Elm Mount Chess Club – Annual General Meeting 28th May 2007.

 

Secretary’s Report.

 

  1. The 2006/07 season has proved to be a highly eventful season for the club. Amongst the highlights were :-

 

    • Promotion for the Ennis A team back to the Heidenfeld as Ennis Shield winners by a half point from runners-up Inchicore, with Captain Eugene McMorrow leading by example and gaining  a grading prize with a score of 9/11, (see Eugene’s report & photo),
    • A third placed finish for the Heidenfeld Team just behind Phibsborough but missing out on promotion on tie-break. (see report attached),
    • Six teams competing in the Leinster Leagues, and continued expansion of membership,
    • Alec Tyrrell winning the Elm Mount Player of the Year Award, (see photo)
    • Numerous individual tournament successes, including winner of the Leinster Chess Union’s Christmas Blitz, plus three other prize winners in the event (Zygis, (winner) & David Fitzsimons, Peter Scott and Tomas Bacjar), Grading prize for David in the Leinster Championships and for Gerry MacElligott in the Malahide Congress; Gerry also finished joint first in the Kilkenny Majors Section.
    • Victory for David Fitzsimons over Grandmaster Ruslan Pogorelov in the Salou Open, (see photo)
    • Active involvement of club players in the administration of Irish Chess, viz, Pat Fitzsimons, PRO, LCU, Peter Scott, Leagues Controller, LCU and Gerry MacElligott, Chairperson of ICU international selection committee for senior Irish  teams.

 

  1. I would like to thank all of the members for their participation in the club over the last year, in particular, my fellow committee members, tournament controllers and team captains for ensuring that club activities ran smoothly throughout the year.

 

  1. League Reports

The individual captains for last season will provide more detailed reports from their leagues. A quick summary shows that the Armstrong A team competed comfortably in the top Division, with Zygis getting the best individual score of 8/11. Details of the Heidenfeld and Ennis A team performances are mentioned above and in the attached reports. The Ennis B team competed comfortably in their league with the highlight being a 9/11 score for Andrew Peters. Unfortunately, our O’ Hanlon and BEA teams struggled during the season and were both relegated. Difficulties with availability of players during the season was a factor for both teams and is an issue that needs to be addressed in making decisions on team numbers for the forthcoming season.

 

 

 

  1. Branagan Cup & Killane Shield

The club entered two teams in the Branagan Cup. However, due to the unavailability of players we had to concede a walkover at the semi-final stage in one case while our other team lost narrowly by 3 -2 away to Bray. The highlight of that match was Alan MacDonagh’s win over Pat Reynolds on Board 1.

 

  1. The Elm Mount B team lost out by 1.5 – 3.5 to Inchicore in the first round of the killane Shield while the A team fared better with a comprehensive 4 -1 win over Bray A. However, the team subsequently lost out on tie break to Royal Lopez (see Eugene McMorrow’s report).

 

  1. Club members list and leagues.

An updated list of club members, Leinster league tables and team members performances from the 2006/07 season are attached.

 

  1. Annual Christmas Blitz & Player of the Year for 2007.

It is intended to have our annual Christmas Blitz event on Monday 17th December 2007 and to present the Player of the Year trophy and club championships prizes on that date.

 

 

Pat Fitzsimons

Secretary

Elm Mount Chess Club

28 May 2007.