12 August 2007: Links page updated

The links page at this site is updated from time to time. Today the following three links were added: Chess Today, Chess 22 (GM Etienne Bacrot), Mida's chess corner (FM Dario Mione).

10 August 2007: Election Committee Report

The election results were previously report on 1 Aug 2007. Here are the actual vote counts, as recorded by CJA Secretary/Treasurer Randy Hough, as shown on the Elections Committee Report page.

President:

    Jerry Hanken 33
    Ira Lee Riddle (write-in) 14

Vice President:
    Ira Lee Riddle 39
    Daren Dillinger (write-in) 4
    Jerry Hanken (write-in) 1
    J. Franklin Campell (write-in) 1
    Haywood Drutowski (write-in) 1

Secretary/Treasurer:
    Randy Hough 34
    Daren Dillinger 14

9 August 2007: New Membership List

The post-annual meeting membership list is now available. See: Membership List.

9 August 2007: CJA Awards Announcement Delay

My apologies for the delay in publishing the winners of the annual CJA Awards. They will be published on this web site as soon as I obtain the list, possibly by Sunday. Hopefully the final vote counts will also be published at that time. -- Webmaster

4 August 2007: Arlen Walker Resigns as Elections Chair

Arlen Walker informs us that now that he has completed his duties for the election cycle that he is resigning. Our President Jerry Hanken says, "The CJA accepts with regret the resignation of Election Committee Chair Arlen Walker and thanks him for the fine job he has done." Due to a death in the family Arlen Walker was unable to be at the Aug. 1 CJA meeting so he delegated Pete Tamburro a member of his committee to carry out the vote counting. Pete will provide a complete report on the votes in the near future.

1 August 2007: Preliminary Election Results

A preliminary report from the annual meeting today indicates the following election results:
President: Jerry Hanken, VP: Ira Lee Riddle, Sec/Treas: Randall Hough.

When the election committee provides its report on the election more details will be given.

27 July 2007: No Executive Board Meeting prior to Annual Membership Meeting

The CJA President has sent this announcement for posting:

"Please post on the website that there will be no ex Board meeting as at least 2 members of the Board will not be there and The 2 there , besides the VP, if he does show up,( he missed the last 3), have no reason to meet with him." -- CJA Pres., Jerry Hanken

Bylaws Committee Report

Chairman Ira Lee Riddle provides a report containing some initial ideas for proposed changes to the CJA Constitution & Bylaws. See Bylaws Committee Report.

26 July 2007: Appeal for reports from membership meeting

Last year I was able to attend the annual CJA membership meeting in Chicago. This year I will be unable to attend. Strange, but this meeting of journalists is not well covered in chess publications. I would like to publish some firsthand accounts of the meeting on this web site. You can see my report of the 2006 meeting at 2006 Annual Meeting of CJA. You can also read a short account in my APCT column towards the bottom. Of course, the Secretary/Treasurer will later be providing the official minutes, which will be published at this site.

I am pleading for member input. If you attend the meeting please consider sending me a report, from a few sentences to a lengthy and detailed report. Take your digital camera and send me some photos. Send them to me using the contact information at Contact Webmaster. -- Webmaster

26 July 2007: Documents for Annual Meeting

CJA Secretary/Treasurer has distributed the following documents for the August 1, 2007 CJA Annual Meeting.

• Agenda
• President's Message
• Financial Statement
• Budget
• Updated Membership List

24 July 2007: Comments by Vice President Daren Dillinger

At the request of Executive Board member Daren Dillinger, the CJA Vice President, I have posted his statement he has titled "Executive Board Minority Report". See Vice President's Statement. -- Webmaster

18 July 2007: The Chess Journalist issue for June 2007 now on-line

Thanks to our editor John Hillery for providing the June 2007 issue of our journal in PDF format. To read or download this issue go to the The Chess Journalist page and click on the June 2007 link.

Also, our editor has provided the minutes from the 2000 and 2001 annual meetings from old issues of the journal. They have been added to the Annual CJA Meetings page.

11 July 2007: U. S. Open Championship Schedule

Thanks to Glenn Petersen for sending the complete schedule. See: U. S. Open Schedule.

10 July 2007: On-line Membership List updated again

Our CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randy Hough has updated the membership list to reflect all changes due to membership renewals and additions from our awards program entries. See: Membership List.

7 July 2007: Annual CJA Meeting Scheduled

CJA conducts its annual membership meeting each year during the U. S. Open Chess Championship. This year the event will be in Cherry Hill, New Jersey August 1-5, 2007.

I anticipate posting the proposed agenda for the CJA meeting and the annual financial report on this site prior to the meeting. I'm still looking for someone who can send me a report on the meeting with digital photos for a Pictorial Report similar to the 2006 Pictorial Report. Let me know if you can help.

Check the playing site for an announcement of the location of the meeting rooms (there are three meeting rooms required for the USCF schedule, so be sure to find the correct room).

The USCF Delegates Call lists the various news and schedule of USCF meetings. See: http://www.uschess.org/org/govern/2007Call_inside.pdf for full information. The workshop schedule is on the last page (p. 51).

