USCF National Events / 2012 U.S. Open
IM John Donaldson at the awards ceremony.
Donaldson, Bauer, and Sinquefields Honored in Vancouver
At the annual awards luncheon held on the last Saturday of every U.S. Open, everyone gets a chance to share a room, and even a table, with people who do the most for chess in the U.S. This year 28 USCF volunteers were honored. The Distinguished Service Award is USCF’s highest recog- nition, conferred for a career of giving time and energy to chess above and beyond the wildest of expectations. The heroes cel- ebrated in Vancouver were IM John Donaldson and Randy Bauer.
Donaldson has served as the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute Chess Club director since 1988. He earned his inter- naional master title in 1983 and achieved two grandmaster norms, hitting a rating peak of over 2600. But John is best known as a brilliant team captain and author, leading and jelling 10 U.S. Olympiad teams that medaled five times and four U.S. world teams that collected two silvers and one gold. He was GM Yasser Seirawan’s coach when Yaz won the 1979 World Junior. Universally recognized as a chess scholar, John has written more than 30 books and served as the assistant editor of Inside Chess for its entire 12-year run. Beyond all that, John is respected as a diplomatic leader of unquestionable ethics who is always willing to help someone with a good chess cause.
“Receiving the USCF Distinguished Service Award was a real
honor,” John said. “I grew up in Tacoma, Washington, where I learned to play chess in 1972. There were many friends in the
28 November 2012 | Chess Life
audience, including some I have known for 40 years. Had it not been for the friendly atmosphere of the Tacoma Chess Club, I'm not sure if I would have become a lifelong chess player.” Randy Bauer is another master player, a former scholastic titlist as well as champion of his home state of Iowa. But the award is for the extensive service he has provided: as a mem- ber of the board of directors of both Minnesota and Iowa state associations, as the president and editor of the Iowa State Chess Association, and as a USCF executive board member, includ- ing four years as vice president of finance. Along the way, he helped to develop the important bylaws changes implement- ing USCF’s change to “one member, one vote,” served on the audit committee, the LMA trust, and chaired the finance com- mittee twice—as well as contributing to prominent chess publications and websites, for which he won a Chess Journal- ist of America award.
Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield, Missouri, received USCF’s highest
recognition for sponsorship, the Koltanowski Award. In 2012 they once again sponsored the U.S. Championship, the U.S. Women’s Championship, and the U.S. Junior Championship. In addition, they partnered with the Kasparov Chess Foundation’s Rising Star program, in which Former World Champion Garry Kasparov iden- tifies talented American school players. Each prospect is invited to two training camps, in St. Louis and New York, and provided a year- round coach. This is Rex’s fourth Koltanowski. But this year Jeanne Sinquefield received a Koltanowski Award of her own for accomplishing what many have tried to do for many years—secur- ing a Boy Scout merit badge for chess.
A complete list of 2012 honorees can be found online at
main.uschess.org/content/view/11796/671/.
PHOTOS: AL LAWRENCE
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