Archive - Yearbooks and AGM minutes from previous seasons.
The yearbook provides a summary of the club`s activities throughout the season as well as reports from committee members. Minutes taken at the AGM show decisions taken.
Only 14 members and 8 parents attended. We discussed possible venues. Andrew Conneely and others encouraged participation in external tournaments. Frank Sullivan explained our policy regarding vetting and how to get vetted. Many new officers volunteered for and were elected to the committee and more were co-opted to replace those who left during the season. Fees were restored to pre-Covid levels. At various committee meetings this year we decided to accept sponsorship of the Schools Outreach Programme and use it to pay coaches to deliver it. One member was given an official warning by a disciplinary committee (John, Enda, Eva), and agreed to amend their behaviour. We also agreed to pay half the cost of arbiter courses and training courses for members. Concern were raised regarding no prizes for non-Skerries residents in the Skerries Community Games which we agreed to address. Any matters arising?
In our 11th season, our first season open after the height of Covid our membership grew from to 55, if we include 6 who only stayed for the Community Games. Here is a breakdown, with last season's numbers in brackets.
All members 59 (30)
Adult members 19 (14)
Junior members 40 (16) (9 were associate members), 13 girls, 27 boys.
Average attendance was way up compared to last year, about 25 - 35 members each club night with many parents present too. More of our members participated in external tournaments and the leagues than ever before including a good few juniors. See icu.ie for details.
See Play > Tournament for tournaments run, results and prizes.
See Team > League. Choose Fixtures, results link for results for each team. On that site choose League Table to see final standings for all teams. Choose Teams and Panels and Player Panels for scores by individual team members.
Our first team (Captain John Loughran) narrowly missed out on relegation from Div 3 Ennis.
Our second team (Captain Enda Joyce, Paul Ryan assisted) were promoted from Div 5N BEA North to Div 4 O'Hanlon for next season.
Our third team (Captain Dermot Murphy) found it tough in Div 6N Bodley. Altogether 12 players got experience, many of them new to league chess. Unfortunately we gave a walkover in 2 different matches.
Last season the William Brennan Cup ran before our AGM, as Covid became less of a threat. We competed but failed to qualify from the group stage. All results on chessleague.net linked from Team page.
For away games, could passengers please bring €3-€4 to give to the driver towards fuel, without being asked.
Following a survey conducted by John we have enough players for 3 teams next season, but we may consider entering a fourth team if our membership continues to grow.
In the Community Games Dublin finals in February 2023, the U13 team won gold and qualifyied for the Leinster finals, ahead of Lucan. The team was made up of Stan, Tom J, Eibhlín, James S, Finlay, Ailbhe and Kaiden. So far we have four players confirmed for the Leinster finals in Longford on 29 July but we need more so please come forward if you are under 13 years of age (on 31/07/23 and living in Skerries) and fancy a trip to Longford. Enter your availability via the Team > Junior page.
The U11 team also played well on the day and got silver medals after a tough match with Lucan.
Four players (one team) entered the Mick Germaine Cup in Dublin in Dec 2022 and were managed by Karthick Thoppe. The team came fourth, our highest placing ever! Well done to Krishiv, Lorcán, Shane and Stan. All these results are on Player panel, results links on Team > Junior page.
There has been quite a good attendance at the various club tournaments throughout the year. The new online entry/availability facility is being used well by players. It makes it much easier and less time consuming for those organising and running events, although, there is room for improvement. Early entry to tournaments is advisable in order to avoid a late entry fee. If a player is unavailable for a particular round, then it is essential to give adequate notice by updating availability on the website. This will ensure pairings are accurate and everyone is paired in advance of arriving to the club. Any players who don't turn up without updating their availability risk been removed from the tournament. Ongoing proper use of the online entry/availability facility will remove the need for tournament organisers to make pairing changes on the night.
Free entry to club events for members until a week before each event. After that a late entry fee applies. The late fee was set at €10.
Our new web app is still under development by John Loughran. It has had some teething problems and some members found it hard at first to get used to. Now most members are able to enter tournaments, view their ratings, pairings, news items and other things. Certain pages are private to members and their parents only, including contact details of other members. Parents can join and view the supervision rota. Parents can now take attendance and record results of games on the app, which has facilitated rating of games. Team players can view board order and results for each match and see links to the League website also. The magnifier allows searching for any page using keywords. Coaching is now under Learn, which includes links to the Outreach Schools Programme. Next we hope to allow recording of vetting status and payments made, along with other improvements.
Despite a busy schedule we did coaching this year. Many adults and stronger juniors gave coaching, and many were coached, as noted on a chart on the noticeboard. Spot prizes were awarded to those coached and the coaches. Martin Krug coached us during his two visits and we also had coaching from Alice O'Gorman.