-- J. Franklin Campbell, Contact Webmaster

4 July 2007: On-line Membership List updated

Our CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randy Hough has provided the updated membership list. For the current membership list see: Membership List. All changes of address or other changes to the membership list should be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer. This updated list should include all additions/updates for people joining/renewing via Awards Program entries, though it is possible some last-minute entry updates may appear on the next list.

3 July 2007: Ira Lee Riddle Announces Write-in Campaign (CJA President)

CJA Bylaws committee chairman and past president of CJA Dr. Ira Lee Riddle has announced his write-in campaign for President of CJA. You can read his announcement at: http://correspondencechess.com/campbell/announcements/t070703.htm

Ira stated, "Although it is at the last minute, almost literally, I have decided to run a write-in campaign for the CJA Presidency. I am already on the ballot for the Vice-Presidency position; should my write-in campaign succeed, I will withdraw from that position. If the write-in does not succeed, then I will still be a candidate for the V-P position."

26 June 2007: Chief Judge Extends Deadline for Annual Awards Competition

25 June 2007: Entries Received for Annual Awards Competition

The deadline for entries for the annual awards program is approaching (June 30). A new web page has been added listing the entries received so far (non-Internet entries). See Other Entries Received. There may be some overlap between this page and the Internet Entries Received page.

13 June 2007: Nominations posted for Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists

See Nominations received for Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists (2007) for full information.

3 June 2007: Final Nomination posted for Chess Journalist of the Year

Ira Lee Riddle, editor/publisher of the Delaware Chess Newsletter and former President of CJA, has been nominated for Chess Journalist of the Year.

See Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year (2007) for full information.

2 June 2007: Nominations now closed for election of CJA officers

Yesterday was the final day nominations were open for officers in the upcoming CJA election. The June issue of The Chess Journalist will provide information on voting. There is only one contested race. Here is the list of candidates.

      Jerry Hanken, President
      Ira Lee Riddle, Vice President
      Darren Dillinger, Secretary/Treasurer
      Randall Hough, Secretary/Treasurer

See Nominations for CJA Officers (2007) for candidate statements.

31 May 2007: Third Nomination Received for Chess Journalist of the Year

Florida Chess editor Harvey Lerman has been nominated for Chess Journalist of the Year.

See Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year (2007) for full information.

28 May 2007: Second Nomination Received for Chess Journalist of the Year

CJA President Jerry Hanken has been nominated for Chess Journalist of the Year joining previously nominated Dan Heisman. If you wish to nominate additional candidates hurry! Nominations must be received by June 1, 2007. Send nominations (with supporting statement for the web page) to CJA Chief Judge Pete Tamburro, e-mail PTamburro@aol.com.

See Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year (2007) for full information.

26 May 2007: Links Page Updated

The CJA Links page is updated from time to time. The links were all just checked and several new links added. For example, a new web site devoted to high level chess has just been added ... Chessdom.

If a CJA member or webmaster sends a recommendation for a new link it will be reviewed and added if it is appropriate for the CJA web site. We don't do link exchanges, but rather only links deemed appropriate are added. Hopefully, working chess journalists and webmasters will find useful links here. Suggestions should be sent to the CJA webmaster. See Directory.

14 May 2007: On-line Membership List updated

Our CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randy Hough has provided the updated membership list. For the current membership list see: Membership List. All changes of address or other changes to the membership list should be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer. A new feature of the membership list is a set of links to all past membership lists available on-line, starting in December 1999.

8 May 2007: CJA Member Howard Goldowsky Publishes Engaging Pieces

CJA member Howard Goldowsky informs, "My book, Engaging Pieces, a collection of my interviews, fiction, and in-depth reviews from the past six years, goes to the printer this week." Review copies for the book should be available by the beginning of June ... CJA members wishing to review the book should contact Howard. The scheduled release date is June 19. For more see Engaging Pieces book.

4 May 2007: New GM Maxim Dlugy Web Site

GM Maxim Dlugy has announced his new web site and a link is now provided on our links page. On it he speaks of a coming chess league. His site should be interesting to watch as it is further developed. He says, "In the months ahead we'll be providing a lot more information about the new league."

27 April 2007: Chess Bulletins page updated

Russell (Rusty) Miller has provided another update to the page of scans of old chess publications, the Puget Sound Chess News for Sept. 1946 and the Washington Chess Letter for Dec. 1947. Every update won't be announced here, so it is worth checking the Old Chess Bulletin Contest Entries page from time to time.

16 April 2007: On-line Membership List updated

Our CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randy Hough has provided his up to date membership list to bring our on-line membership list right up to date. For the current membership list see: Membership List. All changes of address or other changes to the membership list should be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer.

15 April 2007: The Chess Journalist issue for March 2007 now on-line

Thanks to our editor John Hillery for providing the March 2007 issue of our journal in PDF format. To read or download this issue go to the The Chess Journalist page and click on the March 2007 link.

