2005 Kenilworth Chess Club Year in Review

Our outgoing president, Mike Stallings, wrote the following reflections on 2005 at the Kenilworth Chess Club, which he presented at the annual business meeting:

2005 KENILWORTH CHESS CLUB YEAR IN REVIEW

Once again we have come to the end of a spirited year of chess. I hope it has been a very successful and productive year for each and every one of you. 2005 was a year of many positive changes for our club, now up and running for 33 years strong. It saw our membership grow to over 30 active members, our treasury maintain its healthy balance, and the first ever Kenilworth Chess Club website become reality.

There were many events that most veteran members of the club have come accustomed to such as our Club Championship, the East Coast Team Tournament held in Parsippany, the summer tournament, and our Fall Rated Tournament. It also saw some new activities to benefit our club as well. There were matches held against South Orange CC and also against the Roselle Chess Club. We also saw Scott Massey and Steve Stoyko hold reasonably priced lectures for our members before normal meeting times.

One of the more accomplished feats our club accomplished this year took place at the US Amateur tournament held in Parsippany during President’s Day weekend. Our club helped to sponsor two teams to compete in the tournament, and one of our teams received a prize for scoring 4 points out of six and having the highest score for a New Jersey team! I once again congratulate Scott Massey, Steve Stoyko, Mike Goeller, and Ed Allen for the wonderful accomplishment and for bringing some well deserved recognition to our club.

For the first time in 9 years, we also crowned a new Club Champion from our tournament that ended in mid April. Steve Stoyko dethroned Scott Massey by scoring 10 out of possible 11 points to take the championship. Also our new under 1800 champion, Joe Demetrick deserves recognition for scoring 6 points in a very difficult and competitive field. 12 players in total competed in our 15th annual championship, and we hope to add more to this year’s field.
The 2005 Summer Tournament was once again a raging success. 17 players from our club participated in the event, with prizes going out to Mark Kerrnighan, Greg Tomkovich and Devin Camenares for having the most points through out the 12 weeks. As always, Greg you have my thanks for doing a wonderful job in coordinating this event as always, and I hope to be able to play in this event next year.

As we prepare to conclude another successful and fun year of chess here in Kenilworth, I take a look at the horizon and see opportunities for us to grow even more in the future. I have always felt that this club has a wonderful group of members that all tend to be willing to help others in their goals. This is true whether it is a beginning player looking for advice on how to get better or whether it is a life master showing a B rated player where the mistakes were made in his last game. This gives us something that very few clubs out there have: a union of members whom day in and out look to make others better and also willing to take their time out to do this.
There are many people within this club that have gone above and beyond the “call of duty” to make our club prosper for yet another year. Each of our officers has, as always exceeded their duties in order to insure our club functions on a daily basis. Joe, I think you did a wonderful job as treasurer this year, and also provided additional help in making these team tournaments against West Orange and Roselle become a reality. Ari, as always, you have kept our minutes precise and helped keep us organized. Greg, as I have told you many a times, I feel you have helped me maintain my office and the duties with it, even when I am unable to appear at the club as infrequently as I am able to with my new job and location.

I also would like to thank our chess masters, Scott and Steve, for providing the lectures in order for us to all strive to become the good sound players we all wish to be. The cost of these lessons is minimal compared to the knowledge we have obtained from the time you have given us. I have special thanks to give to Mike Goeller. Mike, you took the idea of us having our first website, grabbed the bull by the horns and made it a reality. You also made it so that my end of the year address is only 2 pages instead of 10 as you have provided the results of all of our matches and tournaments! You certainly have given us access to an incredible tool for both current and hopefully future members to use to make our games that much better.

In closing I wish to thank each and every one of you for your support this past year. Due to our club growing so rapidly, some of you I have not even had the opportunity to meet and get to know, but I hope to remedy that in the near future. To each and every one of you, I wish for a safe and happy holiday season for you and your families and for also a more prosperous New Year.

Mike Stallings
President, The Kenilworth Chess Club
December 22, 2005