Provided by HAL TERRIE, Chair
As of mid-May, 2023, the Ethics Committee has handled fourteen cases, five of which remain active as of this date. The cases fell into the following categories:
Cheating during tournament play 5
Bad behavior 6
Hybrid cases involving tournament organizers and affiliates 3
In the nine completed cases, the committee found for the complainant in seven and declined jurisdiction in one. In the final case, involving a junior player, the committee’s Ombudsman dismissed the charges outright. The committee subsequently ruled that complaint frivolous and instructed the US Chess office to keep the good-faith deposit.
In one of the completed cases where the committee found for the complainant, the Executive Board subsequently invoked the new Safe Play guidelines and modified the committee’s recommended membership suspension to a permanent membership revocation.
After complaints in previous years about the length of time it was taking to complete ethics cases, the committee reinstated a policy under which two weeks, rather than 30 days, would be allowed for stage 3 and 4 statements. A comparison of cases from the previous 2021-22 term and the current 2022-23 terms shows that the average time for completion of a case has been reduced from five months to about three months.
Early in the term, committee member Aris Marghetis had to step down for personal reasons. The committee thanks him for his service; his many valuable contributions will be missed.