6 April 2007: CJA Member Challenge ... oldest chess bulletins!

CJA Life Member Pete Tamburro challenges CJA members to submit the oldest state chess bulletins to this web site. Send a scan of interesting old chess bulletins showing the date of publication. Pete has sent in a few entries to start things rolling. Just send your scans to the CJA webmaster.

See: Old Chess Bulletin Contest Entries

Sorry, no prizes, just a little fun.

4 April 2007: More Additions To Links Page

A new link has been added to the Web Sites of CJA Members section for Peter Tamburro's site

Pete Tamburro's Openings for Amateurs Message Board ... just click on "NJSCF Message Board" to get to Pete's site (you must also be registered). Also, Ira Lee Riddle has provided additional links to two teaching sites and one publisher's site.

CJA members are invited to send additional worthy links for the CJA Links page, especially links to their personal web sites. Just send them to the webmaster (see Directory).

3 April 2007: State Chess Association Web Sites Now Listed

Peter Tamburro, CJA Life Member and the 2006 Chess Journalist of the Year, has put together a list of the web sites for all the state chess associations in the USA. This list can be found on our links page under State Sites. Thanks, Pete!

27 March 2007: First Nomination Received for Chess Journalist of the Year

Dan Heisman has been nominated for Chess Journalist of the Year. CJA members are invited to nominate outstanding chess journalists for this annual award. See Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year (2007) for full information.

24 March 2007: Dr. Ira Lee Riddle Resumes Job as Chairman of the Bylaws Committee

Dr. Ira Lee Riddle, who was appointed previously in June 2006 as Chairman of the Bylaws Committee and handled the major revision to the Bylaws during the last year, has agreed to resume this function for CJA. His appointment by the president was approved unanimously by the board. Welcome back, Ira!

10 March 2007: CJA Awards Program

Jerry Hanken, President of the Chess Journalists of America, and Dr. Frank Brady, chair of the Cramer Awards, jointly announce their annual call for material published in print publications or on the Internet. See the full announcement CJA Awards Program. Deadline for submitting material for consideration for awards is June 30, 2007. Items for consideration must in general have been published between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007. The chief judge will be the CJA Awards Committee Chairman Pete Tamburro. The required cover sheets can be downloaded (see links at left).

2 March 2007: Nominations for Chairman of Bylaws Committee Closed

Nominations for the Chairman of Bylaws Committee are closed. Voting by the officers is now underway.

3 February 2007: List of most recent Awards Categories

To assist in the current discussion about modifications to the annual CJA awards categories, a new web page has been created with our most recent list of categories with descriptions. CJA officials are requested to review these categories and submit their suggestions for revision ASAP.

http://www.chessjournalism.org/awards_categories_2006.htm

24 January 2007: Bylaws Committee Chairman Resigns

Dr. Ira Lee Riddle, Chairman of the CJA Bylaws Committee, has resigned. Following is an announcement from the CJA President Jerry Hanken.

"Ira Lee Riddle has resigned his chair of the CJA bylaws committee for personal reasons. The floor is now open for nominations to this post. Please contact Secy.- Treasurer Randy Hough."

For contact information see Directory of Officials.

2 March 2007 note: nominations for Chairman of Bylaws committee are now closed.

12 January 2007: The Chess Journalist issue for Dec 2006 now on-line

The December 2006 issue of our journal is now available for download in PDF format. See The Chess Journalist page and click on the Dec 2006 link. Thanks to our editor John Hillery for providing this service!

21 December 2006: Chess Cheating Town Meeting Held

On December 4, 2006 a town meeting was held at the Marshall Chess Club to discuss the problem of cheating at big prize-fund open tournaments. The comments are documented on John Jacobs' web site Blockade Chess Cheaters, which has been added to the CJA links page. On Jacobs' web site click on the Town Meeting link.

22 November 2006: Membership List updated

The CJA Membership List has been updated.

Pete Tamburro

Arlen Walker

15 November 2006: The Votes are In

2006 Chess Journalist of the Year Peter Tamburro was nominated for a Life Membership by members of CJA and confirmed by unanimous vote of the Executive Board.

Arlen Walker was previously appointed by the President as Chairman of the Elections Committee and has been confirmed in that position by vote of the Executive Board.

11 November 2006: Short Story by David Friedman at Chess Life Online

CJA member David Friedman of Ohio informs that his short story is now on-line at Chess Life Online. See: "Wilt & Bobby: Not a Random Encounter".

4 November 2006: New Constitution/Bylaws Accepted

Dr. Ira Lee Riddle, Chairman of the CJA Bylaws Committee, has announced that by vote of the membership the revised Constitution & Bylaws has been accepted (by unanimous vote). This revised Constitution & Bylaws has replaced the old version, which is still available on this web site at Old Bylaws.

29 October 2006: CJA Awards Certificates to be mailed

CJA President Jerry Hanken has announced that the certificates for the winners of the 2006 annual awards program will be mailed starting tomorrow. All certificates should be mailed within a week. There was a delay while the President worked on the final preparations of the newly designed certificate using the new CJA logo and color printing. To the right is a sample of the beautiful new certificates.

