Beatriz Marinello
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beatriz Marinello is a chess player who was born in Chile on May 14, 1964. She is a chess teacher now living in the United States. She holds the title of Woman International Master (WIM) from FIDE. She was president of the United States Chess Federation from 2003 to 2005 and a member of the Executive Board from 2003 to 2007.
[edit] Life
She started playing chess at the age of 13. Marinello became a National Women's Champion of Chile when she was 16 years old. In 198], she was awarded the Women's International Master title. She organized her first national championship in Chile at the age of 20 years old, and later organized other international competitions.
She arrived in the United States from Chile in 1990, and became a chess teacher in Miami. She represented the US in two Interzonals: the 1991 Interzonal in former Yugoslavia and the 1993 Interzonal in Indonesia. She also represented the United States in the 1994 Chess Olympiad held in Moscow.
Marinello started getting involved in scholastic chess in 1991 as an assistant coach of The Dalton School in NY and was instrumental in starting several other scholastic chess programs. She was appointed USCF National Scholastic Director in January of 1997.
Her full name is Beatriz Mansilla Marinello. She was married to US chess master John MacArthur in 1992. As a result, her games are listed in the chess databases three ways: Beatriz Mansilla, Beatriz Marinello and Beatrice MacArthur.
In September 2003, she was diagnosed as having IgA nephropathy, a kidney disease. On July 17, 2007 she underwent a kidney transplant operation in Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The operation was a success and she went home a few days later.
Because of her kidney disease, she decided not to run for re-election. Her term of office on the USCF executive board expired on 5 August 2007. However, she was then immediately elected to the Scholastic Council, an advisory body which deals with scholastic chess.
Since leaving the Executive Board in August, she has been very active, becoming the webmaster of the US Chess Trust at [1] and she has re-started her Chess-in-Education Program in the public schools in Harlem in New York City.
[edit] Controversies
In 1999, she was appointed to the position of Scholastic Coordinator of the United States Chess Federation. In May, 2000 she resigned as a result of a dispute with scholastic chess organizer Richard Peterson involving mutual accusations of forgery.
In August 2003, Marinello was elected United States Chess Federation President and became USCF's first woman president. The financial situation of the USCF called for immediate and decisive actions which were unpopular at the time, but arguably saved the USCF from financial disaster.
Her last year as president was mired in controversy. In December 2004, the Board under her leadership removed Bill Goichberg as Executive Director of the USCF. For the next six months, Marinello served as Chief Operating Officer of the USCF (receiving expenses but no salary), a move many considered not in accordance with the USCF's Bylaws. She implemented the move of the USCF Business Office from New Windsor, New York to Crossville, Tennessee. She also involved the USCF in an endorsement agreement with Natrol, a product which claimed to improve chess playing ability by means of herbal supplements. She later admitted that this was a mistake and said that the product was only supposed to be intended for elderly chess players, not the young.
In the USCF Executive Board Election in July, 2005 she endorsed a slate of four candidates. All were defeated.
In an internal Board election held on August 14, 2005, Beatriz Marinello was replaced as USCF President by Bill Goichberg. Marinello then resigned from the USCF Executive Board, but was persuaded to reconsider and she subsequently rejoined the board.
