Meet the Arbiter
Tony Rich, arbiter for the 2012 U.S. Junior Closed Championship, is a FIDE Arbiter (2011) and USCF Senior Tournament Director (2011). He has served as an arbiter and director for various events including the U.S. Championship (2010, 2011, 2012), U.S. Women’s Championship (2010, 2011, 2012) , U.S. Junior Championship (2010, 2011), U.S. Open (2010), and an international match between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Rusulan Ponomariov. Most recently, Tony was the chief arbiter for two GM-norm tournaments held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
In addition to work as a tournament director and arbiter, Tony is one of only 20 FIDE International Organizers in America. In this role he has successfully organized major events including three U.S. Championships, three U.S. Women’s Championships, two U.S. Junior Closed Championships, international matches and a variety of other high-level tournaments.
Tony has traveled extensively since 2008, serving as the head of delegation for the American teams at the FIDE Olympiad and World Team Championships. He is a member of the FIDE Swiss Pairing Program Committee and the USCF International Relations Committee. In 2009 and again in 2010, the U.S. Chess Federation recognized Tony as the Organizer of the Year.
Tony is an amateur photographer and journalist and has covered many events including the 2010 World Team Championship (Bursa, Turkey), 2011 FIDE Olympiad (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) and 2011 World Team Championship (Ningbo, China). His contributions can be seen in Chess Life Magazine, Chess Life Online and various chess websites. Tony also worked as the editor for the Missouri Chess Bulletin and has served on the MCA board of directors, on and off, since 2006.
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, Tony is currently the Executive Director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. During his four years in this role, he took the club from concept to inception and saw involvement grow to 800 members and nearly 100 schools across the Saint Louis area.