24 October 2006: Arlen P. Walker appointed Elections Committee chairman

As announced in the President's Message on p. 9 of the September 2006 issue of our journal, Arlen P. Walker has accepted the job of Chairman of the Elections Committee. He is now listed in the CJA Directory of Officials and has a CJA email address, listed there along with his address and phone number. He has also been added to the appropriate mailing lists. Welcome aboard, Arlen!

p.s. If you haven't voted on the proposed changes to the Bylaws, you only have 7 days left.

p.p.s. The 2006 awards certificates are being prepared and will be mailed soon.

10 October 2006: Sept 2006 issue of The Chess Journalist now on-line

The September 2006 issue of our journal is now available for download in PDF format. See The Chess Journalist page and click on the Sept 2006 link. Some highlights: Annual CJA Awards, report on CJA annual meeting, interview with award-winning chess historian Olimpiu Urcan and an interesting point and counterpoint between Jerry Hanken and Howard Goldowsky.

2 October 2006: New player links, Have you voted yet?

The webmaster has added several new links to the "Sites of CJA Members" and "Chess Player Sites" links on the Links page. Most notable are the links to Topalov and Kramnik, now embroiled in disputes at the World Championship Match. Thanks to Rusty Miller for his help.

If you haven't voted on the proposed changes to the Bylaws yet, please take a little time right now to review the changes and send your vote to Ira Lee Riddle. See the announcement just below.

23 September 2006: Proposed changes to Bylaws for vote

The annual CJA meeting approved a new Constitution and Bylaws to be submitted to the membership for an up/down vote. Information on the voting process is provided here and is also printed in the current issue of The Chess Journalist. Our editor John Hillery has provided a PDF file with the old and new versions displayed side by side.

See Proposed Changes to Constitution & Bylaws of the CJA.

Some significant changes proposed:

1. Language added about the CJA web site.
2. Addition of Webmaster to the list of officers
3. Detailed method of recall of officers
4. Some items, such as membership fees, have been moved to the Bylaws section, which can be modified by vote at the membership meeting. Changes to the Constitution must still be voted on by the entire membership.

The Chairman of the Bylaws Committee Dr. Ira Lee Riddle will be counting the votes. Here are his instructions:

(1) The proposed Constitution is on-line at our web-site. See Proposed Changes

(2) Voting (CJA members only): either snail-mail or e-mail me with your Yes/No (Accept/Reject changes) vote:

Ira Lee Riddle
400 Newtown Rd
Warminster PA 18974

Email: bylaws@chessjournalism.org

Note that the vote is for the entire package as a whole, not for any individual change. Proposals for changes to the "New" document," should it be accepted, will come later. When you send your vote please include your full name and full address as we have them in our records [see - Membership List -- webmaster], and, of course, e-mail address if you are voting via e-mail.

Votes will be accepted and verified until October 31st or until enough votes are counted either way.

-- Ira Lee Riddle, Bylaws Chair

9 September 2006: New Link added for Copyright information

The web site of the United States Copyright Office has been added to the CJA Journalism References links. See Copyright.

3 September 2006: New CJA Awards Index page and Meetings page

The number of CJA Awards Announcements for different years has become so long that a separate page has been created to list them all. Also, the list of awards for 1996 has been added. See CJA Awards Index.

Another page has been set up listing links to the annual CJA meetings minutes and any other related reports. Additional minutes from older meetings are being added. See Annual CJA Meetings.

18 August 2006: USCF Forums Tutorial

Would you like to visit the USCF Forums and read the "interesting" postings? Check out this short tutorial on how to register and log in to the Forums pages.

See USCF Forums Tutorial.

17 August 2006: Winners Announced for the annual CJA Awards

Due to a freak accident our chief judge Pete Tamburro was unable to travel to the US Open to make the normal announcement of the winners in the annual CJA Awards program (he is not badly injured but his doctor advised against travel). CJA President Jerry Hanken wishes to apologize for the resulting confusion and delay in announcing the winners, partly due to his many duties during the US Open. "Mia Culpa", he says. In an attempt to get out the news the list is now available, though some of the citations and details are missing. Congratulations to our winners, worthy of recognition for their chess journalism skills!

See 2006 CJA Awards.

Webmaster's Annual CJA Meeting Pictorial Report

Were you at the annual CJA meeting? ... then you'll want to see your picture in this report.

Did you miss the meeting? ... then check out the party and see what you missed!

See all the pictures at Annual CJA Meeting (and more) Pictorial Report

16 August 2006: New section added to Links page for "Sites of CJA Members"

Members of CJA are invited to send me links to their personal sites for a new section of our Links page labeled "Sites of CJA Members". To send your links see Contact Webmaster.

CJA Awards note: there will be a small delay (about a week) before the awards web page is made public. If you wish to see the partial results before then please drop me a line: Contact Webmaster.

13 August 2006: Chess Journalist of the Year

Congratulations to Peter Tamburro on being named "Chess Journalist of the Year" by vote of the members of the CJA. See 2006 Chess Journalist of the Year for details.

