Something Different

That had to be one of the strangest Annual Members' meetings I've attended in a long time. There were many reasons, but I'll just mention the most obvious -- an actual Club Officer election took place!

Incumbent BCF President FM Paul MacIntyre faced a challenge from long time member and former Officer, Board Member and Club Champion FM Chris Chase. Prior to the vote, much discussion was had, between the two candidates and among the assembled members, about current issues and future directions for the foundation and the club. Members variously expressed support for both candidates and the outcome of the eventual balloting was very much in doubt.

Voting was done by secret ballot and I had the privilege of tabulating the results with the assistance (and under the watchful eye) of Ted Gorcyzca. The count was rather eventful itself. Chase got off to a strong lead, but as more votes were unfolded MacIntyre slowly came back. Finally, the two were dead even with only two ballots remaining to be counted. Already I was thinking about what we might need to do to break a tie ... a second vote? rock, paper, scissors? Someone mentioned a Blitz game. The last two ballots were unfolded and they were both for Paul. A tie had been averted, but it sure was close. I was thankful that there were no demands for a recount.

From there, the meeting reverted to the typical Chinese Communist Party elections we typically have -- not OMOV, but OCNV (one candidate, no vote). Nevertheless, this still resulted in a 50% turnover among the Officers for the new year. Those serving as Officers in 2007-8 are:

• President - FM Paul MacIntyre
• Vice President - FM Chris Chase
• Treasurer - Robert Oresick
• Clerk - Anthony Scali

There were nine nominees for the Board of Directors with six elected, including several new faces. The Board Members for 2007-8 are:

• Bernardo Iglesias
• Natasha Christiansen
• NM Alex Cherniack
• Carey Theil
• Jason Rihel
• Joshua Haunstrup
  

Campaigning Extended

Please note that the starting time for tonight's Boylston Chess Foundation Annual Members Meeting has been changed. The meeting will now commence at 8:00 pm.

BCF Annual Meeting - Wednesday, October 17th

The Annual Membership Meeting of the Boylston Chess Foundation takes place this Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00pm. At the meeting, Officers and Directors for 2007-8 will be elected.

Don't miss your chance to "throw the bums out!"

Extra points (since we'd all rather live there)

The San Francisco Mechanics pulled off an interesting feat this week. They lost their match to Boston but still maintained their position in the Original US Chess League Quantitative Power Rankings, ahead of a couple of teams with better match records.

Math can be fickle, of course, but in this case it comes down to the other numbers. Through six weeks, San Francisco is ahead of Baltimore and New Jersey in game score, performance rating and strength of schedule. These factors combined to offset their half-point disadvantage in match score.

Boston and Dallas, both winners, continue to lead the way. While the momentum indicator points the Destiny's way, the Blitz have the edge in game score, performance rating and strength of schedule. In fact, Dallas has so far faced the easiest schedule in the league.

Original US Chess League Quantitative Power Rankings v.2
After Week 6
Format - (Match Record, Scaled Score, Last Week's Rank)

1. Boston (5.0, .905, 1st)
   
   
2. Dallas (5.0, .832, 2nd)
   
   
3. Seattle (3.5, .625, 3rd)
   
   
4. San Francisco (3.0, .617, 4th)
   
   
5. Baltimore (3.5, .607, 5th)
   
   
6. New Jersey (3.5, .549, 8th)
   
   
7. Carolina (3.0, .538, 6th)
   
   
8. Philadelphia (3.0, .499, 7th)
   
   
9. New York (2.0, .427, 10th)
   
   
10. Queens (2.0, .390, 9th)
    
    
11. Miami (1.5, .234, 11th)
    
    
12. Tennessee (1.0, .102, 12th)

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Chris Dickson was kind enough to mention BCC Weblog's USCL coverage in his post on the league/interview with the Commissioner:

The other major development between seasons is that there has been an inauguration of a Blogger of the Year prize worth $100 for, oddly enough, the best blog over the course of the season in an attempt to get people writing about the league and its progress. Consequently, there seems to be much more written about the league this year than ever before. I'm not sure whether the existence of the prize had much to do with it, but if so then it's probably the best $100 spent yet by the USCL.

As stats-obsessed people are wont to do, there are all sorts of power rankings, predictions and miscellaneous numerical geekery. [DG] of the Boylston Chess Club posts his own quantitative power rankings; I note with a smile that it only took some wise-guy a few hours to respond, referring to the Glicko rating system, "Where's Mark Glickman when you need him?". [DG] also posts this list of USCL-themed blogs and I guess I'd probably put him in the lead if I were to post some USCL Blogger of the Year Power Rankings, by the very slim margin of four Haloscan links and a blogroll to three game diagrams and a customised forum.

Whether or not we are fortunate enough to win the award this year, it's heartening to get a vote of confidence from elsewhere in the 'sphere.

As for the $100, the Boylston Chess Foundation has many worthy projects that could benefit from it, including support for inner city school chess programs, our free chess lessons for kids, and programs to encourage youth participation in tournament chess. Speaking of which, if you are enjoying our USCL coverage on the blog, you might want consider making a tax deductible contribution (money and/or chess supplies) to the Foundation to support our outreach efforts. You can learn more about the Boylston Chess Foundation here.

BCC Weblog provides independent coverage of the United States Chess League. It is not affiliated with the USCL or the Boston Blitz.