This new edition of Texas Knights online is a huge step forward for our organization.  In December Jeff French decided to step down after approximately five years.  His departure was an enormous loss not only because he was the TK Editor, but because of the wisdom and guidance he provided for our overall organization.  He put out five years of great editions, which meant chasing down contributors for every one of them, but the editions always went out on-time.  Obviously we had to find the right new editor and we have.  Louis Reed has accepted the opportunity to serve and I appreciate his commitment.  He will be another great editor for Texas Knights.  Now that the new edition is out the content for the next edition needs to start flowing in so Louis can direct the editing and population of the next edition for release around the end of December.  I cannot over emphasize the new content line.  This is the life blood of the magazine and I thank you in advance for the submissions that will come in from across the state.

We also have a new Secretary.  Lonann French resigned earlier this year and I asked Renate Garcia from Region IV to take on that role.  She has been involved in the El Paso area for some time as well as volunteering at numerous State Scholastic events.  Her passion for any endeavor she undertakes comes through clearly any time you interact with her.  She was confirmed by the TCA Leadership unanimously and she will be a great Secretary.  The Texas Chess Association thanks both Jeff and Lonann French for their service and wishes them well in whatever their future endeavors are.

Last year in my candidates statement I mentioned I thought we needed were some metrics.  I have revised that thought and what we are need some priorities.

Priorities 2019-2020

  • Get Vish reelected to the USCF Executive Board.  We have over 10,000 USCF members, substantially more than any state, and we have no presence on the Executive Board.  You are going to see an all-out campaign from TCA across our state to try and accomplish this.
    • While we have the most USCF members only about 3,000 are eligible to vote.
      • We need to get them to register.
      • We need to get them to vote and mail their ballot in. 
      • If takes about 3,000 votes to get elected.  We have enough votes right here in the Lone Star State to get this done.
    • Social Media – We are going to use Facebook, Twitter and any other media forum that will lend itself in outreach to registered voters.
    • Every TCA member/Official encourage those you influence and see at tournaments across the state to get registered and vote.
  • Keep our balance over $10,000.
  • Get Texas Knights back online.
  • Support 2021 Armed Forces Event in any way we can.
  • Get our TCA memberships managed via and on-line tool so we can have an automated method to interact with our membership and remind them in advance to renew their memberships.
  • Our By-Laws haven’t been updated in four years, something that we’ll be addressing at every TCA meeting until we get them to reflect the way we actually operate.

Lastly, the number one thing you can do to support chess is to play in and/or run tournaments as you can.  I hope to see as many of you as I can at an event soon.

Very Respectfully,
Tom Crane