(Photo by J. F. Campbell, Aug 2006) The meeting of two Presidents CJA President Jerry Hanken (left) USCF President Bill Goichberg

12 August 2006: US Open

The meetings/workshops held during the US Open Chess Championship have finished. Watch this site for a complete list of the winners of the CJA Awards for 2006 and a short pictorial report on the annual CJA meeting. It was great to meeting people in person. Attending the meeting were the President Jerry Hanken, the Secretary/Treasurer Randy Hough, the Chairman of the Bylaws Committee Dr. Ira Lee Riddle (who led the discussions on the proposals for updating the bylaws), the webmaster J. Franklin Campbell and a number of other members of CJA.

4 August 2006: Annual Meeting Agenda, revised Financial Report

The agenda has been announced for the upcoming CJA Annual Meeting on August 10, 2006.

The revised 2005-6 Financial Report has been posted.

31 July 2006: Outreach Chairman resigns, nominations open

Howard Goldowsky has resigned as chairman of the Outreach Committee to concentrate his efforts on revising the awards program as a member of Pete Tamburro's committee. Many thanks to Howard on his excellent work on the outreach program. His positive effect on mainstream writers covering chess topics is commendable and is totally consistent with the purposes of CJA.

Any CJA member may now submit nominations to the post of Chairman of the Outreach Committee. Send nominations to webmaster@chessjournalism.org along with a statement that the nominee has agreed to his name being put forth.

31 July 2006: Financial Statements

CJA Treasurer Randy Hough has just made the financial statements available so they can be reviewed before the upcoming annual meeting. You can see these statements as follows:

    2005-6 Financial Report
    2006-7 Proposed Budget

28 July 2006: Links for Annual Meeting

A new set of temporary links have been set up in the navigation at the left for the uncoming CJA Annual Meeting. Bylaws committee chairman Dr. Ira Lee Riddle has provided the proposed changes to the Bylaws. This information will be available during the meeting in printed form, but please take some time to look over the proposed changes before the meeting. The proposals will be discussed, and the chairman will consolodate the agreed on items into a new Bylaws document to present for an up/down vote by the membership. Other documents will be posted here in the near future giving the meeting agenda and the reports of the treasurer.

26 July 2006: Membership List updated

The CJA Membership List has been updated.

24 July 2006: Randall Hough Elected to USCF Board

CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randall Hough registered the highest overall vote total and was just elected to the USCF Board. Sam Sloan was also elected. For details and vote counts see the USCF Announcement. Here is an excerpt from that announcement (thanks for our VP Daren Dillinger for passing this information along).

Based on these results, Randall Hough has been elected to a three year term and Sam Sloan has been elected to a one year term, both terms to begin once the election has been certified by the Board of Delegates in August.

Bill Goichberg just confirmed to me that the USCF Workshops/Meetings schedule, as published here previously (Click Here), is correct without any updates required. The schedule is part of the 2006 Delegates' Call (PDF format) at the USCF web site. See you at the CJA meeting, Thursday Aug. 10, 2-3pm. Our president Jerry Hanken has arranged for a second session a little later if one hour isn't enough time to complete our business. Hopefully some of us can get together to socialize a bit.

If you haven't voted for Chess Journalist of the Year yet there's only one week left. Either mail the ballot you received immediately or email your vote to webmaster@chessjournalism.org. Be sure to give your full name if voting by email.

12 July 2006: Peter Tamburro appointed Chairman of the Awards Committee

Peter Tamburro, past CJA president and this year's chief judge, has accepted the job as Chairman of the Awards Committee. His contact information and photo are now displayed in the Directory of Officials.

This now completes the current lineup of CJA committees.

7 July 2006: June 2006 issue of The Chess Journalist now on-line

The June issue of our journal is now available for download in PDF format. See The Chess Journalist page and click on the June 2006 link. Of special interest are John Hillery's interview of Dan Lucas, new editor of Chess Life, and Jerry Hanken's report on the USCF Retreat.

28 June 2006: Membership List updated

The CJA Membership List has been updated.

26 June 2006: CJA Awards Program Deadline for entries extended to June 30

The deadline for entries to the annual CJA Awards Program has been extended to June 30, 2006.

To see the updated announcement see 2006 Awards Program.

25 June 2006: Voting for Chess Journalist of the Year

Additional note to announcement below: You may also email your vote any time to webmaster@chessjournalism.org. Each member may vote once. Only individuals listed in the current Membership List may vote.

No specific deadline is given, but it is recommended that your vote be received by August 1 to insure it is counted.

23 June 2006: Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year

Four nominations were received for voting (by CJA members) for the Cramer Committee/CJA Chess Journalist of the Year. The names are:

• Mark Donlan, editor for Chess Horizons and ChessCafe.com
• Robert Byrne, columnist for New York Times and Chess Life
• Michael (Mig) Greengard, columnist for ChessBase.com and Chess Ninja
• Peter Tamburro, contributor to Chess Life, Chess.FM and NJSCF web site

Instructions for voting are included with the official ballots in the June 2006 issue of The Chess Journalist. The above brief listings only mention a few accomplishments for these fine journalists. To see the supporting statements with additional information see the Nominations received for Chess Journalist of the Year (2006) page.

