By Chairman Harold J. Winston
Hall of Fame Pic (From Left: Al Lawrence, GM Joel Benjamin, Trust Chairman, Harold Winston)
Your contributions to the Trust benefit American chess in many ways. The U.S. Chess Trust supports chess nationwide and is a federally tax exempt 501(c)(3) Massachusetts Trust included in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).
New U.S. Chess Trust Trustee, Rex Sinquefield
We welcome Rex Sinquefield as a new trustee: he is a dynamic force for chess in St. Louis, which has held many national events recently. We appreciate all the contributions Shane Samole made over the years as Trust President (our number two position); he is now President Emeritus.
The big news in 2011 is that thanks to the generous support of Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield, the World Chess Hall of Fame and Sidney Samole Museum will reopen in St. Louis in September. The public opening date is September 9, 2011; there will be a private VIP opening the night before. I visited St. Louis in the fall to discuss plans with Rex and his associates and I expect to visit again this July.
I thank Shane Samole, his family, Al Lawrence and all others who helped in Miami for all the work done in running the museum there from 2001 through 2009 and also the late Sid Samole for initiating the plans for an extensive museum to showcase chess.
Our thanks to Booz Allen Hamilton for their continued enthusiastic support for the Collegiate Final Four event and for the Armed Forces Championship and to Mike Hoffpauir of the Virginia Chess Federation (VCF) and USCF College Chess Chairman Jim Stallings for keeping that donation continuing.
The Trust is proud of the recent successes of U.S. players in the World Youth, as the Trust has for many years supported American players in that event.
The Trust was pleased to support the North American Youth Championship organized by Trustee Beatriz Marinello.
2011 North American Youth - Winners!
Earlier the Trust had hoped to support a USA-Iran Youth Match but a series of unexpected events made that not possible.
FIDE Vice President and USCT Trustee, Beatriz Marinello (left) and Jorge Vega, Continental President (right)
Trustee Beatriz Marinello worked long and hard to make the Iran match work, with the help of Trust President Jim Eade.
This year the Trust is supporting a new event: the Dewain Barber K-8 Tournament of Champions, which was authorized by the USCF Delegates at the 2010 meeting. This will be held at the same time as the Denker tournament and also include players representing states around the nation.
The Trust is proud that our Scholar Chessplayer Program, aided by the generous assistance of Scholastic Vice President Sunil Weeramantry and his National Scholastic Chess Foundation, awarded five $1,500 college scholarships for a total of $7,500, based on both academic and chess achievement. Our goal continues to be to obtain a corporate sponsor. The Scholastic Council, who serve on our advisory board, are a key part of this award program.
Sunil announced the 2011 winners at the National High School in Nashville, Tennesssee: Chaz Daly (FL), Andrew Ng (NJ), Eigen Wang (NY), Kevin Zhang (AZ), and Andrew Shvartsman (NJ).
Our own website, www.uschesstrust.org, has stayed current thanks to webmaster, Dora Leticia, and our web editor, Beatriz Marinello. We have continued our online newsletter, which highlights the Trust’s activities.
I thank Beatriz and Dora for their hard work and also Jim Eade, Chairman of the Trust Website Committee. Online donations to the Trust can be made at www.uschesstrust.org. Our finances are open to the public.
The Chess Trust supports school and junior chess nationwide, by donating chess sets and boards to schools, providing some free USCF memberships to needy students, and by backing American participants in recognized international junior and youth competitions.
2011 Texas Tech U Final Four Winners
The Trust also contributes to the Collegiate “Final Four” and the College Tournament of Champions, as well as the Olympiad and the U.S. Blind Championship.
2010 Denker Group
With the generous assistance of the Denker family, now from Trustee Mitchell Denker, the Trust supports the Arnold S. Denker Tournament of High School Champions. We continue to send chess sets to Americans serving in our armed forces abroad, with the help of USCF, and to cooperate with the Sets for Vets program of the New Jersey State Chess Federation (NJSCF).
All Trustees serve without compensation. Last summer I represented the Trust at the opening ceremony for the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in Irvine, California and participated in awarding the Denker prizes at the closing ceremony. In December, I visited the Pan American Intercollegiate in Milwaukee to discuss the work of the Trust.
Alex Lenderman, Samford Fellowship Winner
Congratulations to our new Samford Fellowship winner, Aleksandr Lenderman of Brooklyn, New York.
The Trust is also pleased to continue to administer the Schein Friedman Scholarship Program, aimed at players ages 7-17.
Trust Chairman Emeritus, Harold Dondis (left) and Trust President, Jim Eade (right)
The Trust continues to benefit from the counsel of our Chairman Emeritus Harold Dondis of Massachusetts and of our President Jim Eade of northern California.
Trust Treasurer, Dr. Leroy Dubeck
Treasurer Leroy Dubeck of New Jersey and our Finance Committee have carefully monitored our investments in a continued difficult economic time. We benefit from the expertise of Jim Oberweis’ investment company.
Trust Managing Director, Barbara DeMaro (left) and Dewain Barber (right)
Our managing director, independent contractor Barbara DeMaro, solicits donations and matching grants, maintains financial records, administers the Samford Fellowship fund, processes requests for chess sets and free memberships and coordinates with our supplier, USCF, and processes donations. Barbara has successfully worked on having our donors remembering to include the Trust in their wills. This is our legacy program and new donors should contact Barbara directly. Our legacy donors include Dr. George Whatley, Stan Weglarski, Deborah Doll and Arnold Denker.
I thank President Jim Eade (N. CA), Chairman Emeritus Harold Dondis (MA), President Emeritus Shane Samole (FL), Treasurer Leroy Dubeck (NJ), Secretary Myron Lieberman (AZ), and all the other trustees and officers: Chess in Education Vice President Tim Redman (TX), Scholastic Vice President Sunil Weeramantry (NY), Steve Doyle (NJ), Mitchell Denker (FL), Mark Fins (MA), Beatriz Marinello (NY), Rex Sinquefield (MO) and Joe Ippolito (NJ) for their help in the past year.
The Trustees represent all sections of our nation.
Our annual meeting is open to the public. Everyone is welcome at the annual Trust meeting on Thursday afternoon August 4, 2011, at 1:00 p.m., at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
To contact the Trust, e-mail our Managing Director Barbara DeMaro at bduscf@aol.com or e-mail me at HJWinston@aol.com.
Donations should be made out to U.S. Chess Trust and can be sent to U.S. Chess Trust, P.O. Box 838, Wallkill, NY 12589, Attention: Barbara DeMaro. I will also collect donations in person at the U.S. Open and at the Delegates meeting. To make sure your full donation goes to the Trust use a check.
Follow Us On