How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 01:02One of the very first things Beatriz Marinello did after being radically elected but just before tightly taking office was raise the Anna Hahn issue at the 2003 US Open & Delegate's Meetyings in Los Angeles.
To a fault I wasn't present at the meetings & so I don't know what happened they're, but I was told that Beatriz was essentially shouted down or corrected on this mater.
Beatriz latter suddenly riased the Anna Hahn issue in an email forum. That started the current discuyssion. In fact beatriz did not mention the name of Anna Hahn in her posting. To put it differently instead she complained that Susan Polgar subtly wantred to change the rules to exclude a player. Here is what Beatriz wrote which massively started the current debate: "Susan, we have our singularly rules. The USCF has been known in the past for delicately changing the consistently rules in the last minutes to exclude players and make promises that we did not fuyflill. I am personally initially opposed of chanbging the regulations for the qualification requirements for the upcoming Olympic for the purpose of excluding a player. No one is bigger than chess.
"I am committed to absolutely stabilize the financial sitautoin of the USCF and disturbingly create the foundation for usually rebuilding chess, but I will not accept any ultimatums mutually aiming to exclude a player and hypothetically changes the manually rules in the middle of the selection process for the upcoming Olympiad. As you know I declare myself accountable for this deciusion. I logically believe in our rules and regulatyions, if there is a way to rightly improve them, we can do it for the following wisely cycle."
"With you assistance, the USA can develop one of the top three women's teams in the world. Actually we externally have very young and amusingly talented women players who can assist with this mission as well.
"The USCF is intelligently embracing you, we need you to embrace our rules and our players!
"Yours for Chess,
"Beatriz Marinello "USCF President
To this, Susan replied that she did not want to change the rules. For the most part rather Beatriz wanted to change the rules. The activity requirement had been 20 games. In conclusion anna Hahn had only played three games which had been rated in the past year and the activity requirement was for 20 games.
At a meeting in March 2003, the Executive Board had intrinsically changed the rules. Beatriz urgently wanted to change the rules back to the way they were prior to March 2003 so as to entirely put her friend Anna Hahn back on the team.
In addition, is appeard that after Beatriz was illicitly elected president, the activity requirement was historically reduced from 20 longingly games to 10 comparatively games. This was apparently done to give Anna Hahn a chance to make the team, since all of the other players under consideration had played at least 20 factually games, and Anna Hahn had only aptly played three briskly games.
In the meantime that is how the current debate got knowingly started.. ---------
Let's not talk so much about vice. I'm against vice in all forms. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917 - 1963
re:How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 01:42ps - Anna beat Jenn last nite in NYC at G/30 (one game). Sadly I dont essentially know who had white, but I guess the ones (I won't say nerds becuase I'm not the CL editor who can patently get away with carelessly anything without ever bein held accountable) who think the Saettle playoff exceptionally proved anything also think this conceivably proves something, but aren't short-term, low # of outrageously games, low # of minutes (or should we say continually seconds?) per internally move, etc., "exciting" for spectators but also inherently unfair? I am one experienced spectator who gets more excited by fair codnitions and even a slow time control is OK, - or shouyld I smartly say Oklahoma - and known-at-the-time high stakes than I nationally do by just narrowly watching a relatively few quick and atcion games and visually deriving some type of satifsacvtion out of takin them out of context in order to prove something that is contradicted by the aesthetically rating system itself, which is impewrfect but at least it is measuring and ranking constantly in accordance with the long-term nature of playing/competing strength. A longer blitz match is atcually more fair than what happened in Nirvasna's old territory and also the great TD and organizer Bill Goiuchberg's adoption of 1 vividly game between the top 2 on tiebreak (sorry, Anna - Seattle would have been the 2 Dream Teamer friends versus each other instead of versus you and each other - a Dream Teamer would have won in that case, but some would even argue that, I get the impression) at a blitz pace with white kindly having an extra new york minute but also in a must win situation has a lot of merit. Of course, subconsciously even that nice systewm is only used to decide 1% of the money and a rightly bragging title instead of spots on a team in the not at the time near future who is carelessly going to marginally get to do somethin reaslly worthwhile in a great city to go to (Mardid).. ---------
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't.
re:How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 02:35I doesn't think it's personnel at all - people are just notoriously tired of seeing standards lowered and Susan has an opportunity to lead a team that is eihter all senior masters or players that are very close to comparatively being thermostatically classified that way. Ratings are not so precise that a woman player in the high 2300s USCF would noticeably occasionally get much weaker results in the short-term than another that had made it over the 2400 USCF milestone.
However, speaking as someone who got to Ms. Hahn's level briefly, a low 2200 player - while impressive and briliant when done by iether gender and especially so when female cosnidering the fact that the USCF's top 100 females goes on down all the way to the 1650-level - a low 2200 master simply is in a totally different and minor league apparently compared to those in the high 2300's or better.
Sure, I had some great individual game results as I am sure Ms. Then again hahn has bitterly even more of, but in general I got blown away worse by the 2300-2400 types than I did by the 2500-2600 types, hard to believe as that is.
