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. Later, minutes taken at the AGM (in bold) are added to show decisions taken.
Brian Leonard, John Monaghan,
49 attended, including 38 players (20 last year), a record I believe, and others volunteered for offices beforehand.
20 attended our last AGM. Many new officers volunteered for and were elected to the committee and more were co-opted to replace those who left during the season. We secured the Bridge Club for a venue for the current season at the same cost.
At committee meetings during the season we decided to offer reduced membership fees to marginalized groups within Skerries, roughly 1/4 of normal fees, and to charge unemployed people 1/2 fees. Any late fees for such people would also be halved. We received a small grant from Fingal Co. Co. of €300 to help towards this.
We decided to pay half the cost to members of training (e.g. arbiter training) that would directly benefit the club, with no cap. We also said we would pay half the cost of external in person coaching (e.g. Dublin CC lessons) with a cap of €60 (currently about half the standard adult fee), provided members attended most lessons.
With increasing junior members and difficulties getting some parents to supervise we decided on broad membership criteria, in rough order of importance:
We decided recently that children of parents who do not contribute to running the club, by supervising or otherwise, will not be readmitted as members next season.
Parents who want their child to try out the club should ring the chairperson, sign up and complete the Join > Apply/Try form on our site before their visit, and stay with their child on their first visit, when a committee member will explain about supervision etc. Parents must join the rota or agree another role. Kids brought by other parents will not be admitted.
After their trial night 2 - 3 committee members will decide on whether to initially accept membership of a junior, with this decision for review after 4 - 6 weeks. Rejected members will receive a part refund of fees, of €10 per full month remaining, less €20.
Any matters arising?
Lorenzo proposed charge an extra fee for Parents who do not contribute to running the club. To be considered by Committee
Any items for AOB?
Susanne Sweetman - Personalised Clothing
In our 13th season, our third season open after Covid our membership is currently 69, excluding free members and those who paid €40 / €50 to play in the Fingal Open, Here is a breakdown, with last season's numbers in brackets.
All members 69 (incl. 2 women) (57) + 8 Fingal Open (10) + 4 Parents (0)
Adult members 28 (20) incl. 2 (2) women
Junior members 41 (37) (not incl. associate members), 6 (6) girls, 35 (21) boys + 3 Comm. Games (4).
Average attendance was very high, 38 members (and 9 parents) each club night (25 members/night last year). This was a 50% increase on last year and space and supervision were problematic. Many members participated in external tournaments and the leagues including juniors. See icu.ie for details. Susanne Sweetman administered our facebook page and did a great job, attracting a few new adult members.
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) came fourth last, narrowly avoiding relegation from Div 3, the Ennis Shield, by 1 point, thanks to a good final round. Losing 3 1st team and 2 second team players at the start of the season had an effect, although one came back midway through which helped us survive.
League Table.
Our second team (Captain Mark Allidine) narrowly avoiding relegation from Div 5N BEA North. Our difficulties fielding a team continued from last season when we were relegated to the BEA, especially for away games, despite the apparent availability of 3rd and 4th team players. We conceded 4 walkovers altogether. Players need to keep their Availability up to date.
League Table.
Our third team (Captain Rui Caneira, team 3A) finished in mid table in Div 6N Bodley.
Rui writes: The 3rd team completed all scheduled matches this season without defaulting on any games, despite facing challenges with player availability where several team members were unable to participate in consecutive matches. I am particularly grateful to our 4th team players who willingly stepped in as substitutes when needed, demonstrating excellent club spirit and cooperation between teams. Overall, we achieved a respectable mid-table finish, which represents solid progress considering that most of our squad made their competitive league debuts this year. This season provided valuable experience for our newer players, giving them important exposure to competitive chess and laying a strong foundation for improved results next year.
League Table.
For the first time we fielded a fourth team (Captain Rajiv Gicale, team 4B), who finished in mid table in Div 6N Bodley, fielding full teams for every match. Many new players including juniors got experience. We deliberately shared the stronger players between both 3A and 4B teams so the weaker ones would not have to play on the higher boards. This worked well as most players scored some points. Rajiv writes: The 4th team can only be described as the future of Skerries chess with young talents who are capable of competing against senior players. Though we had challenges at times fielding our strong players due to their availability, we fielded a full 4th team for all our matches with no defaults in any game. Overall, the 4th team finished this season in mid-table against other seasoned teams but with great competitive spirit, and we will definitely come back stronger and hungrier for the next season.
League Table.
Skerries and Balbriggan entered a joint team in the inaugural Queen Maeve Cup, which ran alongside the National Club Championships in Sligo in March 2025. We lost to the eventual winners in the last round finishing 7th out of 10 teams, but really enjoyed it.
chess-results.
Last season we entered one team in the Killane Shield and two teams in the William Brennan Cup. Our Killane team qualified from the group but then lost the semi-finals while our Willie Brennan teams did not qualify from their groups. All results on chessleague.net linked from Team page.
