The Healing Power of Dirt

You have to wonder from the pic of the new USCF site, how much grass they are on!

It seems that the USCF Secretary Don Schultz put forth a motion to get all the facts behind the Natrol deal. EB member Elizabeth Shaughnessy objected to the motion. A day later, the President put forth a motion to remove the Scretary from his position. There has always been craziness at the USCF, but it really seems to have spun out of control as of late. From what I have gathered online, most of the EB didn't know about the deal. It appears that it was Marinello's deal. I have also read online that Shaughnessy was defending the deal at the National Open. Neither Shaughnessy or Marinello have issued a statement about the Natrol deal.

I think whomever made the deal and/or supported the deal should be made to resign from the EB and be banned from the organization. How could anyone think it was a good idea to endorse a performance enhancing supplement given all the hoopla in professional sports lately about steroids and other supplements? A competitive/sports organization should only promote people achieving as much as they can through their innate abilities and hard work.

I agree with vyshka. If it was Marinello's idea, she should resign forthwith. The whole fiasco is outrageous.

-G

Maybe ingesting the supplement is hard work.

Congrats, Mig, on the photo. My first reaction was shock. Then laughter, out loud. The essence of humour is surprise. You nailed it. When does your national TV sitcom premiere? Mig Reigns. [cough].

Dear All:

Please find enclosed a copy of the letter of intent between Natrol, Inc and the US Chess Federation, and a statement from Natrol. This was the only agreement with this company. I take full responsibility for this endorsement that was obviously a mistake. No members of the Executive Board had any knowledge of this agreement.

I can find many excuses to justify my mistake, including that I was volunteering in the USCF office as a Relocation Coordinator, Chief Operations Manager for both offices, and President of the USCF. The combination of 70 hours per week work in a volunteer basis and my health allowed this situation to happen.. I am very sorry about it.

My expenses in connection with my services in the USCF will be published in the Delegates' Call.

The relocation was done effectively at a much lower cost than projected. The USCF will be showing a good profit for the previous fiscal year. The reorganization of the office is improving services for our members. I continue my support of technological upgrades as well as other promotional tools that will be developed this fiscal year.

Bill Goichberg and Don Schulz are making a mountain out of a molehill over the Natrol issue to gain support in the election season. Now, the letter of intent is available for all of you to see. When I was approached by the PR company in charge of the Natrol Promotion, I did not do the search of the company as I should it done. I apologized to the scholastic community for my mistake.

This issue has been blown out proportion for political reasons. Once again the Schulz/Goichberg juggernaut has been able to use one issue to discredit the work of a President who has been working very hard to advance the USCF.

All the best,

Beatriz Marinello
USCF President

Ms. Beatriz Marinello
President
US Chess Federation
P.O. Box 3967
Crossville, TN 38557

LETTER OF INTENT

This letter of intent is entered into between the US Chess Federation ("USCF") and Natrol, Inc. For good and fair consideration, Natrol agrees to pay the US Chess Federation a sum of five-thousand dollars ($5,000) for sponsorship benefits in connection with Natrol® brainSpeed™ and its activities at the 2005 National Open June 10 - 12, 2005 at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.

For these sponsorship dollars USCF agrees to provide expert consultation, advice and access to Natrol in its production of the brainSpeed Human Chess Experience on June 11, 2005. USCF and its signatory event producers agree to provide event space, schedule slotting, Grand Master procurement, specific game selection, schedule inclusion, onsite signage opportunities, ongoing chess consultation and introductions to the chess influencer community. In addition, USCF agrees to a one-time email blast to its membership in connection with the event sponsorship. The USCF will also arrange for Natrol to have a booth for brainSpeed sales opportunities during the event.

Natrol agrees to pay USCF onsite in Las Vegas the previously stipulated sponsorship amount before the start of the Human Chess Experience event date of June 11, 2005. Natrol also authorizes the USCF to act as its agent in procuring the services of two Grand Masters for the Human Chess Experience at a cost of $300 for each Grand Master. Amount to be paid by Natrol in separate US check before the start of the event.

This letter of intent provides the full understanding between USCF and Natrol. We look forward to this event and many more in the future.

Agreed:
Date: __________________
By: __________________
US Chess Federation

Date: __________________
By: ___________________
Elliott Balbert, President &CEO, Natrol, Inc.

