ISSUE
2004.3
CalChess President’s Letter
PAGE
6
Dear CalChess Members,
This letter will try to respond to the many questions from you on the troubled situation created by Richard Peterson at the end of August and since. Because the matter is now in litigation, on counsel advice, we cannot commit to
answer all questions at once, as we would like. We will try to keep you informed by future newsletters, as appropriate.
Most of you are aware of the unfounded charges made by Mr. Peterson against me and the other directors, once he
found out in mid-August that he was ineligible to run for the Board of Directors. As most of you know, he was then
Treasurer and withdrew virtually our entire bank account (just under $26,000). He now claims he has given this to
an un-named committee to use in some unspecified manner. All this was of course unauthorized, and in violation of
2-signature rules he himself had agreed to. This misconduct has prevented publication of the California Chess
Journal, as he must have known. He then claimed that CalChess was "defunct" and no longer existed, and that he
planned to start a new organization using the CalChess name. In doing so, and in making his various false
charges, Peterson violated the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in law in any contract, and thus
voided any agreement he previously had with CalChess as to the 2005 scholastic tournament. Cal Chess has therefore withdrawn any sponsorship of this event. Peterson claims it will be held anyway.
We were forced to engage counsel, to seek to protect our rights. Neil Falconer, an attorney and longtime Bay Area
chess player, and his firm (Piper Rudnick) are representing us.
The official CalChess Scholastic State Championships tournament will be held in San Francisco in the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason on May 6, 7, and 8, 2005. It appears there are some four other tournament directors claiming
to run "State Championships" scholastic tournaments in 2005. We remind you that CalChess is the official State
affiliate of the USCF for Northern California, and we believe the only entity entitled to award official State championship titles. Our board members are all volunteers, democratically elected at the annual meeting. The profits, if
any, of this tournament will not go to any individual, but to CalChess.
We have received a great deal of support from people in the chess community, all of which help us get back on our
feet. However, by reason of Peterson's gross misconduct we were left with virtually no money. We decided nonetheless that it was incumbent upon us to hold our 2005 Scholastic Chess State Championships; that it had to be on a
date other than a date that conflicted with other large tournaments and that we had to do it with the faith that the
chess community would help us out financially. Please show us that our faith was well placed.
We have had for many years now, a CalChess Patron Program in which we ask interested parties who wish to support the quality and growth of chess in Northern California to participate. For $100 or more you can be a "Gold Patron" and have your name published in our magazine, which will become an emagazine starting in time for the
holidays. There is no more opportune time to become a Patron. Please send contributions to our treasurer, Richard
Koepcke at CalChess, c/o Richard Koepcke, P.O. Box 1432 Mountain View, CA 94042.
Another way in which you can help get us over this lean time is to renew your membership, whether it is due now
or not. You should send your renewal check to CalChess P.O. Box 136, Berkeley, CA 94701. The rates are:
Scholastic: $10.00: Family: $17.00: Adult: $12.00
And of course if you are in school, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, please play in our tournament. With Peterson out of the picture, we hope this will be our best tournament ever and that the fog of misconduct and false accusations will by then have dissipated. .
Thank you.
Elizabeth Shaughnessy,
President, CalChess.