18 June 2006: Dr. Ira Lee Riddle appointed Chairman of the Bylaws Committee

Dr. Ira Lee Riddle, a long time member of CJA with a history of service, has accepted a new job as Chairman of the Bylaws Committee. His contact information and photo are now displayed in the Directory of Officials. Following is his first announcement.

The By-Laws Committee is looking for CJA members wishing to serve on the committee, with hopes of finishing a review by the annual meeting [Aug 10, 2006]. Additionally, if you have any corrections/amendments/additions to the by-laws to be considered, please e-mail such items to Ira at the CJA e-mail address: bylaws@chessjournalism.org.

The current Bylaws are available on the Bylaws page.

Three mailing lists have been added to the Directory of Officials to make it easy to email (1) all the officers plus the webmaster, (2) the chairmen of the current committees and (3) both officers & webmaster, Chief Judge and the chairmen.

12 June 2006: CJA Annual Meeting Scheduled

The annual CJA meeting has been scheduled for 2:00-3:00pm Thursday, Aug 10, 2006 at the US Open in Oakbrook, Illinois. For information about the US Open Chess Championship see the USCF description. It is suggested that visitors book their rooms early.

Double Tree Hotel
Chicago-Oak Brook, IL
1909 Spring Road
Oak Brook, IL 60523
phone: 1-630-472-6000

To see the whole meeting schedule Click Here.

2 June 2006: Call for Chess Journalist of the Year Nominations

Chess Journalist of the Year nominations should be sent to the President of CJA with a supporting statement as soon as possible. The nominee should be a person who has greatly contributed to chess journalism this past year. Only work in the past year should be considered. Nominations were originally due by June 1, 2006 but this has been extended to June 14, 2006. Voting will be by current CJA membership using a ballot included in the June Chess Journalist. The ballot will list the deadline for voting by mail.

1 June 2006: Outreach Committee statement of purpose

The chairman of the CJA Outreach Committee Howard Goldowsky has provided a short statement of purpose for his committee. A link is now provided on the Directory of Officers page or you can view it Here.

The committee has already made the step of adding Category 39 to the annual CJA awards program ("Best piece with a chess related theme to appear in a non-chess or mainstream publication (this could include on-line publications if they are not normally chess related").

Also, ChessVista (chess photos) added to links page.

16 May 2006: CJA announces its new logo!

CJA is pleased to display its new logo, as displayed at the top of this page and to the right. Talented artist Roberta Lerman has created this new logo. See Logo Page for information about the artist and more details of our logo and its design.

The Logo Page also provides HTML code you can copy & paste to your web pages to display the CJA logo, either to link to this site or to proudly display your membership in CJA. A variety of sizes and formats are provided for your use.

5 May 2006: CJA President to participate in USCF Chess Retreat

STRATEGIC PLANNING RETREAT

CJA is honored to have been invited to participate in USCF's May 6-7 strategic planning retreat, which examines the state of chess in the U.S. and the prospects for the future. We have sent President Jerry Hanken to join the USCF Executive Board, executive director, Chess Life editor, GM Joel Benjamin, and officials of AF4C, Chess for Peace Foundation, Chess in the Schools, Hall of Fame, intercollegiate chess, ICC, Kasparov Chess Foundation, and Chess Trust in developing a realistic plan for the future. Jerry will be providing a full report in the June Chess Journalist.

Randy Hough
CJA Secretary/Treasurer

4 May 2006: First Internet entries received for annual CJA Awards competition.

The first entries have been received for the 2006 CJA Awards program. See the new link in the left column Internet Entries Received. As new Internet entries arrive they will be added to this page. Remember, the deadline for submitting material for consideration is June 25, 2006. Items for consideration must have been published between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. For the complete announcement see 2006 Awards Program.

Do you publish a magazine or a web site? You should submit the better work you publish, whether it's your own work or that of others. There's nothing wrong with testing the waters with your own writing. What greater compliment could you provide the journalists at your publication/web site than to submit their chess writing for an award?

30 April 2006: Chess Today reaches milestone ... Issue #2000

Congratulations to GM Alexander Baburin (Ireland) on creating the excellent daily email chess newsletter Chess Today and on reaching issue number 2000! The newsletter has continued to improve since the first issue and is now a highly respected and valuable source of chess news. For more information consult the Chess Today web site.

28 April 2006: Writing Links & Links for Writers Word Stuff

Added link Internet-Resources.com Writing Links & Links for Writers Word Stuff to the CJA Links page. This looks like an excellent resource for the working journalist. Your suggestions for additional useful links for chess journalists would be welcome. When you have time please scan through the links ... you may find something useful or of interest. Send suggestions to Contact Webmaster.

27 April 2006: FIDE Presidential Race Heats Up

As the FIDE election for President during the Torino election approaches things are heating up. Both major candidates now have web sites supporting their campaigns.

