To the members of this forum:

May of you have raised very good points about chess in America. The
question is what to do? If we have 30 million plus people in America
who play chess, then why do we only have 96,000 or so members and why
is USCF often on the verge of bankruptcy in the past?

I would like to offer my humble opinion. But before I start, please
allow me a quick moment to give you some basics of my background so
you can understand where I am coming from. I have seldom spoken
about my personal life (because it is too painful) and have walked
away from the game I love about 15 years ago. I hope my input will
help you better understand the core problem of US Chess.

I was born and raised in Saigon, South Vietnam. Prior to coming to
America in December 1979 as a 14 year old boy, I was one of the top
juniors in Asia with 9 National Titles, including 5 National Overall
Championships. I was considered by many in Asia to have a great shot
at becoming the first ever Asian Grandmaster at that time.
Unfortunately, due to the war situation, I was not able to realize my
dreams in my homeland. After facing death in the eyes dozens of
times under the Communist Regime (post 1975), I was lucky enough to
survive and made it to America after a 7 month tragic ordeal, losing
most of the fellow escapees

Barely speaking a word of English and having absolutely no money, I
was working 7 part time jobs (at $3.35 an hour) while going to High
School full time and playing chess whenever I have time or can afford
to. Even a simply entry fee of $15 or $20 was too much for me. All
the money I made had to be sent back to Vietnam to take care of my
family.

I thought for sure that I would get assistance from the National
Chess Federation because of my strength, talent, accomplishment and
credentials. I was wrong. Only because of chess organizers like
Glenn Petersen, Jose Cuchi, some local and state organizers from NJ
and most of all Bill Goichberg that I got my FIDE rating to peak at
approximately 2400 while earning my FM title (Bill and Jose used to
allow me to play in some of their tournaments for free, only to
deduct the fees to any prizes. In fact, Bill often shared with me
his lunch at his old club in his downtown Manhattan club [14th Street
I think] because I did not even have money to buy myself a meal. I
know he probably does not even remember this but I will never forget
his kindness. Most people did not even know that I was living on a
budget of about 30 cents a day for food.).

When I was 17, I had to make a decision. College or chasing my dream
to be a GM and a world-class player? Having to financially support
60+ relatives in Vietnam including my mother and younger brother who
lost their homes, jobs, and valuables because my father and I escaped
from the country. (The reason why the Communist government made such
a big deal of my escape was because I was their crown jewel in
chess. So the only thing they could do is to punish my family.). I
decided college and gave up my dreams. It was the hardest decision I
had to make in my life. I played from time to time after that and
after 1986, I basically disappeared completely.

Why is this relevant? The answer is because of the way USCF was set
up, just like most corporations, full of bureaucracy. Problems were
buried so deep that sometimes no one can see the light of day. I was
not the only one. There were many other young talented players like
me who just gave up the game because of USCF. Is it anyone's fault?
No! It was the system. I have been to USCF many times. I see with
my own eyes how hard some of the staff there works. And they are
mostly underpaid. They cannot do more that what they have already
done.

After college, I worked in the Real Estate Marketing and
International Marketing field. I used to work for a $225 billion
dollar company. Then, I opened my own company to represent this same
company on a $7 billion project. This project was going nowhere
prior to me taking it on. After 15 years of 18-hour day, 7 days a
week, and 365 days a year schedule, I sold my business in 2001 which
include operations in 82 offices throughout the world. I then
retired from business to help my best friend with her chess passion.

What have I learned in my career? The number thing I learned was big
bureaucracy does not work. This is why I would like to offer my
humble opinion and solution that may help USCF.

USCF as a whole cannot reach its full potential. USCF needs
affiliates across the country to become successful. That is the
grass root way to go. But why on earth would these affiliates go out
of their way to help USCF, only to deal with red tapes,
complications, headaches and problems and no rewards. Most local
organizations are formed by the people who LOVE the game. These are
not the people who want to get rich.

But that does not mean that they should give their heart and soul and
sometimes even having to put money from their pockets to buy chess
sets, chess boards, and supplies for their organizations. Let me use
the example of Steve Shutt. I knew him since I was 14. I saw his
dedication to the kids in his school. Do you think he does it for
money? He does it because he loves chess. There are many Steve
Shutt around the country whom we probably have never met or even know
about.

US Chess should be run as a real direct marketing business while
staying as a nonprofit organization. What do I mean by that?
Simple! Money talks! We offer a LOT of incentives to people who can
do the job well. If they succeed, USCF will succeed. If they fail,
USCF has nothing to lose. If it is worth the while for the local
organizations to be able to make enough money to support and even a
little extra to pay for their time or even dinner for these
volunteers, then they will approach it differently. In fact, what
the heck! If someone does a good job by bringing in 10,000 or even
100,000 new members, let them make lots of money!

