Gus Gosselin

Gus Gosselin (1926-2007)

As I'm sure many of you have heard by now, local chess luminary Gus Gosselin passed away on May 21st at 80 years old. The following announcement was posted at the Massachusetts Chess Association (MACA) website:

The MACA board of directors reports with great sadness the passing of Gilbert F. "Gus" Gosselin, who died Monday evening, May 21, at the age of 80. Gus was one of the greatest contributors to the promotion of chess, both adult and scholastic, in Massachusetts as well as in New England. At the time of his death, he was MACA's scholastic coordinator and Living Memorial Fund coordinator. In his past 35 years' involvement with MACA, Gus served in every major executive position in the organization. For the past several decades, especially during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990's, he kept chess alive in Rhode Island. A tribute to Gus will be published in the July-September issue of Chess Horizons, which will be mailed out in June. Funeral arrangements are unavailable at this time, but letters and/or cards of condolences can be sent to his wife Ruth and daughter Marcia and family at 19 Glen St. #2, Malden, MA 02148 and to his son Matthew at 177B Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176.

George Mirijanian
President, MACA

MACA has set up a discussion thread where individuals can post their remembrances of Gus. From that thread, I'd like to share the thoughts of BCF Treasurer Bob Oresick:

In the New England chess world, if you mentioned "Gus," everyone knew who you meant. When I first started playing chess in tournaments in the early '90s, I slowly entered the Boston chess scene. And I kept hearing about Gus. Gus in MACA service. Gus and the Living Memorial. Gus and Pawneaters. In Malden. In Providence. Gus and Burger King. Gus at the Boylston club.

I was too intimidated to play at the Boylston, so many of my first tournaments were at Gus's Pawneaters. So, I thought chess tournaments were mixes of adult patzers, kids, hovering parents, and the aroma of stale beer and old, folding chairs and rickety tables we players and parents had to set up. I remember Gus watching as Gus's young helper Kent Leung marched his pawns forward suicidally and then the attacking and attacking... Gus's penumbra was always semi-chaotic, in a gentle slow way - like a manic sloth. So often the starting time was ten and Gus was carrying in stuff from the car - laptop, sets, clocks, and all the other impedimenta he brought, not unlike setting up a Roman camp.

But, Gus was so gentle and unassuming that I was made to feel comfortable and could enjoy playing chess. I think that was a common experience for many children too.

My experience with him was as an older man, getting worn down with sickness. He never complained about his illness, never seemed to make much of a hospitalization. He was always so active. I remember a year or so ago at a Rhode Island pawneater in which he was just playing, not directing, we were chatting. Somehow in the conversation Gus mentioned that he had been a running back for a local semi-pro football team. I must say I couldn't imagine that. But that just shows my poverty of imagination, and the complexity of a very modest, complex man who helped form the face of Massachusetts chess for our era.

Robert Oresick

Bob has also posted a number of pictures of Gus here.

Finally, Tiffany Wang reports on plans for a gathering in memory of Gus on Saturday, June 2nd from 4:00pm to 8:00pm at 19 Glen St. in Malden, Massachusetts.

Can't we all just get along?

I just love this story about feuding chess parents in Gilbert, Arizona. It makes USCF politics seem tame.

During the Arizona Scholastic State Chess Championship last April at Gilbert High School, feuding Gilbert parents argued about everything from the display of banners to the proper place to eat snacks.

"The bickering has gone on so long," said Jill McKeever, a Finley Farms Elementary School chess mom, former association president and chess coach at Islands Elementary School. "It's gotten to this point now where we almost can't talk to each other."

What are they arguing about? Believe it or not, philosophy. Should scholastic chess emphasize fun and participation or winning?

"The philosophies of the organizations were always so different," said Christy Veit, a chess mom at Canyon Rim Elementary School. "They didn't get where we were coming from, and we didn't get where they were coming from."

The Burk club, which has won four consecutive state championships, trains with its own coach and focuses on winning. Other Gilbert schools take a more casual approach to chess.

Their coaches juggle eight or more clubs at the same time and root for all their players to do well at tournaments — even when the teams compete against each other. That has never made sense to the Burk parents.

"We don't see football, baseball or basketball coaches floating across schools in this district coaching at multiple schools," former Burk parent Lisa Haisley wrote in an e-mail. "I don’t think chess should either."

But now there are accusations of vote rigging and hostile takeovers.

Some chess parents say Burk families flooded the meeting. When they realized they didn't have enough votes to win, they stepped outside and called more friends on their cell phones.

Maneth, who earned a board position that night and now serves as president, said allegations that Burk staged a hostile takeover are false. He said Burk parents won the election because they offered the best vision for the future of Gilbert chess....

In the end, Burk parents emerged with control of the association they had previously shunned. And parents who had spent years building the association suddenly wanted nothing to do with it. The Gilbert chess world had turned upside down.

And who might you guess finds himself in the middle of this mess?

Many parents now take their children to tournaments organized by a rival group called SMARTChess. McKeever and three other Gilbert chess coaches started the nonprofit organization this summer.

One SMARTChess founder is Robert Tanner, the Gilbert coach who resigned this month from the U.S. Chess Federation executive board following an ethics reprimand. Tanner was disciplined in November following allegations that he manipulated tournament results in the early 1990s to boost his chess rating.

I can think of several directions this discussion might take. Here are a few questions you might want to ponder and comment on:

1. Should scholastic chess be casual or highly competitive?
2. Is parental involvement in organizing scholastic events a good thing? In the Boston area many scholastic events are organized by clubs (like the BCC) and independent organizers (e.g., Gus Gosselin).
3. What do you think about limiting coaches to working at only one school? Seems to me they find it hard enough to make a living working at several.
4. What's with Robert Tanner and controversy? I'd never heard of this guy until a few weeks ago and now suddenly he's everywhere.

*****
In a related note - At the Herb Healy, Harold Dondis mentioned that he had heard that Gus Gosselin was very ill. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

The Trans Fat Open

Nothing really goes together quite as well as chess and fast food -- just look around the skittles room prior to the start of the afternoon round of any large Swiss. Around our neck of the woods, Gus Gosselin runs a series of scholastic tournaments in Burger King restaurants. Now, the New Haven (CT) Register reports on the goings-on at the "McCheckmate" chess club. As they so aptly put it, "To the victors go the fries."