ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
OF THE METROPOLITAN CHESS CLUB - 2001/2
This year was an eventful year, but unfortunately mainly for the wrong reasons.
Initially the year started well when the congress last October attracted a record entry and the club accordingly made a useful profit. Thereafter the club lost two of its stalwart members in Ron Brown and Don Cuckson when both passed away before Christmas. After Christmas another member Jimmy Young passed away. Also the club heard that former Treasurer John Stoneman died suddenly. The club Secretary represented the club at all of the funerals, together with Tom Deery, Manny Blankett and former Secretary Victor Mathias who were present at some of these.
Ron Brown had been a member for many years, and was a keen and tenacious player, always willing to play, wherever the venue. Ron’s wife was blind, and she said that she had lost her “eyes” with the passing of Ron. He was a very affable personality and his usual presence at almost every club night meant he was notably missed.
Don Cuckson was also a keen player representing the club and captaining various teams over the years. It was interesting to listen to a speaker from the Humanist Society at the funeral service recount details of Don’s life, and his lifelong political interests, which culminated in his employment as a Librarian at the “Morning Star” newspaper. The fact that most members were unaware of Don’s background was a tribute to his unassuming personality. Don donated his collection of chess books and equipment to the club in his will.
Jimmy Young was a very personable man, and a great supporter of the club, despite being unable to attend in recent years due to living some distance away. He continued to subscribe and support the club’s congress financially. He was an authority concerning chess matters appearing on stamps. Victor Mathias advised the club Secretary that there was a book published by him on this subject by Stanley Gibbons. He was a great cricket fan and supporter of Middlesex CC.
John Stoneman was the club’s Treasurer until several years ago, when he had to leave the club under unfortunate circumstances, which many of the long-standing members will be aware of. He was a very keen supporter of the club as a player. Following his departure from the club, brought about by severe personal difficulties, it was good to see him overcome many of these difficulties in the last couple of years. He resumed regular match play for King’s Head and also played for one of the Middlesex county teams.
The success of the congress meant that the club’s financial position was very sound. This is just as well because in April the Bishopsgate Institute gave the club notice to quit by the end of 2002. Ideally the club would prefer to find new premises by the beginning of October to coincide with the start of the league season. At the time of preparing this report we have visited St. Botolph’s church hall in Bishopsgate to see if they are able to accommodate us. There is also an alternative possibility of a venue at the Middlesex Street Estate Community centre. We hope that one of these venues will be used, but are resolved to the fact that our rent will increase, which will necessitate an increase in subscriptions.
On the playing front the club had a mixed season. The London League First Team struggled all season competing against teams who fielded a variety of Grandmasters, International Masters, and other near-master strength players. It was not uncommon to see players graded around 170 plus playing on boards 10, 11 or 12 for other teams. Hence the First Team went into their last match against Lewisham needing a draw to avoid relegation. In the event the match was lost narrowly and their fate was sealed. Even so the team were only relegated on inferior games points, having the same match points as two other teams. George Dickson notably drew twice against International Masters. Andrew McGuinness was deeply affected by the team’s relegation, but after initially indicating his desire to step down from the captaincy he had thankfully decided to carry on. Our thanks to him and all the First Team players for their efforts on the club’s behalf.
The London Second Team, led by Zafer Djabri, creditably held their own in the Second Division, whilst the Third Team under Giovanni Vasco’s enthusiastic captaincy gained promotion for the second year running and will play in Division Three next season. The London Fourth team suffered a blow in losing Don Cuckson’s experienced hand early in the season, and were always heavily out-graded. The primary aim of this team is to provide match play to members not required by other teams, as well as giving experience to new members.
The Middlesex League teams had a quite successful season. The First Team, led by John Kitchen, finished third narrowly missing promotion back to the first Division.
The Formula Four team, captained by Ray Hamilton for players graded under 125 won their league.
The Formula Five team, without a proper captain for players graded under 100 were unable to fulfil any away fixtures due to insufficient players being available, and also defaulted some games at home matches. Hence this team will not run next season. We will run two Formula Four teams next season, with one team being intended primarily for players under 100 or those ungraded.
The club entered a team in the 4NCL qualifying competition over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend for a place in the third division. We finished ninth of ten teams so did not qualify. However, the 4NCL announced that a fourth division will be run so the club have entered a team captained by Zafer Djabri.
Ray Hamilton captained the Middlesex U125 County team, in which Peter Szabo, Joe Farrell, Giovanni Vasco, Mark Oakden, Kieron Murphy, Dave Saville and Bob Okrzeja all contributed to the team reaching the national knockout stage losing to Lancashire, the reigning champions in the quarter-final.
The club received several donations of books. Don Cuckson’s were a bequest in his will. Former President, Jack Moore’s son Chris donated some. Also John Stoneman’s family donated his books to the club.
Tom Deery and John Kitchen visited Jack Moore earlier in the year, after we found his new address in sheltered accommodation. He was in reasonable health and spirits considering he is now 96.
Kathy Griffiths and Zafer Djabri announced they were to marry, but the date has yet
to be decided. The Secretary mentioned that this should not clash with any club matches or committee meetings, or they might have to postpone it. They have set up a club website the address being www.metropolitanchess.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk .
This shows up to date news concerning club events and matches, gradings and games plus other features. Please support this excellent venture and advise any friends or contacts of this site.
As always we appeal for help with the congress on the Friday beforehand. Help is needed in setting up equipment and tables and chairs and other jobs. We always need stewards throughout the congress. We appreciate that members entering the congress cannot undertake any duties whilst playing but it would be appreciated if they could spare some time between rounds to relieve the main stewards. We will also need help on Sunday evening in clearing equipment etc.
As requested in the letter sent to members recently we appeal for donations of unwanted chess books and equipment, which we can sell at the congress to bolster the club’s funds.
The club has 55 members but the status of four of these is uncertain due to unpaid subscriptions. In view of the probable increase in rent when we move from the Bishopsgate Institute an increase in subscriptions is inevitable. This will be discussed further in the meeting. Members are requested to settle their subscriptions promptly when requested as this is of great assistance to the club.
The club lightning tournament will take place on Thursday, 19th September starting
at 6.30 p.m. sharp. Would members make every effort to support this traditional event.
Members are reminded that any change in their circumstances should be notified to
club officials or the Secretary. i.e. change of address, telephone numbers, and
availability for team play, resignation or other reasons.
Members are respectfully reminded that speed chess is not allowed under any circumstances,
because of the disturbance this causes to other members and the damage this can cause
to clocks. This ruling will still apply even if members bring in their own equipment.
They are also reminded that there is no smoking anywhere in the Institute.
Similarly the institute has a ban on the use of mobile telephones in the building.
These should be switched off whilst in the playing area. The same rules will continue
to apply at our new premises. Wherever we go we must ensure that we vacate the premises
promptly and leave the premises clean and tidy as clearly we need to establish a good
relationship with the staff at the new premises.
LONDON LEAGUE 2nd TEAM (DIV 2) - (Captain - Zafer Djabri)
The Second Team were promoted into Division 2 last year, and so we found ourselves playing many of the teams that the First Team had faced the previous season. It was always going to be a struggle, as on paper we were
fielding the weaker side in every match, sometimes greatly so. And we began
rather inauspiciously with an 8-2 defeat to Phoenix - not a good omen considering we had far stronger teams to face!
Two of these were the second teams of Hackney and Cavendish : Hackney 2
were able to field five players over 180, and Cavendish 2's entire team were
over 165! Needless to say we were again defeated, although there were
some upsets in both matches, particularly Kathy Griffiths's win over FM Bob
Eames, graded 60 points above her! And the final score of 6.5-3.5 against
Hackney was quite respectable.
A 5.5-4.5 win against fellow back-marker Woodbridge was the only positive result in the first half of the season, and by now it was becoming clear that we probably wanted another 2 wins to be able to avoid relegation. But against whom?
We hoped that we'd be able to score against some of the other teams who
were also struggling - our next match was against one of these (Streatham 2)
and we took an early 4-0 lead which looked very promising. Even when this
dropped back to 4-4 at adjournment, the remaining two positions were not
worse.. but fate was not on our side and the match slipped away!
With the prospect of returning to division 3 imminent, we faced a strong team in Wimbledon I - on average about 40 BCF stronger on every board - and yet
we somehow emerged ahead to the incredulity of both ourselves and our opponents!
After a close 4.5-5.5 loss to the strong King's Head 2, we secured our place
in Division 2 for another year with solid wins over Albany and Wanstead, and
so a meal at the Bengal Trader was organised to celebrate! With any luck, the
start of a regular fixture..
There are too many notable performances to mention - virtually every player
played above their grade - but the highest score was made by Aronis Gedvilas with 6/9. The other team regulars (Kathy Griffiths, Collins Young, Ray Hamilton, Zafer Djabri, Peter Szabo) all scored in the vicinity of 50%
against much higher rated opposition. Also noteworthy was Johnny Schneider's 3/4 and Stuart Pink's 2/3 on the higher boards where the grading
difference tended to be highest!
LONDON LEAGUE 3RD TEAM (DIV 4) - (Captain - Giovanni Vasco)
After promotion last year the team were promoted again winning their division, with 6/7 match points winning six matches and losing one. Against a very strong Dulwich team, who finished second to us. London deaf and Wanstead finished third. The addition of new members has strengthened the team in recent years, but it was still a remarkable performance as we were generally out-graded in five of the seven matches.
Top scorer was Wilbur Francis, with 4.5/6, and no losses, therefore winning the Spencer Trophy. Rob Hanson scored 4.5/7. Other scores were M Oakden 3.5/6, B Okrzeja 2.5/3, A Brogi 2.5/4, N Fogarasi 2/2, P Szabo 2/3, C Bennett 2/4 and A Gonzalez 1.5/2. A total of 20 players were used with no defaults.
Special thanks to Rob Hanson who played in every match, and Tom Deery who played in five matches, despite poor health, without losing a game. Virtually everybody played well and better than their grades would suggest. Added to this were enthusiasm and determination, which helped in achieving the results obtained, particularly against the stronger teams. A big thanks you to everyone who played.
Honorary Secretary - R Hamilton