I have not seen any numbers and I am sure any numbers can be fixed or
adjusted. But let me give you a basic general example. If let's say
the membership is $100 a year (just a number to make it easier to
understand), the local affiliates who put in efforts to bring in
memberships should be rewarded handsomely. It could be something
like if you bring in 1-99 members a year; you get 20% of the dues.
If you bring in 100 new members a year, you would get 25% of the dues
(it would be $25 for each new member from this example), this
percentage would go up to let's say 30% for 250 members a year. This
percentage would go up accordingly. So maybe if an affiliate who
brings in 1,000 or 3,000 new members, they can get 50% of the total.
That is a substantial amount of money and a real partnership.

What are the obligations of the affiliates? A lot! They have to do
their own promotions (through flyers, radio, local TV, schools,
colleges, synagogues, churches, temples, etc.). They have to do all
the paperwork (it can be done electronically via Internet - faster,
cheaper and more efficient). They have to motivate and keep these
members happy (because the affiliates will get residual income from
renewals but smaller amounts). There are more responsibilities but
these are just the examples.

So in this case, it is a true partnership between the 2 sides. USCF
will benefit because the overall memberships can reach millions. The
larger the membership, the more money chess will receive from
corporate sponsors. This means chess will be EVERYWHERE! I have no
doubt in this.

This is a classic case of everyone can win. Of course there are many
details that have to be worked out. But this is the way to do it. I
have done it in my business for many years and many other multi-
billion dollar companies have done the same. They made billions of
dollars with the same marketing concept.

So everyone can understand what are my motives, let me clearly state
why I am writing this letter. I am retired and I am not looking for
any job. I just want to see chess grow the right way. I want to see
the next generation of chess players have the opportunity to grow and
not walk away from the game like many of my friends and I did. I am
not interested in chess politics. I am not interested to work for
USCF. I don't need to be paid for my expertise. I will,
however, offer my expertise in large scale marketing and PR for free
of charge to any individual or organization that needs help. Just
ask me.

I have seen what Yasser Seirawan, Steve Shutt, Sunil Weeramantry,
Pete Nixon, DeWain Barber, Shane Samole, Al Lawrence, Harold Dondis
and many more like them have done for chess in their own capacities
over the years. People like them inspire me to do my part to help.
I have seen the dramatic changes in USCF under the leadership of
Frank Niro and the new board. Even though I may or may not agree
with all the decisions, I see things going toward the right direction.

What I ask is the same as what Women's World Champion Susan Polgar
has asked of everyone. I would like everyone to be more respectful
to each other and work together toward the common goals. If we
cannot agree, disagree nicely and professionally.

Thank you for taking time to read this long letter. This letter is
only intended to give you the perspective of a business person toward
chess. This is not a political statement or endorsement to anyone.
Therefore, please do not dissect or attack each point that I make.
If you think it is good, maybe you can incorporate it and make USCF
better. If you do not think it is good, I thank you in advance for
giving me your time and I would like to apologize in advance if I
offend anyone with this letter.

Once again, thank you and best wishes to all!

Paul Truong




--- In fide-chess@yahoogroups.com, "George John" <george@n...> wrote:
> Bill,
>
>
>
> You points below make a good deal of sense to me, and cause me to
raise the
> following questions:
>
>
>
> How much does the USCF do to leverage free media? Could it do
more? Should
> it do more?
>
>
>
> How much does the USCF do to encourage and train its affiliates to
leverage
> free media?
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> George John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Recmate@a... [mailto:Recmate@a...]
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 10:03 AM
> To: fide-chess@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [fide-chess] Re: Chess in the USA
>
>
>
> In a message dated 02/14/2003 1:15:17 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> chesspride@a... writes:
>
>
>
>
> Subj: Re: [fide-chess] Re: Chess in the USA
> Date: 02/14/2003 1:15:17 AM Eastern Standard Time
> From: chesspride@a...
> Reply-to: fide-chess@yahoogroups.com
> To: fide-chess@yahoogroups.com
> Sent from the Internet
>
>
>
> In a message dated 2/13/03 5:12:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
sdo1@m...
> writes:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank you for the link. However, My question was intended more to
> inquire about what can be done by the USCF to promote chess in the
vast
> area it currently does not cover. I know
>
>
>
> Absolutely nothing...until USCF begins to realize that not-for-
profits
> usually spend a significant amount of operating revenues on
advertising
> their existence (to customers and sponsors)...and in promoting a
simple
> message or idea.
>
> USCF doesn't advertise. So...quite frankly...it cannot possibly
achieve
> much in the way of promotion. Can it add a few thousand more adult
members?
> Yes. But promotion? For that, it needs to "un-do" decades of
> anti-advertising mentality.
>
> ECJ
>
>
>
> Advertising in non-chess media to promote chess generally isn't
worth the
> money. Better to go after free publicity.
>
> During the 1990 World Championship in New York, USCF advertised in
the New
> York Times to "cash in" on the heightened chess interest in the
city. The
> ads did not prove to be a cost effective way to bring in members.
>
> During the Fischer Boom, I placed small ads in some newspapers for
CCA
> tournaments, with moderate success. However, much better results
were
> achieved by just sending news releases to the same papers. The free
> publicity that resulted was more effective than the paid ads at
recruiting
> new players.
>
> Bill Goichberg
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> fide-chess-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .