Annual General Meeting 2023

               Lytham St. Annes Chess Club AGM

                  held on 24th August 2023

Present: John Cooper (Chair), John Regan, Phil Raynor, David Aspinall, Colin Walker, Pat Coleman, Graham Smith, Richard Smith, Charles McNabb, Brian Bunday, Colin Wilks, Steven Clegg, John Cox (writer)

Apologies: William Gee, Danny Gee, Darren Pickering, Peter Wilson

Chairman’s Introduction:

   John Cooper explained that the AGM had been arranged at short notice and earlier than usual so that it was being held before the League Management Committee meeting on 31st August and League AGM on 7th September.

Minutes of last AGM meeting on 22nd September 2022 and Matters Arising:

   Phil Raynor proposed that the Minutes be accepted. This was seconded by John Regan and agreed by the meeting. No matters were still outstanding.

Chairman’s Report (John Cooper):

   When we met here last September for the last AGM it had been 3 years since we had had an AGM. We have now returned to normal and have had a good year.    With our spacious and comfortable venue here we seem to be attracting chess players of all playing standards in the Blackpool & Fylde area, not only in the main playing season but in the summer also, when an attendance of 20 or more has not been uncommon. Many of these have been juniors and their parents whose only previous experience of chess has been online.    At last year’s AGM we took the bold step of entering a 4th team playing, together with the 2nd and 3rd teams, in Division B. John Cox very kindly came forward as the 4th team captain and they successfully completed all their 12 matches. Phil Raynor continued as the 2nd team captain, leading it to 2nd place. Resignations last year of the former captains of our 1st and 3rd teams meant that we needed new captains for those teams and we were fortunate that Colin Walker and Darren Pickering were able to step forward.    Once again I must record my gratitude to John Cox and John Regan for their excellent work in running the club as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. John Regan rarely misses a club night throughout the year both welcoming and organizing newcomers and running the two club tournaments. He has been able to hand over his long- standing role as Press Secretary to Andrei Short, a worthy successor.    The club has an extensive range of chess books in the library which Paul Evans now maintains and these books are available for members via the club’s website.    Finally, I wish to thank all members who have played for the club’s teams last season and to remind those who wish to play for the club or in the Club Championship in the coming season that their ECF subs are due at the end of August. See John Regan’s email dated 18th August for membership rates and benefits.

Secretary’s Report (John Cox):

   I am pleased that the Club has run very well this year inspite of my lack of activity for a couple of personal reasons earlier this year and I thank the other John’s for their help. In particular I regret that our website was not kept up to date, although I am pleased that some of our new members found us through the website at lythamchess.org. I am currently trying to bring the results pages up to date before the new chess year starts and then keep on track.    I am also conscious that the email addresses that I have for members is quite a number short of the number of members. If you did not receive an email with the AGM Agenda, it is likely that I do not have your email address so could you please send an email to me at jbcox@posteo.net so that I can send you future notices.

Treasurer’s Report (John Regan):

:---:|:---:|:---: | |Total Bank Starting Balance at 23rd August 2022 - |    | £1353.74

Bank Income Blackpool and Fylde Room Hire X 2 | = £20.00 | Membership Fees (1) | £20.00 | = £40.01

Bank Expenditure Room Hire (26 weeks)| £260.00 | |= -£260.00

Bank Closing Balance| | = £1133.75

Cash Starting Balance at 23rd August 2023 | | = £2.18

Cash Income Short Charge repayment : £18.00 Loose change in Cash Tin : £1.82 Membership Fees (25 + 1 discount) £510.48 = £530.30

Cash Expenditure Summer trophy repair an engraving £8:00 Batteries £4:50 Scoresheets £17.98 Len Gibbins Trophy Engraving £6:00 Room Fees (34 Weeks) £340:00
Pairing Cards £6.00 = -£382.48

Cash Balance at 24th August = £150.00

Bank + Cash at 24th August 2023 = £1283.75

Notes 1. Before we get too excited about lowering our club fees, please note that the cash balance will reduce dramatically by £130.00 for room fees from Sep through to all but Christmas, which I intend to do following this meeting.

1. Given that we had 25 registered members at the moment, it is likely that we will require more equipment (algebraic chessboards and new sets. Plus new clocks??) This may be covered elsewhere this evening.

2. We have been fortunate in that the Ex Service Club while undergoing some financial difficulties have accepted and maintained our Thursday room fee at £10.00 (hence my desire to pay up to Christmas in advance!). There may be a room charge increase on the way. For these three reasons I propose that we maintain our current chess club fees at £20.00 per annum.

   John’s proposal that the fees should be kept the same level as the current year (£20) which should give us a slight surplus given the increase in the number of members was agreed. There was also support for the purchase of additional digital clocks and algebraic boards. The equipment cupboard is already full so a larger cupboard would be required. Andrei Short volunteered to look for a new cupboard.

 ;  John Regan said that he had been charging new members who had only joined recently £20 but that fee would cover next year’s membership as well. After much debate it was proposed by Andrei Short that in future anyone who joins after the main playing season should pay £5 until the end of August and then the current rate for the following year. The proposal was agreed by the meeting with one dissenter.

Press Officer’s Report (Andrei Short):

 ;  Since January five reports had been published in the Blackpool Gazette and/or the Lytham St Annes Express). However he was disappointed that there had not been more input from the other Clubs in the League.

Librarian’s Report (John Cooper for Paul Evans):

 ;  There had only been one enquiry for a book from the library. Paul had been given new books from ??. John Cox asked if these had been added to the list of 262 books on the website at lythamchess.org>members>club documents>list of books. As nobody knew, he undertook to ask Paul Evans.  ;  It was noted that there were no chess books in the three Lytham St Annes Public Libraries although books could be ordered for a loan period.

Team Captains’ Reports

1st Team (Colin Walker):

 ;  There’s been more opportunity to play in our 1st teams this year, as we’ve not only had the league games (which are 4-board long-play matches), but also the Rapidplay Cup (4 boards) and the Challenge Cup (8 boards, long-play) for the first time in 4 years. So it’s been a very full and enjoyable season.  ;  I’d like to start by putting on record my thanks, as 1st team captain, to John Regan for continuing to run our annual Club Championship and Summer Tournament alongside these team competitions. These club tournaments give our members a chance to play each other with the same conditions and time control as the league matches. This is really helpful in giving both new and returning players experience of over-the-board matchplay and I’m convinced that they are a big factor in our strength in depth and competitiveness in the leagues. They also help me and the other captains to identify in-form and up-and-coming players for team selection. We’re always keen to field the strongest team and to give all players an opportunity to be selected.  ;  In the league this season, in Division A, there were 5 teams from 4 clubs, which were, in order of rating strength, 2 from Preston, and one each from Poulton, Morecambe and ourselves. Predictably, that’s the order that the league table finished, although I think it’s fair to say that - in spite of some significant rating differences at times - all of the matches were competitive and all were played in very good spirit. We were always going to be the underdogs, as our top rated player, Sam Walker, had moved down to London, and Paul Evans – our regular board 1 and many-time club champion - took a break from chess and returned for only a couple of games towards the end of the season. But who doesn’t love being the underdog?... I did wonder about this at various points during the season... So I want to thank John Cooper, Phil Raynor and Dave Aspinall for regularly putting themselves in the firing line, as well as Darren Pickering and Andrei Short, who stepped in for a couple of games, and of course Paul for coming back to bolster the ranks at the end of the season. To give you an idea of how tough Division A was, our top individual scorers over the season were Dave with 2.5/7 and myself with 3/8.  ;  The two Preston teams were of roughly equal strength and they lost only to each other, but in one of our best performances of the season, we held their 2nd team to a draw. This effectively handed the Division A title to Preston’s 1st team. At the other end of the table we narrowly lost out to Morecambe: we won our home match against them, but lost the away fixture.

