Altrincham & Hale Chess Club
Minutes of the 2014 AGM held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 2nd September 2014
1. Attendance
Present : Nick Lowe, Tony Lane, Reg Clucas, Denis Osborne, Tom Tomkins, Pete Arland, Rob Isaac, Wayne Kranz, Judith Kranz, Mark Whalley, Steve Ward, Yaroslav Kolodiy, Richard White, Graham Bird, Thomas Hague, Harry Hague.
Apologies for absence : Jane, John & Edwin Brophy, John Roff, David Johnson, Bill McCartney, David Hughes.
2. Minutes of the 2013 AGM were agreed as correct and accepted.
3. Matters arising.
Grants for purchase of clocks. This was not pursued.
Grading of club championship games – all games, including those by non-ECF members, have been submitted for grading. However, in future years we will insist upon ECF membership for players taking part in the Club Championship Premier & Major.
alternative premises – not pursued in view of the fact that we have free use of the current premises.
4. Officers' reports
Secretary – Reg Clucas reported that his first year in the role had gone smoothly. There were no problems in our dealings with the ECF re membership and grading. At the end of 2013 Reg created a new website for the club - http://www.ahcc.comxa.com/ which is regularly updated with our teams' results and Club Championship standings..
Treasurer – The Treasurer's report and accounts are attached to these minutes. Subscriptions for ECF members will be £25, non-members £20, with a £10 reduction for retired members.
It was agreed to proceed with the purchase of six DGT2010 clocks at £50 each, though Reg will first investigate if they can be obtained any cheaper.
Team Captains' reports – Reports from the captains of the Manchester League, Stockport League and SE Lancs Summer League teams were read to the meeting, and will appear on the respective pages of the club website in due course. (These pages already carry a match by match summary of each team's progress).
Club Events – Winners were as follows -
Blitz tournament (Captain's Cup) - Tom Tomkins.
Club Championship (President’s Cup) – Mark Whalley
Club Championship runner-up (Committee Cup) – Reg Clucas & Richard White
Major – David Johnson
The handicap tournament is yet to take place.
5. Presentation of trophies
The above mentioned winners were presented with their trophies, with the exception of David Johnson who was unable to attend.
6. League Entries for 2014-15
It was agreed to continue with one team in the Manchester League, plus the 'A' team and Limit League team in the Stockport League. Reg had previously asked the membership their opinions on entering an additional 'B' team in the Stockport League, and although the general feeling was in favour, no-one had volunteered to captain the team. However at the meeting Wayne Kranz agreed to perform this role, so it was agreed to enter this additional team.
7. Election of Officers
The Secretary (Reg Clucas) was re-elected.
The Treasurer (Nick Lowe) was re-elected.
The Internal Competitions organiser (Nick Lowe) was re-elected.
Team captains Tony Lane (Manchester League & SE Lancs Summer League) and Steve Ward (Stockport League Limit League team) were re-elected.
Reg Clucas volunteered to act as Stockport League 'A' team captain and was duly elected.
Wayne Kranz volunteered to act as Stockport League 'B' team captain and was duly elected.
Steve Ward will continue in the role of meeting and greeting prospective new members.
Tom Tomkins will continue in the role of chairing the AGM.
8. Any other business
There being no other business the meeting was closed at 8:40 p.m.
Treasurer’s Report
Year ended 31 August 2014
There were 22 paying members, of which only two were not ECF members. The subscription income amounting to £520 is down £50 from last year due to the reduction in the fees charged.
The major changes in the expenses were:
ECF fees increased by £22 (club paid for 2 additional members)
trophy engraving & repairs went up by £59
the one-off subscription rebate of £90.29
This latter reason explains why a loss was incurred of £42.83 but please remember that we have still do not pay any rent.
The accumulated reserves stand at £646.74.
Subject to the issue of the purchase of new clocks, and whether these should be funded out of reserves, I would recommend keeping the subscriptions unchanged for 2014/15 as the budget projects a very small surplus:
£25 for those registered with the ECF
£20 for non-ECF registered members, and who therefore are prohibited from partaking in the club championship since these games are being graded
£10 less for the respective retired rates
I will finish off by mentioning that the club is paying the ECF fees for juniors, which is an initial £9 per person and will be £1 less once in future when renewals are made online. I hope no one has any objection.