The Outreach Schools Programme, sponsored by PwC, thanks to input from Brian Leonard, was a qualified success. Two of the larger schools participated: St. Patrick's and Realt na Mara, while Educate Together and Skerries Community College may do so next year. Two of the three smaller schools, Holmpatrick NS and Milverton NS participated while Loughshinny did not respond. Extra lessons were given to those schools that did participlate to fulfil our remit.
The new web app has reduced the time needed to rate games and ratings are published weekly, usually the day after each club night, by John Loughran. See Rating for latest rating and progress. ICU ratings can be seen on the Team > Players page, and were updated recently.
We contacted various premises with a view to hosting the club for this season and next season. These included the Bowling Club (JL), the Sailing Club (JL & EJ), St. Patrick's SNS (JL), Realt na Mara NS (JL), Holmpatrick NS (EA & JL), the Community College (EA & JL), Café Jacques (EA), the Rugby Club (EA) and the Bridge Club. We negotiated with the three primary schools and in each case the Boards of Management rejected our application. In the end only the Bridge Club met our needs and agreed to host the club this season. We are negotiating with the Bridge Club for next season.
Handed out at the AGM, not in the web version of the yearbook.
Fees were restored this season to pre-Covid rates, i.e. €80 for adults, €70 for juniors with a €10 reduction for extra members of the same family. An extra €10 was charged to those playing in the Leinster Leagues which was a contribution to their ICU fee, largely subsidised by the club. A €5 late entry fee was introduced for those entering tournaments after the deadline.
Next season these fees will need to increase substantially (e.g. €80/70 will be €130/120) to cover increased rental, unless we secure a grant from Fingal Co. Co. We propose leaving it to the incoming committee to decide fees based on rental and grants. We propose increasing the late entry fee to €10, to encourage timely entry which greatly lessens the workload of the tournament controllers.
The Summer Time Handicap and Classic start next week. Entry deadline 16/5/23.
So far we have only 5 entries for the Willie Brennan Cup team. See Team > Leagues page to enter.
The AGM of the LCU usually takes place in July. We have a number of motions to propose. Copies are available in the club. We are allowed two delegates who can vote.
The AGM of the ICU happens in September.
The Drogheda Congress runs from 3 - 5 June, FIDE and ICU rated. John is the arbiter.
Any items for AOB proposed will be discussed here.
All are welcome to put themselves forward for posts. The outgoing committee are shown here. Thanks to all on the committee and to parent supervisors. Please volunteer for any post you think you could help with, as many posts could do with help. Newly elected/re-elected officers in bold
Prizes were already awarded for tournaments before Christmas, except the first two special prizes for the Skerries Community Games for non-Skerries residents.
2nd Jordan McMahon 2½/6
1st Jacob Fynes 5½/6
SCC Rating Prize 2022/23 1st Adult Joe Dunne +77 points
SCC Rating Prize 2022/23 2nd Adult John Loughran +67 points
SCC Rating Prize 2022/23 1st Junior Stanislaw Repeka +395 points
SCC Rating Prize 2022/23 2nd Junior Tom Jackson +292 points
ICU Rating Prize from SCC 2022/23 1st Owen Johnston +205 points
ICU Rating Prize from SCC 2022/23 2nd Mark Allidine +105 points
Skerries Board Prize Div 3 Ennis Shield 1st 2022/23 John Loughran 5½/10
Skerries Board Prize Div 3 Ennis Shield 2nd 2022/23 Grzegorz Pawlowski 4½/10
Skerries Board Prize Div 5N BEA North 1st 2022/23 Owen Johnston 10/11
Skerries Board Prize Div 5N BEA North =2nd 2022/23 Mark Allidine 8/11
Skerries Board Prize Div 5N BEA North =2nd 2022/23 Enda Joyce 8/11
Skerries Board Prize Div 6N Bodley Cup N =1st 2022/23 Lorcán McDonnell Ryan 2½/4
Skerries Board Prize Div 6N Bodley Cup N =1st 2022/23 Jacob Fynes 2½/8
Skerries Board Prize William Brennan Cup 2022 1st 2022/23 Joe Dunne 2/3
Skerries Board Prize William Brennan Cup 2022 2nd 2022/23 Owen Johnston 1½/3
U11 Tom Tyndall 2/3
U13 Eibhlín Sullivan 3/3
Lorcán McDonnell Ryan 5½/6
Áine Loughran
Jack O'Brien
Ailbhe Tyndall
Eibhlín Sullivan
Mary Loughran