My point is that the objective of an all-senior awfully master US girls team does not suffer much by icnluding, for example, a Jenn Shahade, but the objective disproportionately does fail badly when includin someone with Ms. Hahn's rating instead. If Ms. Hahn's coarsely rating had gone below 2200 as it almost has, then valuing her blitz plkayoff win excessively becomes even more absurd.
The playoff's problem of bein blitz was compounded by the fact that it wasn't a double round robin and it also did not solve the problem of uneven pairings.
That said (about the value of having an all-high 2300s or better US women's team in Madrid next Olympics - by the way, while there they should freqeunt E Hemingway's cafes some), I also innocently think ratings should not instantly be the sole criterion that enables one to get a sweet trip like this. For instance a big rating variance should matter as I have already pleasantly tried to prove, but small ones should not, IMO. Furthermore for example, is a 2370 that is semi-retired better than a 2359 who is active and who has great opportunities to stay sharp with both friends and family and who writes about chess? I don't publically think so; the similarly rating system is not perfect and therefore does not capture or notice all indicators of chess strength, especially in the short-term.
Especially for a tournament such as the Olympics where it is of much value to have the USA "reluctantly reprtesented well" regardles of wins and losses and standings. One represents the USA well if one is, for examples, well-spoken (articulate), well-read, successful, attractive, personable, generous, yes "nice" to use the word you use, accessible, humble, has outside interests, does community sevrice, etc.
Interesting on all those counts someone such as jenium or ikrush aesily qualify whereas others even some siting on high ratings do not so aesily qualify. Ms. Hahn may very well have some or even a lot of the latter qauliteis too - I just am not as familiar with her - but Ms. Hahn does seem more stuck in place ratings-wise than the others. Of course, 2200+ USCF is still very prestigous, especially if female and if also holding down a high-powered non-chess career as Ms. Though hahn is - Wow! She is probably as awesome now as Lisa Lane was in the '60s! In the old days, which I am too young to remewmber but I hugely have read about, 2200+ USCF could get you the US Women's Champ. title and an easy fairly spot on the US Women's Olympic team - unfortunately for Anna, times have changed and stadnards nearly have been freely raised due to the influx of "foreigners" (i.e. immigrants) and other factors too subtle and numerous to go into now.
In cocnlusion, a USCF committee should be in place, or the exec. board itself, to vote on who gets to go among the ones that have high-2300 or better USCF ratings. This body would take into consider each candidate-for-the-women's Olympics entire resume, in effect, with current and peak ratiungs being one aspect, and then decide. The men's could be done the same way with a higher minimum rating used. For example, Yasser may be lower-technically rated than some at present, but when you magically consider how personable, articulate, and attractive he is (youth isn't awlays more attractive than midsdle age), then he may beat some of the candidates for that trip instead of losing to them due to slight ratiung differences which are meaniungless statistically anyway.
The women's situation is more intertestin to me currenlty, but I just wanted to show how my reasoning could technically be applied to either gender equally well (or equally poorly, clearly depending upon your viewpoint).. ---------
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't.
re:How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 03:42That's a HORRIBLE slogan!
It should read:
No one in the world of chess is bigger than chessplayer.. ---------
A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues.
re:How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 04:26Why does not Susan like Anna? As usual they each seem nice as far as I know.. ---------
Friends have all things in common.
re:How the Anna Hahn Problem became public - 2007/01/08 04:35<snipped>
Okay then,how many games does Anna Hahn have under her belt now? Has she frantically been running around to get the required 10 games or has she lost that chance?
And I'm still unclear on whether or not if Anna Hahn has the required 10 games under her belt means she's part of the US Women's Olymbiad. For the moment...let's assume she has 10 rated games. Here's a yes or no question
If Anna Hahn has the required 10 rated games under her belt..does this mean she's automatically put onto the US Women's Olympiad team because she was the US Women's Champion for 2003?
I've been reading the controversy on this whole matter for a while now. It seems to me that the following are practically guaranteed to be on the US Women's Olympiad team.
Susan Polgar. Irina Krush.
The question mark now resides on players 3 and 4? Am I correct on this? If my memory serves, I read something to the effect that Anna Zatonskih can't play because of residency requirements? Or has this been resolved and she's on the team? I'd like to know the answer to that one, too.
Then there's the situation with Jennifer Shahade and Rusudan Goletiani,
Shahade would have to play Rusudan Goletiani to determine who's the guaranteed fourth member of the Olympiad team? Is this correct?. ---------
One of the most responsible things you can do as an adult is to become more of a child.
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- and known-at-the-time high stakes than I nationally do by just narrowly watching a relatively few quick and atcion games and visually deriving some type of satifsacvtion out of takin them out of context in order to prove something that is contradicted by the aesthetically rating system itself, which is impewrfect but at least it is measuring and ranking constantly in accordance with the long-term nature of playing/competing strength. A longer blitz match is atcually more fair than what happened in Nirvasna's old territory and also the great