Letter to the President of the US Chess Federation

I'd like to thank everyone for the outpouring of support.  We have exceeded 400 signatures in the first 48 hours, which I think is an impressive start to this campaign.  I'd encourage everyone to continue circulating the petition and write articles about the situation for your local chess club's webpage.

This morning I sent the following letter to the President of the US Chess Federation, bringing this petition and your voices to his attention:

Mr. Priest,

I want to bring to your attention that a petition has been started to ask the US Chess Federation to reverse its recent rule change banning electronic scoresheets for general use at national scholastic tournaments.  This petition has received 431 signatures in only the first 48 hours and is still growing.  These are 431 members of the chess community in the United States who have previously quietly gone about their business in the playing halls, and as a result have had their voices  drowned out by louder and less informed members of the community.  These are 431 members of the chess community who were not given proper consideration when the decision was made to placate a relatively few unpleasant objections.

The USCF national scholastic ban has also been cited by other organizations, such as the Continental Chess Association, who have banned specific devices (ChessNoteR) despite their USCF certification.   This rule is taking chess backward instead of forward.  Allowing some or all of these devices to be banned is not the solution to the problem. 

New technology always results in some disruption when introduced to an established system.  While these devices have been around and used without contributing to a single instance of cheating for many years, I believe that the improved quality of some of the most recent devices has increased their use to a point that is now causing this friction.  This is an inflection point at which we have the opportunity to embrace a solution to one of most frustrating and long-standing hurdles for young children in competitive chess, written notation.  We would call on the USCF to take the lead and actually promote these devices instead of banning them.  As an organization you can educate the member-base, promote the use of new technology that improves the game, and explicitly authorize its use in all USCF-rated events just as you set all standards for equipment in the same.  Once the use of electronic notation becomes sufficiently common, the complaints should decrease as more people become familiar with the existence, benefit, and limitations.  While these complaints may never go away completely, they may be reduced to the frequency of similar objections such as why a child had to move a piece he touched or why she lost when her clock flagged even though she was ahead material.  I've heard that last one in the last year, yet we still use clocks.

While I know that there are many people who also have a dogmatic attachment to written notation, I can attest that learning board geography is an independent skill from manual handwriting under a time constraint.  I know a 7 year old ChessNoteR user who is a quite competent blindfold player.  He can receive and deliver his moves audibly using algebraic notation even without a board in front of him.  Yet, this does not help him form letters on paper nor does forming the letters on paper under great effort with limited legibility help him to be any more familiar with the board.  The most recent issue of Chess Life went to some effort to extol the training benefits of recording tournament games.  I agree.  The reality, however, is that for many children their written scoresheets are useless for all of those purposes.  The electronic scoresheets, contrary to being a problem, are the best way to actually achieve those benefits.

Every tournament that goes by under the electronic scoresheet ban will result in players and families being irreparably harmed as a result of losing an accurate and legible record of games with great sentimental and educational value.  Therefore I, and everyone else who has been affected by this decision urge you to take immediate action to reverse this ban and allow kids who depend on these devices, some of whom may have yet-to-be diagnosed disabilities, to benefit from the current innovations in modern technology. 

I am open to discussing this matter further if necessary. In the meantime, please view our petition and the comments of those impacted here:  Petition to allow electronic notation
I've selected some comments to include in this email below my signature.

Regards,

Mike Robbins

"The response to lack of awareness to something progressive is to increase awareness and not discontinue doing it. USCF actions appear reactionary rather than thoughtful and will likely hurt many many young chess players." -Rick Aggarwal

"I was on the Ethics Committee for a year. If the intent of this rule was to prevent electronic cheating with these devices, it's a non-issue. There was not one single case nationwide of cheating with an electronic notation device. Many young children need this aid." -Christina Schweiss

"The ChessNoter is so helpful for being able to analyze games afterwards and therefore grow as a player, especially for the younger kids who are unable to notate accurately and completely. It is a great teaching tool and I hope it will be allowed again." -Laura Schiff

"While algebraic notation is an important skill to learn, in the 21st century we must have a paperless option. USCF should be encouraging digital scorekeeping, as it can greatly improve game data collection, sharing, and analysis. Cheating can be detected with a system like that developed by Ken Regan. It can also be curtailed by having TDs walk the tournament hall instead of disappering to who-knows-where, as they too often do." -Carl Lumma