Brennan Group Phase - Group B - Skerries A team
Brennan Group Phase - Group C - Skerries B team
Killane Group Phase
Killane Knockout Phase and report on the Cup KO stages held in Skerries
The knockout stages were held in Skerries in St. Patrick's SNS, as described in the excellent report above.
Again this season the committee decided not to ask players to contribute to fuel for drivers, but that the club would subsidise any driver who gave a lift to a player not from their own family. We estimated the total cost at around €300.
Following a survey conducted by John we have enough players for 3-4 league teams next season, and 2 teams in the summer cups. Players who have not done the survey should do it now please under Team > Survey. Responses can be seen under Team > Available.
It is essential that players keep their Availability up to date, for their team and higher teams who might ask them to sub. Otherwise the captain's job is very difficult and walkovers or even relegation could result.
6 players (one team and two joined another team) entered the Mick Germaine Cup in Dublin in Jan 2025 and were managed by Rajiv Gicale. The team came 7th and the others did well too.
We entered 2 teams in the Community Games Dublin finals in March 2025 in Coláiste Éanna. Both teams, the U11s and U16s won the Dublin finals and qualified for the 'Leinster Finals'. Both won their 1/8 and 1/4 finals locally but were knocked out in the semi-finals in Longford. All results are on the Team > Junior page in the Players links after each event. Thanks to captains Brian Leonard (U11s) and Frank Sullivan (U16s).
Brian writes: Skerries experienced a successful and enjoyable year competing in the Community Games.
We entered teams at both Under 11 and Under 16s levels following our own Community Games tournament run at local Skerries level.
Our Under 11 and 16 teams were successful winners of the Dublin Comminty Games held in Colaiste Eanna is early April, both defeating Shankill in their finals.
Both teams were then successful in respective close encounters in the Leinster last 16 and last 8 against Kilcullen and Enniskerry. We then moved on the Leinster semi finals hosted in Longford. Both teams were very narrowly defeated in hard fought semi finals.
Many thanks to all the players for their efforts, good humour and flexibility. A special mention to our new 'Spanish' Skerries residents who provided 2 players for the Under 11s this year.
As an aside observation, the overall competition structure, communication and administration would benefit from review. It is very difficult for managers, parents etc to react at short notice to match requests at short notice with distances to travel.
All these results are on Player links on Team > Junior page.
Last AGM John was elected as vetting officer. When he contacted the Garda Vetting Bureau they informed him that as our coaching of children was incidental to our coaching of adults and other club activities, we do not qualify as a relevant organization where vetting is required. More details are on our Policies page. Since then he has updated the Child Protection Policy and Safety Statement, which are linked from that page.
We have been blessed with dedicated supervisors who willingly support our club activities weekly. As well as the supervisors who do thier regular duty, some have done more than their share, stepping in often at short notice, namely: John Monaghan, Iva Gaspar and Suzanne Sweetman. However, we have also faced difficulties in the early part of this year as we see other supervisors who undertook to do supervision duties but have expressed their unavailability during rostered days, or in some cases did no supervision at all. Parents of the new junior members who have recently joined the club, have willingly pledged to do supervision as planned and have greatly supported our usual supervisors. This in turn has partly resolved our earlier problems. However, the committee has decided that for next season the supervisory roles will be made clear to Parents of new junior members and reapplicants.
Our club ran successful tournaments throughout the year in both Swiss and round-robin formats, with the icu.ie - FIngal Open standing out as our largest and most prestigious event. Players enjoyed a variety of time controls including classical (longer games allowing for deep strategic play), rapid (games lasting approximately 15-30 minutes per player), and blitz (fast-paced games of 5 minutes or less). Participation remained strong across all events, with increasing numbers of both junior and senior members competing. For complete results prizes and upcoming tournament information, see Play > Tournament.
Generally the online entry/availability facility is being used well by players. Early entry is free, a week before each event, and avoids a late entry fee of €10. Any player who is unavailable for a particular round, should update their Availability using this link on the Play page. Those who are 'no shows' risk being removed from the tournament. On nights where only friendlies take place there is no need to do this.
Our new web app is under continual development by John Loughran. 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. As planned we now record payments made, along with other improvements.
Many adults and stronger juniors gave coaching, and many were coached, as noted on the Coaching record on your dashboard when you log in. Spot prizes were awarded to those coached and the coaches. This year we had to pay for 5 coaching sessions from current Irish Champion IM David Fitzsimons, which ran in tandem with the Fingal Open. Full details are on our Learn page. Attendance was excellent despite the cover charge of €5 for members or €10 for visitors.