Events Report
2013/14
Good news – the only title that remains to be decided by this AGM is the Grand Prix. An improvement over the last couple of years!
Last year the two club championships were undecided. In the Premier, Reg had to sit it out and await Yaroslav’s two games in hand, which he converted into wins to complete a successful defence for the third year in a row. He was the clear winner with 6 points out of seven with Reg and me being joint runners up on 4.5.
The Major had a three way tie play-off. David Johnson beat both Steve Douglas and Wayne to take the title.
The Rapid Play Handicap completed the 2012/13 season. Thirteen players took part over 6 rounds.
Going into round three, only Tom and Jim had maintained a 100% record; Jim having beaten Yaroslav in round 2. Round 4 saw Jim dispatch Tom as well to be the sole leader, but then misfortune arrived, or maybe overcome by this success, he lost his last two games to open the door to the usual suspects.
Karl having lost his first match, then won the next four whilst Tom beat Yaroslav in round 5; leaving Jim, Tom and Karl with 4 points.
Therefore going into round 6, the big game was Tom against Karl, whilst Jim took on Reg. You are already aware that Jim lost his game, but Tom went one better than last year, when he was the joint winner, to beat Karl and win the competition outright.
Jim, Karl, Yaroslav and Reg finished equal 2nd with 4 points.
Only four players scored less than 50% so the handicap worked quite well!
The Grand Prix went to Steve Douglas with 70 out of 100.
5-Minute Tournament
There were 17 competitors and was played over 6 rounds.
Tom and Karl dominated the event. The crucial match against each other was in round 3, with Tom coming out on top and going on to win the competition with 6 out of 6 with Karl runner up with 5.
Reg, Wayne and David Johnson, came joint 3rd with 4 of out 6.
Richard and Bill were the only others to finish with over a 50% score.
The Premier
This was a 6 round event with 10 participants. Two games remain, but these cannot affect the destination of the title.
In the first four rounds half the games were drawn which shows how evenly matched we all are. Of the 10 matches won, Mark had three victories, Karl and Tom two. Yaroslav and Richard were the only ones who had drawn all their games.
However round 5 saw only one drawn game – Yaroslav maintaining his sequence of draws, but the results of the others left four players in contention; Mark, Karl and Reg on 3.5 and Richard close behind on 3. The 26th August - the title decider night and the first result in saw Karl losing to Richard. This was followed sometime later with Graham, putting up a sterling defence against Reg, to such an extent that Reg had no option but to settle for a draw. The third and last game to finish was mine against Mark. A tough battle which went to the last 5 minutes for both players, but unfortunately for me, but not Mark, saw him victorious and so claim the championship outright with 4.5 points.
Joint second were Richard and Reg with 4 points.
The Major
This was a 6 round event with 10 participants.
A shock in round 1 saw the defending champion, David, lose to Rob. However, Rob maintained his impressive form winning in rounds 2 and 4 - just losing to Steve D in round 3.
Therefore after 4 rounds there was a 4 way tie between Rob, Steve D, David and Wayne. Round five saw Rob and Wayne nullify each other and drawing their game. Steve drew with Peter, enabling David, who secured a win, to move into the lead with one round to go.
In round 6 Peter beat Rob, to finish with 4 points. Steve D beat Steve W, to finish on 4.5, but the crunch game between Wayne and David saw David triumph and successfully retain his title with 5 out of 6.
Rapid Play Handicap
This has yet to be played.
The Grand Prix trophy
A total of 20 players have so far played at least one of the competitions.
The winner will be decided after the Handicap Event, but leading the field is
David Johnson 66.67 followed by
Reg 56.67
Karl 55.83
Steve Douglas 55.42
Richard 54.48
Tom has 50 points, but could jump up to second if he beats Thomas in his final club championship game.
Unfortunately David is away on secondment at present and does not return until next year so with a maximum of 15 points at stake - it looks as if he may be pipped at the post. A handicap that cannot be easily be overcome!