LaughingVulcan's Chess Blog

Become a member of the United States Chess Federation! This one may or may not be optional, depending on your chess goals.

For 70 years the USCF has been the recognized governing body for chess in the United States. If you’re planning on playing in rated tournaments, membership is an essential. The same if you want to obtain an over-the-board rating (which one obtains by tournament play.)

(In full disclosure, there is at least one other rating service out there. However, I would suggest that the USCF rating has more legitimacy for various reasons. But it is not worth going into in this post.)

Also, it has been possible to get a ‘tournament membership’ which essentially means you get rated for that event, or are a member only for that tournament. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if that program is still in effect or not beyond 3rd Graders. I’d advocate joining USCF anyway.

Persons who have read some of my back posts will know that I only just recently started to obtain my ratings, yet I have been a USCF member on-and-off for over a decade. So let’s talk about some of the other reasons one would want to be a USCF Member.

* The USCF’s magazines.

Chess Life

and

Chess Life For Kids

. Both are fine publications. A “premium membership” will give you a paper copy of one of them. Both are accessible online for members. (And, I do have to say, I get things out of reading the Kids version myself in addition to the regular version.)

* Chess Life Online. Articles not published in the print/online print versions. Well written and timely articles.

* Access to the USCF Forums. Sometimes boring, sometimes over-dramatic, many arguments about how it’s run, blah blah blah. But still, a very good structured environment to discuss Chess itself, rules, tournaments, and issues affecting the USCF. It is also an interesting way to meet other chessplayers from around the U.S. outside the playing environment.

* The opportunity to eventually enter international play.

* Correspondence chess activities and the Golden Knights tournament, recognized as the U.S. Correspondence Championship.

* Membership in the USCF is a commitment to chess, and supports the continued awareness and growth of Chess in the United States.

With posts in this series I talk about prices. For the USCF, prices are variable depending on age and length of membership purchased. I’ll mention in passing the adult rates are $42 / year for membership with print copy of one magazine and $34 for online-only magazine access. There are discount rates for subscribing online, and for multiple family members in one household there are discounted family memberships.

(If this post has inspired you to join the Federation, I would appreciate your crediting the Twin Cities Chess Club with the membership. When it asks you for an affiliate credit number or affiliate recognition program ID, use A5010357. This costs you nothing and gives the credit to the club I’m a member of – I get nothing out of your doing that.)

You can certainly go your chessplaying life without being a USCF member. But getting involved and being a member is an integral part of enjoying my chess, and I would hope that joining helps you to

Enjoy your chess!

Are you tired of having to hand write every single move you make on the chessboard?

Are you ready for something different? Wouldn’t you love to just slide pieces around the way you would on an Internet game to record your games?

Love technology and gadgets? Have a bit over $350.00 of disposable income you’re not using?

You may then want a MonRoi.

The MonRoi PCM (Personal Chess Manager) is sort of a mini-database for your games, as well as replacing the function of a score sheet. It looks like a PDA – it essentially is a specialized PDA.

I’ll give it props for the following: It’s about as easy to use as a PDA is. It allows you to make moves graphically, while converting that to move text. It’s easy enough to transfer the results to your actual database. (Databases will still be discussed in a Tools of the Trade yet to come.) Some large tournaments allow wireless transmission of the score sheet to the organizer. It is a USCF-approved scorekeeping device, and has been used at some FIDE tournaments.

Why would anyone not want a MonRoi?

In full disclosure: I have seen them used, got to inspect one close up. I have not used one.

But I’ll take a stab at why one wouldn’t want one: There is no greater accuracy guarantee using a MonRoi than writing on paper. (At least in Tournament recording mode – the USCF mandates that there is no ‘move legality check’ as part of its standards for electronic score sheets.) While it might be easier to see a problem comparing the visual MonRoi board to the actual board, there is no guarantee you will until you’ve still got a mess to be untangled.

As far as I can tell, the batteries are *not* user-replaceable. I could be wrong about that one, though. But if I’m right, that means every 1 to 3 years or so having to send it in for service. And it would not surprise me that this is true for anti-tamper purposes as well.

The eternal nay-say against PDA’s in general: Paper. Don’t. Break. I have yet to own a PDA device (and I’ve owned at least 3, going back to the Apple Newton,) that doesn’t eventually develop screen/stylus recognition problems. It’s part of the joy of touchscreens.

If you’re just learning the game, it is actually best you learn notation by hand before allowing a machine to do it for you. Even when you make notation mistakes, that can reveal errors in how you’re visualizing the board (as Lev Alburt has said, Chess Life, October 2009.)

Finally, for the money, there are cheaper or more multifunctional alternatives. Sevan Muradian’s NACA (North American Chess Association) has had a PDA program for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices called eNotate. For $25 you get the program. For $150 they’ll include a PDA capable of running it. (Note: When I tried accessing the link to it tonight as part of this entry, apparently that section is either undergoing maintenance or they no longer offer it. I’ll edit this post as soon as I know which.) I’ve talked to Sevan. eNotate is in fact available still, and he is simply upgrading his website as of this writing. eNotate, if you don’t buy it with PDA, does require a Windows 5/6 PDA but cannot run on a smartphone. (Security concerns, I gather.)

And, if you’re just looking for a casual non-tournament way to record… I use a Palm T|X and Chess Tiger 15 for Palm. I thus have a chessplaying computer, a way to record my casual games and sync them to PC, as well as a fully functional Palm Pilot. Sadly, the people at Palm have now apparently decided to abandon the Z99/T|X/Garnet OS in favor of their smartphones.

Editorial comment: Some of us actually *LIKE* having our phone and PDA separate. Not everybody wants a smartphone.

In the more expensive category: A Bluetooth DGT electronic chessboard, linked to a laptop on an AC charger. (Review on the DGT board still coming. Note to DGT: I will happily accept a demonstration unit for review – especially if I get to keep it. ) However, I’m not sure if it’s 100% legal to use in tournament play.

It may sound like I’m saying don’t buy a MonRoi. Not at all. It’s a very good device at what it does. If I had $350 lying around, I’d buy it. But since I already own a Palm T|X (which I’m typing this on,) it just doesn’t meet what I’m looking for. And I do scratch my head when I see 1st-3rd graders whose parents have bought them MonRois for use at scholastic tournaments. But, whether you decide it is useful and buy it or not, choose the route that helps you the most to

Enjoy your Chess!