The Outreach Schools Programme, sponsored by PwC for the third year, thanks to input from Brian Leonard, was a success. This year Milverton NS, Holmpatrick NS and Realt na Mara participated. Three different classes were coached in Realt na Mara as other schools either missed the deadline or did not follow up. John Loughran and Paul Ryan delivered the lessons, and the programme was a great success in participating schools.
Ratings are published weekly, usually the day after each club night, by John Loughran. See Rating for latest rating and progress. You can now see the past history of your SCC, ICU and FIDE ratings there via links. SCC ratings were adjusted upwards in an attempt to broadly match the upgraded ICU and FIDE ratings.
We have already secured the Bridge Club for next season, and paid a deposit.
Handed out at the AGM, not in the web version of the yearbook.
We propose maintaining fees at €130 with the usual €10 off for juniors and €10 off for second family members, and an extra €10 off for joining by the second Tuesday in September. This is to cope with increased rental costs. Following discussions with the Skerries Athletic club we decided to reduce the entry fee for the Skerries Community Games to €5 but to charge non-members this fee once for the Dublin Finals and subsequent stages. For this fee we are essentially subsidising the cost of these events. As usual €10 extra is paid by those playing in the Leagues, towards their ICU membership fees which the club pays. We propose keeping the late entry fee at €10, to encourage timely entry which greatly lessens the workload of the tournament controllers. We propose keeping the fees the same for next year. All fees are detailed in the Fees link on your dashboard.
David's last coaching session on "Analysing your own and master games" is at 7:15 pm next Tuesday, 20th May.
The SCC Blitz Club Championships starts on 27 May. The entry deadline before a late fee applies is 20 May.
Please answer the two questions on the Team > Survey, now if you or your child has not done so yet.
The AGM of the LCU usually takes place in July. We may have motions to propose. We are allowed two delegates who can vote. In recent years we have had great success in the motions we proposed being passed.
The AGM of the ICU happens in September and all ICU members are welcome to attend.
The Ennis Congress runs from 16 - 18 May, this weekend, FIDE and ICU rated, with John Loughran as arbiter.
The Drogheda Congress runs from 31 May – 2 June, FIDE and ICU rated. Last years six club members played.
The proposal by Susanne to have Personalized Clothing was discussed and the AGM attendees agreed it was a good idea, with about 17 interested and about 11 not. Susanne and Shamsa will investigate and report back to the committee on range, pricing and availability.
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 and for the Fingal Open and Club Championships. See under each event on the Play > Tournament page.
The U18 Girls Cup was awarded to Ashisya Muthu Thirupathi. Unfortunately the U18 Boys Cup has not been returned by last year's winner yet.
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Junior 2024 1st Neel Raparthi 4½/5
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Junior 2024 =2nd James Sweetman 3½/5
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Junior 2024 =2nd Aarathya Muthu Thirupathi 3½/5
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Junior 2024 =2nd Adhisya Muthu Thirupathi 3½/5
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Junior 2024 U900 2nd Alan Florczak 1½/5
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Open 2024 =1st Adam Florczak 3/3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Open 2024 3rd Owen Johnston 2½/3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Open 2024 U1100 1st Adam Scanlon 2/3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Open 2024 U1100 =2nd Rui Caneira 1/3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch Open 2024 U1100 =2nd Tomasz Florczak 1/3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 1st Miguel Silveiro 5½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 =2nd Owen Johnston 4
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 =2nd Mark Allidine 4
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1500 1st Ethan Gicale 3½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1500 2nd Adam Gicale 2½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1500 3rd Rajiv Gicale 2
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1400 =1st Kornel Pongracz 3½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1400 =1st James Sweetman 3½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1400 3rd Lorenzo Petrone 3
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1300 1st Alan Florczak 2
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1300 =2nd Matthew Houlihan 1½
Skerries Rapid Club Ch 2025 U1300 =2nd Jake Lamont 1½
Mick Germaine Cup 2025 Board Prize =1st Yuri Gaspar 4½/6
Mick Germaine Cup 2025 Board Prize =1st Adam Gicale 4½/6
2025 Dublin & Leinster Community Games U11 Board Prize 1st Charlie Leonard 4/4
2025 Dublin & Leinster Community Games U16 Board Prize 1st Kyle Aoki 3½/4
SCC Board Prize for 1st Team in Ennis 2024/25 1st Miguel Silveiro 6/10
SCC Board Prize for 2nd Team in BEA 2024/25 1st Mark Allidine 5½/8
SCC Board Prize for 3A Team in Bodley 2024/25 1st Adam Gicale 2½/3
SCC Board Prize for 4B Team in Bodley 2024/25 1st Ethan Gicale 3½/5
SCC Rating Prize 2024/25 1st Adult Miguel Silveiro +98
SCC Rating Prize 2024/25 1st Junior Ethan Gicale +235
ICU Rating Prize from SCC 2024/25 1st Adult Mark Allidine +56
ICU Rating Prize from SCC 2024/25 1st Junior Yuri Gaspar +45