events, as long as pre tournament announcements have all the details. Some have additional associated costs, such as sites not being free, and want to help cover costs so the local organizer don't end up on the hook for everything.

Other than directly sponsored events, prize funds are 100% controlled by the local affiliate/organizers.

I just went to the website quickly to verify that the examples I were thinking of were still there. And they are. Without wasting a ton more time here I pulled up the first few clubs listed when doing a search within a hundred miles of my zip code. The first three I pulled up have not had events since the 1990s. Unless a whole lot has changed since I last looked, that is pretty much what I'm going to find all the way down the list. That is to say that they've made no effort to keep any of that data up to date and that it takes forever to find any useful information on the site. If that is listed as part of their mission then I would say they are failing. I think some in this thread feel that I think they should materially participate with local events and that's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying they make it difficult to start anything local that's sanctioned and that should be their number one mission if they expect to grow.

In this thread I've tried to say numerous times that they make no effort to encourage involvement and I stand by that. Looks to me like there's eight board of directors members and their financials show approximately 1.25 million in annual salaries. Then a little bit of contract labor as well. They are losing membership at an alarming rate which appears to be about 12% annually. That at a time when I actually joined and helped out those numbers. I'm afraid I will be part of next year's decrease though. I feel that unless you are located in an extremely limited portion of the country you gain nothing by being a member.

At the cost of virtually zero dollars they could easily Implement a system by which they emailed the membership to say they would like to encourage people to start local chapters and spread organized chess to more people. Once someone decides they would like to give it a try they could send an email to members Within a certain distance and let them know that someone is trying to organize a club. At that point they would have the option of let's say clicking a link in that email to come into contact with the person who is trying to organize things. And of course you move on from there. But they won't do that. And they won't do anything else either. Is it any wonder they are bleeding members right and left.

USCF (rebranded to US Chess but most don't realize that) only organizes some national championships (US Open, National Elementary, National Junior High/Middle School, National High School, National School Grade, the first few National Youth Action events - and their side events).

All others (including some awarding national championships such as the National Open) are organized by locals using the US Chess rating system, US Chess rules (FIDE rated tournament sections use FIDE rules but are still US Chess rated), US Chess certified tournament directors (with access to US Chess Special Referees when necessary), and are organized by US Chess affiliates.  I've worked several hundred US Chess rated tournaments but only a few dozen of those were organized by the federation (fewer than the number of FIDE rated events I've worked).

Tournaments can get free on-line TLAs (Tournament Life Announcements) or pay an additional fee for print announcements.  Not every organizer uses that option.  If an organizer does use it then e-mails are sent to those members that have opted in to receive e-mails for whatever type of tournament is being listed.

The US Chess forums occasionally get a bit political but now focus more on issues that arise for the organization (proposed rules changes, director/arbiter tips, a few people complaining that things are not perfect, etc.).

The actual rule 21E says in the first paragraph that tournament directors should not play in events they are working but then starts the second paragraph with:

"However, in club events that do not involve substantial prizes, it is common practice for the director to play. ... If possible, a playing director should appoint another director to make rulings involving his or her games."

Have three club members become club-level TDs (tournament directors) and you will have a TD available to make a ruling even if two of them are playing each other.

Don't try that in a FIDE-rated section.

Hi Martin,

Club level can handle events expected to have up to 50 players (up to 60 with a pairing program and assistant).  Sign a form to start with a three-year certification, pass it test once to renew (for three years) and then remain active (with at least three tournaments in the certification period) to renew without needing to retest.

Local up to 100 (120 with program/assistant)  Get the prerequisites to qualify to take the local test, pass it and then remain active (with at least four tournaments in the four year certification period) to renew without needing to retest

Senior up to 300 (360 with program/assistant)  Get the prerequisites to qualify to take the senior test, pass it and then remain active (with at least five tournaments in the five year certification period) to renew without needing to retest

Associate National has no numerical limit but cannot be the chief of a major national.  Get the prerequisites to qualify to take the Associate National test, pass it and then remain active (with at least six tournaments in the six year certification period) to renew without needing to retest

National has no limit Get the prerequisites to qualify to take the National test, pass it and no certification expiration as long as you are a member.