Questions from USCF to ICC (received by fax 5/2)

The following questions were received by fax from USCF on May 2nd, and
transcribed by ICC:

1 May 2001

Dr. Danny Sleator
Internet Chess Club

Fax:  412-422-1164

Dear Danny:

It was a pleasure seeing you in person this past weekend.  I've always
enjoyed my time time with John Fernandez, and it was finally good to meet
you.

I want to forward to you the consensus of the Executive Board with regard
to the presentation made this weekend.  Basically, our Board is very
interested in your proposal, but we have little performance experience to
go on.  The presentation hit everyone by surprise.   And, thus, I have a
few questions.

1.   Will World Class Games (WCG) be with you in the long run - are we
signing with WCG or ICC, or both?  Give me the exact status of your
agreement.  Can I have a copy?  What gets signed (or agreed to ) in July
2001?

2.   What are the exact statuses of Mark James, Hal Bogner, Sandy Jackson
and Dave Wasdahl?  Are they paid personnel of ICC or WCG (or both)?

3.   You note "Management Historically Worked Part-Time" (slide #8).
How/who do you envision working full-time?  ICC, WCG, or both?

4.   How many of ICC members are USCF members?  How much income is that?
How would WCG/ICC manage if all of these were converted to free
memberships?

5.   If USCF is mainly interested in "rated" tournament play, and ICC is
mainly interested n "casual" play, explain how there is a match?  Will
"rated" play be organized secondarily, and "casual" play be the primary
focus?

6.   Assuming that ICC has 26,000 members, and that half of these, say
13,000, are USCF members, how will ICC respond/react to their dues
becoming free from the outset?  (That's 13,000 x $37.50 or $500K at risk.)

7.   According to the agreement, it will allow "USCF" paid members to
play online chess for free" and we (USCF) "would provide administration
and user support."  What does that mean?  And, will it be "up and running
in less than 60 days"

8.   Sponsorship of Events - nothing is defined here, except "at a later
date."  As we are very interested, please provide exact details.

9.   The agreement says, "irregardless of whether our bid is ultimately
accepted, in exchange for giving us the opportunity to pursue these
discussions, the ICC will offer the USCF assistance in solving the
tournament rating issue."  We greatly appreciate this, and look forward
to working with you, as tournament ratings are a critical need at this
time.

10.  "ICC commits to provide, at no cost, a branded USCF chess site until
November, 2001" - - I thought the proposal was to provide such a site for
free all the time?

11.  Please provide any shared revenue plans, e.g., what are they, how
much will we each get, how do we ensure that the site is "looked after"?

12.  What would be the chain of events for a transfer from an existing
on-line service to an ICC on-line service, e.g., a)we'd have to send an
e-mail message to all users, b) they would have to register for ICC, c)
what if they were already a member of ICC and asked for their money back,
etc.

13.  Is the WCG arrangement written and signed, or does it depend upon
the USCF agreement?

14.  Would ICC be interested in such an agreement in the future?

In order that we will consider your full proposal, it is vital that we
receive it by Tuesday, 8 May 2001.  I look forward to your response.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

George L. De Feis
Executive Director & CEO


ChessNews.org homepage

Open Letter to USCF re: ICC, by Hal Bogner

ICC-USCF proposal letter of May 8

Initial "Letter of Understanding" from ICC, 4/29