I believe current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov obtained a site to respond to the high quality site of his opponent Bessel Kok. Kok's campaign and web site is called The Right Move while Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's is Chess FIDE Fidelity ... interesting choice of names for both parties.

The Torino (Turin), Italy Chess Olympiad web site is Olimpiadi degli Scacchi Torino 2006 and the Olympiad takes place 20 May - 4 June 2006. The election will take place during the Olympiad. The web site has a section for accredited journalists. I've never successfully logged in using IE. Today I can't log in using Firefox, which normally works. The site doesn't seem to be fully functional yet. -- Franklin Campbell, CJA Webmaster

16 April 2006: Update to CJA Links page

Added link American Amateur Press Association to the CJA Links page.

14 April 2006: Membership List page updated

The current membership list has been posted on the Membership List page.

13 April 2006: CJA Awards Program

The annual CJA awards program, previously published in The Chess Journalist, has been posted on this site. See CJA Awards Program. Deadline for submitting material for consideration is June 25, 2006. Items for consideration must have been published between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. A new category has been added this year: Category 39: Best piece with a chess related theme to appear in a non-chess or mainstream publication (this could include on-line publications if they are not normally chess related).

1 April 2006: March 2006 The Chess Journalist

The March 2006 issue of The Chess Journalist is now available for download from The Journal page.

7 January 2006: December 2005 The Chess Journalist

The December 2005 issue of The Chess Journalist is now available for download from The Journal page.

15 December 2005: Membership List page updated

The current membership list has been posted on the Membership List page.

30 September 2005: Latest issue of The Chess Journalist

The September 2005 issue of The Chess Journalist is now available. See The Journal page for links to all available issues. Thanks to editor John Hillery for providing these PDF files.

The new President's message from Jerry Hanken is on page 11 and the minutes of the annual CJA meeting is on page 8. The minutes also have a link in the left navigation bar.

16 August 2005: CJA Awards Certificates in the Mail

Chief Judge Daniel Lucas has announced that all certificates for winners in the annual CJA Awards competition have been mailed and should be received by the end of the week. An exception: those going to Chess Horizons entries will be distributed by Mark Donlan after he receives them.

12 August 2005: CJA Elections / New entries to the Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists

Jerry Hanken has been elected President of the Chess Journalists of America at the annual CJA meeting, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona during the U. S. Open Chess Championships. The other officers retain their positions. Thanks to Daniel Lucas for his service to the organization as President and Chief Judge. The Directory of Officers will be updated soon.

Three chess journalists have been voting into the Gallery of Distinguished Chess Journalists. These new inductees are Andy Soltis, Fred Reinfeld and Robert Byrne. See Category 2 in the listing of 2005 Awards.

10 August 2005: CJA Awards Announcement

Daniel Lucas, President of the Chess Journalists of America and chief judge in the annual competition, has provided a list of prize winners, as announced today at the U. S. Open Chess Championships in Phoenix, Arizona during the annual CJA meeting. See 2005 Awards.

13 July 2005: Past Issues of The Chess Journalist now available in PDF Format

Our journal editor John Hillery has made the last seven issues of The Chess Journalist available in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. If you have Acrobat Reader (available as a free download at http://www.adobe.com) you can now read these complete issues on-line. Just go to the Journal page. Future issues of the journal will also be made available, after the print issue has been published.

26 June 2005: CJA Awards -- Entries Close

Entries are closed for this year's CJA Awards competition.

For a complete (but concise) list of all the entries received see All Entries.

For a listing of all Internet Entries received with URL's see Internet Entries.

Winning entries will be announced at the U. S. Open Championship in Phoenix, Arizona (August 6-12, 2005). CJA will have its annual meeting during the Open.

8 April 2005: CJA Awards -- Entries Received

The first Internet entries have arrived for this year's CJA Awards program. As specified in the 2005 Awards Program Announcement, "Internet submitters should mail the relevant URL(s) with entry fee and the five cover sheets ... to the Chief Judge and also email the entered URL(s) to the CJA Webmaster at webmaster@chessjournalism.org". These Internet entries will then be listed on the Entries Received page, available for viewing by the public.

13 March 2005: CJA Awards

Daniel Lucas, President of the Chess Journalists of America, and Pete Tamburro, Chairman of the Cramer Awards, jointly announce their annual call for material published in print publications or on Internet sites The categories have been modified a bit and there is a required cover sheet for entries this year. For the full press release (announcement and the cover sheets) see 2005 Awards Program Announcement.

11 August 2004: CJA Awards

At the annual CJA meeting during the US Open the winners of the annual chess journalism awards were announced. See 2004 Awards for a full announcement.

Award certificates were mailed on August 11. Winners should recieve their certificates by 8/18 at the latest, except for journalists whose material appeared in Chess Life or Chess Horizons. Those certificates were mailed to the respective editors at their request, and so will take a little longer to distribute. If you have not received your certificate by 8/18, please contact president@chessjournalism.org.

28 July 2004: CJA Awards

The list of awards winners should be announced soon during the US Open championship. Watch these pages for a complete announcement on or just after 11 August 2004.

