Altrincham & Hale Chess Club

Minutes of the 2023 AGM held at 7:30 p.m. on Monday 11

September 2023

1. Attendance

Attendees – Mark Hann, Tony Lane, Nick Lowe, Tom Tomkins (Chair), Steve Ward, Reg Clucas,

Keith Edwards, Gary & James Mitchell, Sateesh & Dev Boganadham

Apologies for absence – Thomas Hague, Richard White, Danilo Soares

Tom Tomkins opened the meeting, and thanked the Secretary for finding the new venue to enable

the club to restart, and the Treasurer for keeping the accounts in order during the club's 3 year hia-

tus.

2. Officers' reports

Treasurer

The accounts for year ending August 31

2023 are below.

ALTRINCHAM&HALECHESSCLUB

AccountsForYearEnded31August2023

2023 2022

£ £ £ £

Income

Subscriptions 14 280.00 0.00

Newmembers 1 10.00 0.00

Juniors 2 20.00 0.00

Interest 1.01 0.02

17 311.01 0 0.02

Expenditure

Rent 335.00 0.00

Insurance 0.00 0.00

ManchesterLeague 0.00 0.00

StockportLeague 0.00 0.00

SummerLeague 0.00 0.00

TrophyEngraving/repairs 0.00 0.00

Postage&Stationery 0.00 0.00

Keycutting&batteries 19.50 0.00

Sundries 0.50 0.00



Totalexpenses (355.00) 0.00

Surplusfortheyear (43.99) 0.02

Reservesboughtforward (30.95) (30.97)

Reservescarryforward (74.94) (30.95)

BALANCESHEET

Balances BuildingSociety

31Aug23 100.06 31Aug22 169.05

Creditors Nick (100.00) (200.00)

RentforAugust (75.00) 0.00

NetAssets (74.94) (30.95)

Secretary's Report 2023

In 2021, when many chess clubs were starting to open up again after the worst of the Covid pan-

demic, we were unable to do so as our former venue, the Woodheys Club, was unavailable. With in-

fection rates still high there was little enthusiasm for finding a new venue. At our last AGM (con-

ducted via Zoom) in 2021 I made it clear that I did not want to lead this process. However, in the

latter half of 2022 things were more or less back to normal, so although I had joined Northenden

Chess Club in May 2022, I felt that I should make one last attempt to keep the Altrincham club

alive, and we duly started up again in April 2023 at our new venue in Timperley Village Club.

There had been many membership enquiries during the pandemic, and many people expressed a

positive interest when I announced we would be opening up again. Unfortunately, very few of these

have translated into paying members, so covering the rental of the club room is problematic – hence

the main item of the AGM will be discussion of membership subscription rates.

It is good to report a successful return to League chess after a gap of 3 years, and Tony will provide

further details of our Summer League exploits.

Reg Clucas 11

September 2023

Team captain's report – Summer League

After seven consecutive years in Division A prior to 2020, a period which had seen us blossom

from perennial relegation strugglers to established members, we emerged like the proverbial

phoenix from the ashes to take part once again in the Summer League in the post pandemic era.

There was no competition in 2020 or 2021, and with no venue and an uncertain membership, we

took a cautious stance and opted to sit out the restart in 2022. Again, erring on the side of caution,

we opted to return in 2023 to Division B in our new venue here at the Timperley Village Club, and

were rewarded by finishing the season top of the table.

Our first match at home to 3Cs 2 ended in a decisive 4.5:1.5 win, setting the tone for the season

ahead. Although this was followed by a swift cup exit 5.5:0.5 to Blue Club, this was not unexpected

given that they were the reigning 2022 champions. We then embarked on our first trip on the road

for over 3 years, going down the road to Northenden where we got back on track winning 4:2. This

was followed by an undoubted highlight of the season, a 6-0 win at home against Marple. Given the

fact that I have captained the team in the Summer league since 1986, this prompted me to delve

back into the archives to find out the last time such a stunning result had occurred. The answer

turned out to be a cup victory against Salford in 2002 – a good omen as we went on to reach the fi -

nal that year!

Flushed with 100% success from our first 3 league matches we opened the second half of the season

with a tricky fixture at Blue Club. Although this was against their second team, they still comfort-

ably outgraded us, especially given we were missing our top 2 board talismen, Messrs. Soares and

Hann. In the event our winning record was preserved by our squad depth which saw the Toms pro-

duce match winning performances on the bottom 2 boards to get us over the line with a 3.5:2.5 win.

Our final 2 games at Chorlton 2 and home to Bolton 2 were a bit of an anti-climax, losing both by

the same narrow margin. However, by the time of our last fixture the division B championship was

secured, so perhaps we were entitled to ease off a little bit as nothing was now riding on the results.