Hi, my name is Toni Speyer, and I'm the Vice President of Marketing for Natrol, the manufacturer of Natrol brainSpeed and a sponsor of the recent U.S. Chess Federation tournament in Las Vegas. I would like to help set the record straight on some issues that will allow you to have a broader set of facts so each of you can form your own opinion regarding the concerns that have been raised through this forum.

First, brainSpeed is not a drug, it is a nutritional supplement. Just as there are nutritional supplements (e.g. vitamins) for the body, brainSpeed is a nutritional supplement for the brain. Not only was this product developed based on solid scientific research and safety studies, it even offers consumers an on-line test so they can see for themselves if it works.

Second, Natrol is a 25 year old health and wellness company and is known for the integrity of its formulas as well as its "A" rating for Good Manufacturing Practices by the National Nutritional Foods Association. We deeply respect our consumers' safety and well-being, which is why we've been around for so long. And we put our money where our mouth is -- every Natrol product comes with a full money-back guarantee.

We appreciate the lively discussions that our product has inspired, and invite the Chess community to contact us at 1-800-2-NATROL, www.natrol.com or www.brainSpeed.com for more information about our products and our company. Thank you for your time and attention.

Mig,

About the photo of the land in Crossville, TN. Please tell your readers that this is the land of the future HQ of the USCF.

By this time of the year in 2006, the USCF will have a new building. A comment about the election: "the issues now are about personalities more than ideology", in my Presidency we reduced staff, outsourced the B&E and relocated the main operations of the office to TN. Now the USCF is financially solvent and the reorganization of the USCF will be almost impossible to undone.

For this point on, we need to work on membership issues and promotional tools.

By the way, I live in the Village in NYC, so I may see around..

All the best,

Beatriz Marinello

Would you care to enlighten us as to what has been blown out of proportion by anybody with regards to you personally endorsing Natrol as the President of the USCF? It is you who made this mess, not anyone else.

You seem to think that because you have helped the USCF to start righting the ship, that any extremely poor actions on your part should be overlooked. I am sure Nixon felt the same way about his presidency.

Mr. or Madam:

I will be glad to answer any question, specially to you. Since after reading your postings on this topic you seem to be politically savvy or motivated. However, I would much prefer to reply to a person by his or her name. Could you please identify yourself and tell us if you are a USCF member?

Thank you,

Beatriz Marinello

Mr. or Madam:

I will be glad to answer any question, specially to you since after reading your postings on this topic you seem to be politically savvy or motivated. However, I would much prefer to reply to a person by his or her name. Could you please identify yourself and tell us if you are a USCF member?

Thank you,

Beatriz Marinello

My name is Jerry Snitselaar. I am a USCF member.
As I have said elsewhere I don't know Schultz, Goichberg or any of the Candidates for that matter. If they are using this incident for their political advantage that is their deal, but there are many members who are very upset about the Natrol deal and it has absolutely nothing to do with the election other than they happen to be occuring in the same time frame.

I understand that you have done many good things for chess and things have been turning around as of late at the USCF. It sounds though like you are saying that because of good things you have done that people should just stop complaining about the Natrol deal.

As for USCF politics and this election I personally think that politics have run the USCF into the ground. Both sides are always busy attacking the other instead of worrying about how to promote chess in this country. If it was up to me all the usual suspects would get dumped
(candidates and board members) and start fresh. There is too much bad blood for anything productive to get done. You could walk away for 5 years then come back and the same arguments will be going on, most likely amongst the same people. It is ridiculous.

Jerry--

I agree with you that Beatriz would have been better served had she admitted her error on the Natrol endorsement sooner. A late admission is still better than no admission.

>

I know the feeling. But I really do think that a significant % of the bad karma in USCF (certainly not all of it--chess players are naturally argumentative) can be attributed to a couple folks. (Some of them have made a habit of discussing Beatriz's sexual life.)

Whence my quixotic preemption campaign on rgcp--the people who are always saying "let's you and him fight" are the real problem. More precisely, the real problem is that too many serious people give credence to these losers who have nothing constructive to offer.

I have friendly relations with both Bill G. and Beatriz, and trust both of them to act in the best interests of USCF. There are many good people supporting both slates.... Elections have winners and losers: this is natural. After the election, the winners and losers should work together for the common good of USCF.