20 July 2004: Membership List page updated

The current membership list has been posted on the Membership List page.

10 June 2004: Nominations Received

The following nominations have been received.

Chess Journalist of the Year: Volker Jeschonnek Peter Kurzdorfer Daniel Lucas Andrew Soltis

Chess Journalist Lifetime Achievement Award: Robert Byrne Bob Dudley A.J. Goldsby I Peter Kurzdorfer Ira Lee Riddle Helen Warren

For the announcement, including supporting statements for the nominations, go to Full Announcement. A ballot will appear in the next The Chess Journalist, to be returned by July 24, 2004. Only CJA members may vote.

• Fred Wilson
• Jerry Hanken
• Ira Lee Riddle
• Tony Rook (Tony Heinz)

2002 Cramer Award Winners Dan Lucas and John S. Hilbert photo by Lynne Conant

CJA & Cramer Awards for 2002

7 August 2002: CJA President and Chief Judge for this year's CJA awards competition Peter Tamburro has announced this year's winners along with the annual Cramer Award winners for 2002. For a complete report go to this link: 2002 Awards. The photo shows Cramer award winners Dan Lucas (left) for Best State Magazine (Georgia Chess) and John S. Hilbert for Book of the Year ("Essays in American Chess History"). Thanks to photographer Lynne Conant for the photo of the prize winners with their CJA certificates. For a larger version of the photo Click Here.

Pete also watched a little chess, as long as he was at the US Open. Here are the last round deciding games.

US Open 2002 Top Two Boards Last Round

Gennadi Zaitshik 2578(7-1)-Bruci Lopez 2258(7-1)
US Open 2002, Cherry Hill, NJ, 9th Round, Board 2
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 a6 8.b3 Rb8 9.Nd5 Ne4 10.Bb2 e6 11.Nf4 f5 12.Nd3 Ne7 13.Qc1 h6 14.Nd2 Nxd2 15.Qxd2 g5 16.f4 Ng6 17.Rad1 gxf4 18.Nxf4 Nxf4 19.gxf4 d5 20.Rf3 Kh7 21.Kh1 dxc4 22.bxc4 b5 23.d5 Bxb2 24.Qxb2 Bb7 25.Rg3 Qd7 26.Bf3 bxc4 27.Rdg1 Rf7 28.h3 c3 29.Qxc3 Bxd5 30.Kh2 Bxf3 31.Qxf3 e5 32.Qg2 Re7 33.Rg8 1-0

Euganiy Najer 2585(7.5-0.5)-Arthur Yusopov 2694(7-1)
US Open 2002, Cherry Hill, NJ, 9th round, Board One
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 Ba6 8.b3 c6 9.Bxb4 axb4 10.a3 Bb7 11.Ne1 d5 12.Nd3 dxc4 13.Nxb4 cxb3 14.e3 Qe7 15.Qxb3 c5 16.dxc5 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Qb7+ 18.c6 Nxc6 19.Nxc6 Qxc6+ 20.f3 Rfd8 21.Ra2 Rac8 22.Rb2 Rd6 23.e4 Nd7 24.Qb5 Qxb5 25.Rxb5 Rd3 26.Rf2 f6 27.Rbb2 Rc1 28.Rf1 Rc6 29.Kf2 Ne5 30.Ke2 Rdd6 31.Rd2 Rxd2+ 32.Kxd2 g5 33.f4 gxf4 34.gxf4 Nc4+ 35.Ke2 b5 36.Rc1 Ra6 37.Rc3 Kf7 38.Rh3 Kg7 39.Rg3+ Kf8 40.Rb3 Ra5 41.Rh3 Ra7 42.Rb3 Ra5 ½-½

29 July 2002: CJA Secretary-Treasurer Randall Hough has provided an updated membership list, which is now available on the Member List page. If you see any errors or omissions, please notify him.

11 July 2002: The final list of entries and judges for all the categories in the annual CJA Awards has been released. For a full listing go to List of Chess Journalist Awards Entries 2002. Links are provided there to those items which are Internet entries, which are also listed below.

If you are entered, here is your opportunity to check out your competition! If you are a judge, see which categories you have been assigned. If you are an interested reader, see what has been entered and see what you think of the Internet entries. The whole process is quite open and transparent this year.

• Cramer Awards entries closed 1-June-2002
• CJA Awards entries closed 1-July-2002

Catagory 15: Best Chess Promotion
Chess As a Sport (click to view a PDF file), published at ChessCafe.com, Author: Howard Goldowsky

• Best Chess Column
    Harold Dondis, Boston Globe
• Best State Publication
    Illinois Chess Bulletin
• Best Book
    Instructive Modern Chess Masterpieces by Igor Stohl

For full information and a list of past winners read the news release at: 2001 Cramer Awards Announced

When asked for a statement concerning receiving this important journalistic recognition Hanon responded, "I would like to thank the CJA for this prestigious award. It is an honor to receive it, particularly since it was a result of voting by other journalists."

For the other CJA Award winners see: CJA Awards for 2001