William Goichberg (born November 11, 1942) is a chess master and chess tournament organizer and director. He founded the Continental Chess Association (CCA), which runs the annual World Open and other large tournaments. He is also a former president of the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

(USCF).

USCF career

After graduating from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

in 1963, Goichberg worked as USCF Rating Statistician from 1964 to 1967. He became co-editor of ''

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "most ...

'' with Ed Edmondson in 1966. In 1976 he was captain of the world champion U.S.

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

team. Goichberg was a member of the USCF Policy Board (now called "Executive Board") in 1975–78, 1989–92 and 1996–99. From November 2003 to January 2004 he was USCF Office Manager and in 2004 became USCF Executive Director. In 2005 he was elected president, and held that office until 2008.

Continental Chess Association (CCA)

In 1964 Goichberg founded the New York City Chess Association to organize chess tournaments. In 1968 the organization's scope was widened and name was changed to Continental Chess Association. The CCA has organized, by conservative estimate, several thousand tournaments in the years since it was founded. The flagship tournament of the CCA, the World Open, first held in 1973, annually draws over 1,000 entries. This figure is now regularly eclipsed by scholastic tournaments, but this may be the largest non-scholastic tournament in the world. Several of the major scholastic tournaments now run by the U.S. Chess Federation started out as CCA tournaments: the National High School Championship (1969), the National Junior High Championship (1973), the National Elementary Championship (1976), and the National Scholastic K-12 Grade Championship (1991).''

'', February 1992, p. 30. Goichberg is generally credited for introducing non-smoking tournaments in the U.S. (1973).

Other Achievements

Goichberg was co-editor of ''Official Rules of Chess'', fourth edition (1993; ) and authored many articles for ''

''. He is a USCF Life Master and

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

. He is National Tournament Director and

International Arbiter {{No footnotes, date=April 2022 In chess tournaments, an arbiter is an official who oversees matches and ensures that the rules of chess are followed. International Arbiter ''International Arbiter'' is a title awarded by FIDE to individuals deemed ...

of FIDE (World Chess Federation). He is the current president of the New York State Chess Association, which organizes the New York State Championship.

References

External links

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1942 births Living people American chess players Chess FIDE Masters Chess arbiters Chess officials American chess writers American male non-fiction writers {{US-chess-bio-stub