2nd Team (Phil Raynor)

 ;  This was a good season for Lytham 2 as we finished runners up to Preston 4 (Preston 4 proved to be stronger than Preston 3). From 12 matches we won 6 and drew 3. Regular players included Peter Wilson, Dave Aspinall and Andrei Short, all of whom scored above 50%.

Individual Results: ---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---: Player | L3 | Pr3 | L4 | Pr4 | Le | L3 | Pr3 | L4 | Pr4 | Po2 | Le | P02 | count | points | Percentage Colin Walker | 0.5 | | 1 | 0 | | | 0.5 | | | | | | 4 | 2 | 50 Peter Wilson | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | | |0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6.5 | 72.2
Savid Aspinall | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 12 | 7.5 | 62.5
Andrei Short | 0 | 1 | | | 1 | 0.5 | | 0.5 | | 0.5 | | | 1 | | 6 | 4 66.7 Phil Raynor | | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 50 Pat Coleman | | | | 1 | | 0 | | | | | | | 2 | 1 | 50 Darren Pickering | | | | | | | 1 | | 0.5 | 0.5 | | 0 | 4 | 2 | 50 Graham Smith | | | | | | | | 0 | | | | | 1 | 0 | 0

3rd Team Results (Darren Pickering)

 ;  It was a tough year and in the end Lytham 3 finished second to bottom in the division. We were slightly ahead of the fourth team with an identical record of 2 wins, 4 draws and 6 losses but just ahead on games won.

 ;  With three Lytham teams in division B, both the third and fourth teams took points away from the second team which potentially cost them a chance to challenge for first place in the division.

 ;  Thanks to everyone that played for the third team, and a special mention to Graham Smith who ended with a score of 7/11 for the season.

A full list of players that played for the team and their results: Name Score Games Performance Anderson, Torrin 1 1 100% Smith, Graham 7 11 63.64% Coleman, Patrick 2½ 5 50% Regan, John ½ 1 50% Pickering, Darren 5 12 41.67% Wilks, Colin 2 5 40% Morgan-Short, Andrei ½ 2 25% Smith, Richard 2½ 11 22.73%

4th Team Report (John Cox)

 ;  As expected the 4th Team ended the year in last place in Division B although we did get as many points as our 3rd Team. It was fitting that the last match of the year for both teams was against each other and ended in a draw.

 ;  However I believe that the objective of including a fourth team this year was met in that 12 club members had the opportunity to play in League matches. This included old members who did not have a regular place in other club teams and several new members who would not otherwise have had match experience.

B ;  en O’Rourke was our most successful player with 3 wins and 2 draws in the 5 games that he played for us. However I would like to thank all those who played and contributed to the team. A compete list of players and the results of their games is on our website for all League and Club games.

RapidPlay Cup and Plate

1st Team (Colin Walker)

 ;  In the Rapidplay Cup (teams of 4, with 2 games against the same opponent in one evening), John Cooper, Phil Raynor and Dave Aspinall were joined by Peter Wilson (with me as cheerleader and non-playing captain). I think it’s right that we don’t necessarily field the same team for rapidplay as long-play. We reached the final with a thumping 7.5-0.5 away win against Poulton’s 2nd team. Sadly we were on the receiving end of an 8-0 thumping away to a very strong Poulton 1st team in the final. The handicap calculations for this competition had us all rather confused and were the subject of much discussion, but with scorelines like that, they didn’t have any bearing on the final results at all.

2nd Team (Darren Pickering)

 ;  The 2nd Team won 5,5 to 2.5 against Poulton 2 in the first round of the Rapidplay Plate with Andrei Short and Pat Coleman winning both their games. They will now face Preston 1 in the final that is yet to be played.