Dear Mr. Snitselaar:

In your first posting, you pointed out that I introduced a motion to remove the Secretary from this position. This action did not have any connection with Natrol, my motion was based on the fact that the former Secretary Don Schulz (Don resigned as Secretary) was in charge of making decisions in connection with the election as well as acting as campaign manager for one the candidates running for a position in the Executive Board.

The deal with Natrol was my mistake, I accept this and I am sorry for it. Toni Speyer, Vice President of Marketing for Natrol mentioned the following in his statement: "First, brainSpeed is not a drug, it is a nutritional supplement. Just as there are nutritional supplements (e.g. vitamins) for the body, brainSpeed is a nutritional supplement for the brain. Not only was this product developed based on solid scientific research and safety studies, it even offers consumers an on-line test so they can see for themselves if it works. Second, Natrol is a 25 year old health and wellness company and is known for the integrity of its formulas as well as its "A" rating for Good Manufacturing Practices by the National Nutritional Foods Association." What was misleading was the aggressive way how this company is marketing this product. People can buy this product over the counter in any vitamin stores across the nation.

In any case, we cancel any future agreements with this company.

This is the election season people will say anything to discredit and advance their personal agendas. I agree with you, the politics of this organization are awful. However, the USCF is on the right track financially and operational.

If you think that all members of the Executive Board and candidates should resign, what do you propose as an alternative for the decision and policy making process?

From the outside you view the situation as a warfare, but from the inside its quite different. The only analogy that I can think of as attorneys facing each other in a difficult court case, and then after court going out for coffee or being friends in a social setting. Please do not lose faith in the organization, chess will prevail and no matter who is elected we make sure that the USCF will continue existing for future generations.

All the best,

Beatriz Marinello

Oops--I used angle brackets for quotation marks in my post above, which seems to have garbled the HTML. Reposted with the qtn.

*********

Jerry--

I agree with you that Beatriz would have been better served had she admitted her error on the Natrol endorsement sooner. A late admission is still better than no admission.

"There is too much bad blood for anything productive to get done. You could walk away for 5 years then come back and the same arguments will be going on, most likely amongst the same people. It is ridiculous."

I know the feeling. But I really do think that a significant % of the bad karma in USCF (certainly not all of it--chess players are naturally argumentative) can be attributed to a couple folks. (Some of them have made a habit of discussing Beatriz's sexual life.)

Whence my quixotic preemption campaign on rgcp--the people who are always saying "let's you and him fight" are the real problem. More precisely, the real problem is that too many serious people give credence to these losers who have nothing constructive to offer.

I have friendly relations with both Bill G. and Beatriz, and trust both of them to act in the best interests of USCF. There are many good people supporting both slates.... Elections have winners and losers: this is natural. After the election, the winners and losers should work together for the common good of USCF.

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was off across town having dinner.

Nutritional supplements aren't really much better than drugs. The nutricutical industry is not regulated and the fact remains it is a performance enhancing supplement. When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing Mantle's single season home run record there was a big stink about the image McGwire was presenting to kids because of a legal supplement he used.

I am glad that it has been admitted that it was wrong, and I am glad that you are now taking time to speak about it. Before all that was being heard was whatever the other side was saying.

I understand there were other issues involved in
your motion against Schultz. My question is why did it happen to come just one day after his motion about Natrol? Surely those things were known prior to that day. I don't really want to jump into the fight between you and Don over the election, but it sounds like both sides have explaining to do. There are accusations that you used official letterhead to send letters endorsing candidates for the election while serving as COO and President. The counter claim is Don was not acting properly/impartialy in his role as Secretary in dealing with the election.

One question I do have is did Elizabeth object to the motion about Natrol? If yes, why did she do so? It has been stated elsewhere that she was vigorously defending the deal at the National Open.

There is nothing wrong with the USCF process and it should continue. I also didn't say everyone should go. I said the usual suspects. There are people who are not at the core of this. That was said out of pure frustration that this organization never seems to learn and yet is supposedly composed of bright people. Even if that did happen though, there would always be another fight between another group of people so I don't really care I guess. It has been going on in some form since the first time I joined the USCF, and it probably always will. It would be nice if our house was in order then maybe, miracle of miracles, FIDE could get fixed.

Roger Maris - Not Mickey Mantle :)

IM Ben Finegold