| Vince Hart 2005-01-27, 9:47 pm |
| My problem is with the four-year gap between the time that the fraud
was discovered and the time that the tournaments were expunged from the
record. My understanding of USCF policy is that the tournaments would
have been expunged and the ratings corrected if the problem had been
properly reported in 1999. That did not happen.
By the time the tournaments were expunged, there may have been little
reason to adjust the ratings other than adjusting the floors. Kevin
played very little in the four-year period (although he may have slid
to expert level without the artificially obtained 2200 floor).
Sometime in 2002, his son started performing consistently enough at the
1900 level to get his rating above the artificially obtained 1900
floor. I think it unlikely that his rating depended on the effect of
the fraudulent tournaments by 2004.
That still leaves a two year period in which Kevin's son's artificially
inflated rating allowed him to obtain tournament invitations and
qualify for the Warren program.
Did Kevin fail to properly report the problem or did the USCF drop the
ball? If the USCF dropped the ball, did Kevin follow up? Why did he
wait until the tournaments appeared in the MSA before he insisted that
they be expunged?
Vince Hart
|