Challenge Cup (Colin Walker)

 ;  The other major team competition was the Challenge Cup, played over 8 boards, long-play, and for which we selected a squad of 10 players. Again, we reached the final, thanks to the narrowest of wins, by board count, in an exciting home match against Morecambe. The final, away to Preston, was a daunting prospect but proved to be a terrific battle. We were competitive on all boards and went into an early lead in the match, before finally losing out 5.5-2.5 – as Preston’s captain wrote in his match report: “The result was definitely in the balance and much credit to Lytham for pushing us all the way”. And even though we ultimately lost the match, I think that this was probably the most memorable 1st team performance of the season and certainly the one that showed the strength in depth of the club. Paul was our top performer with 1.5 points from the 2 matches.  ;  Thanks to everyone who play

 ;  Note that fixtures and match reports for all League matches are on the league’s website: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/14087/home and our Club fixtures and results for League and Club Competitions are on the Club Website at https:/lythamchess.org

Club Championship

 ;  21 Club members participated in the Club Championship. Six rounds were held and there were joint winners with 5 points each. The winners were John Cooper and Colin Walker.

Summer Tournament

 ;  The Summer Tournament is still in progress. Four rounds have been completed so far and the fifth is progressing. It was hoped to have a sixth round before the League programme starts but this is looking now to be unlikely.

League AGM:

 ;  The League AGM is to be held on 7th September. The main concern for our club is the number of teams that we will enter next year in the League competitions given the anticipated increase in Club membership. Phil Raynor confirmed that the League would continue with two divisions. However this meeting agreed that in order to give as many Club Members the opportunity to play other Clubs we should increase our involvement and field 5 teams in the League and 3 in the Rapidplay Cup tournaments.

 ;  Colin Walker suggested that the additional Rapidplay Team should be a Junior Team and this was considered to be a good idea. However it was felt to be too restrictive as we only have a few Juniors and it was agreed that the 3rd Team would not be restricted but should aim to include Juniors when appropriate.

 ;  Additionally it was agreed that a Junior Team should challenge the Cleveleys Junior Chess Club to a one off match. Richard Smith volunteered to manage our Junior Team.

 ;  John Regan asked if the Club would be asked for Team Fees by the League in the coming year, but this has not yet been decided by the League Management.

Presentation of Trophies

 ;  Club Championship - Jointly awarded to John Cooper and Colin Walker  ;  Len Gibbins Trophy for services to the Club – after a vote, Dave Aspinall received the Cup  ;  Player of the Year – after a vote, Graham Smith was awarded the Cup  ;  Summer Tournament – not awarded as tournament is still in progress

Election of Officials

Present Officers  ;  Chairman – John Cooper indicated a wish to retire after a long (33 years) period as Chairman. On behalf of the Club, John Regan thanked John for his outstanding service to the Club and wished him well in the future. Phil Raynor volunteered to take over as Chairman and this was approved unopposed. Subsequent to the meeting, it was agreed between John and Phil that Phil would take over immediately.  ;  The other Officers were re-elected  ;  ;  Secretary - John Cox  ;  ;  Treasurer - John Regan  ;  ;  Press Officer - Andrei Short  ;  ;  Librarian - Paul Evans  ;  Team Captains  ;  ;  1st Team - Colin Walker  ;  ;  2nd Team - Paul Raynor  ;  ;  3rd Team - Darren Pickering  ;  ;  4th Team - Pat Coleman if 5 teams approved by League or John Cox if not  ;  ;  5th Team - John Cox if 5 teams approved by League  ;  ;  1st Rapidplay Team - Colin Walker  ;  ;  2nd Rapidplay Team - Darren Pickering  ;  ;  3rd Rapidplay Team - Richard Smith if 3 teams approved by League  ;  ;  Club Tournament Organisers  ;  ;  Club Championship - John Regan  ;  ;  Summer Tournament – John Regan

Other Business

 ;  Andrei Short proposed a one night Club rapidplay tournament along the Silver Queen format. This was agreed and Andrei undertook to organise this when the League schedule of matches is issued.

 ;  It was agreed that any member playing in a match that could be graded must have an ECF membership. Pat Coleman requested a list of Club Members and John Cox agreed to publish this including ECF membership status.

 ;  John Cox observed that the Club membership shown on the ECF website is confusing as it contains many names of people he did not know and some who had died some time ago. He proposed that he should write to the ECF in an attempt to include current members only. This was well supported.

Meeting ended at 9:40pm.