As usual, and especially given the reduced size of the club, we had a good spread of members repre-

senting the team with 10 different players turning out over the season. I was our sole ever present

securing 2.5 of my 3 points playing white. I felt hard done to in my defeats with black, losing on

time in an ending at Chorlton when the engines indicated I had a plus 8 score, and losing my cup

match against Blue Club when we finished the match with just a pawn each, but my opponent’s

queening one move before my own! My tally was beaten by 3 players and matched by 2 others,

which is perhaps indicative of the successful season we enjoyed. The top scorers with 3.5 points

were Danilo, Dan and Tom. Impressively, Danilo achieved his score on top board from just 4 ap-

pearances, which gave him the fourth highest rating performance of all players as ranked on the

SELSCL website. Dan’s performance was impressive in his first season for the club, and he will be

missed going forward as he moves on to pastures new. His score, like Tom’s, was achieved from

playing in all the season’s fixtures bar one.

The 2 other players achieving 3 points were Reg and Mark. Reg also played 6 games but Mark’s

score was a stunning 100% from the 3 games he played . As one of his games was on the top board

and the other two on board 2 his rating performance even exceeded that of Danilo. In fact, he was

the second highest rated player on the SELSCL website with a performance rating over 300 ELO

points in excess of his starting rating. Others to play included Sheraz who played 4 matches on a

board adjacent to me. Every time I looked at his position he seemed to be on top, but somehow he

ended up with nul points, but after a sabbatical sharpening up against chess hustlers in New York’s

Central Park, he has vowed to come back stronger for the Winter season. Richard made a very wel-

come return and won half his four games, while Thomas and Steve Douglas both won their games

when called up for action. Steve’s game was a real nailbiter, with constant fluctuations in fortunes

in a frantic time scramble which had me checking out the whereabouts of the defibrillator! Steve

messaged me later that evening saying how he had enjoyed the match even though it was a bit of a

baptism of fire and stressful!

All that remains is for me to once again thank all those who played over the Summer, contributing

to further success on our return to the Summer League in a memorable and truly historic season.

Tony Lane 11 September 2023

3. League Entries for 2023-24

We have entered one team in both the Manchester League and the Stockport League. We have been

placed in B division of the Manchester League and are expecting fixtures to be published soon. Di-

visions for the Stockport League will be decided at its Fixtures Meeting on 18

September.

4. Membership fees

With our membership year ending on 31

August, we charged £20 for adults to cover the period

from when we started up in April 2023, to the end of August. We charged £10 for juniors for this

period.

With the lower than expected membership, it would require a membership fee of at least £80 per

adult to cover the room costs for the year 1

September 2023 to 31

August 2024. Prior to the

AGM, members were canvassed for their opinions on whether this would be acceptable, or whether

each month we should drop one, or even two, of our meetings in order to reduce costs.

There were no strong objections to any of the proposals, with many respondents saying they would

'go with the majority'. Discussions at the meeting centred around which would be the best option.

A summary of points and suggestions raised at the meeting -

• a high annual fee could put off prospective new members

• reducing the number of meetings would mean a greater proportion of meetings would be

'match nights', with less opportunity for social chess and less interaction between match

players and social players.

• charging people for each visit rather than an annual fee. Some clubs (e.g. Bolton) have this

policy. However the point was made that there would be administrative difficulties, with

someone having to be delegated to collect money. There would also be uncertainty as to

whether costs would be covered.

• An introductory membership fee of (say) £30, which policy had in fact been used previously

when we were at the Woodheys Club. This would make the club more attractive to new

members, and hopefully would increase membership to allow us to reduce fees the follow-

ing year.

• An introductory free period of membership, with the option of splitting the subscription into

quarterly payments.

After some discussion it was decided to continue with weekly meetings. Subscriptions for

adults will be £80 per year, with the option to pay this in four quarterly installments. New

members will be given the first quarter free, and charged pro rata for the remainder of the

membership year. Juniors (under 18) will be charged £20 per year.

The Treasurer will investigate the feasibility of accepting payments by PayPal.

5. Election of Officers

All officers indicated their willingness to continue and were elected nem con.

Secretary - Reg Clucas to continue

Treasurer - Nick Lowe to continue

Competition Organiser – Mark Hann to continue

New member representative - Steve Ward to continue

Manchester League Captain - Tony Lane to continue

Stockport League team - Reg Clucas to continue

Summer League team - Tony Lane to continue

President - Tony Lane to continue

Chairman – Tom Tomkins to continue

6. Any other business

Various other topics were discussed -

• Publicity – put flyers on noticeboards in local libraries, supermarkets etc. This has been

done in the past, and the Secretary still has a copy which will be updated with our new de-

tails

• Website – it would be better to move to a 'paid' hosting service, as some browsers and ISPs

do not like free hosting sites, and either block access or produce offputting warning mes-

sages. Of course this involves more expense. The Secretary will investigate options.

• Should we separate match nights and social nights? The consensus was no. We should be

able to accommodate at least four tables for social games on match nights, with careful ar-

rangement of furniture and removal of the stacks of chairs from the room.