The following message was delivered by our club president, Joe Demetrick, at the Annual Business Meeting this past Thursday.
To the Members of the Kenilworth Chess Club,
The Club had an extremely productive year in 2006. I have included a summary of our activities below:
The Annual Club Championship was split into two sections this year, an Open section and an U1800 section. This format appeared to be well received by the members, and produced a fair number of exciting games (see Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and Final). For the second straight year, Steve Stoyko claimed the Club Championship (after a G30 playoff with Mark Kernighan). Bob Pelican won the U1800 division, and Pat Mazzillo claimed the U1400 prize. Other tournaments held by the Club included our annual rated Game-30 tournament (see Week One, Week One Updated, and Week Two results), a Theme Tournament featuring the Reversed Dragon, and a blitz tournament.
The Club partially sponsored two teams in the U.S. Amateur Team East Tournament held in February (see games here, here, and here). The Kenilworth A Team, consisting of Steve Stoyko, Ed Allen, Scott Massey, Michael Goeller, and Brian Meinders finished 21st out of 272. The Kenilworth B Team of Greg Tomkovich, Joe Demetrick, Ray Massey, and Michail Kruglyak finished in 179th place overall. Member Glen Hart scored an impressive 6 out of 6 in the tournament.
Lectures provided learning opportunities for our members. This year, we featured three main lectures. In late May, Ari Minkov gave a talk on music and chess and Mike Wojcio organized a lecture given by Yaacov Norowitz on the Stonewall Attack. In October, Scott Massey lectured on Paul Keres. We also had a study group on the French Defense that was held in the Spring (see French Defense Repertoire, Parts One and Two).
Team matches with local Clubs have now become a major activity for us. This year featured 5 matches, the most in recent memory. These included home and away with West Orange, home and away at Holmdel, and an away match with Roselle. For all of these matches we were able to get together 10 boards, in and of itself an impressive feat given that some of the matches were held on nights other than our ordinary meeting night of Thursday and often involved travel. Despite our overall record of 2-3 in these matches (including a crusher to Roselle), these matches have become an excellent way for members to meet others in the NJ Chess community.
We held a couple of new events this year. The Consultation game that we held in the Fall spanned two weeks. This game gave lower rated members insight into the thought processes of stronger players. In the Spring we featured a theme tournament. The opening selected, English – 4 Knights – Kingside Fianchetto (or Reversed Dragon), was new to many (especially me) and thus gave members an opportunity to expand their opening repertoires. These two events were very well received by everyone and are likely to be repeated in the future.
Greg Tomkovich ran the Summer tournament with great success (see news of Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and wrap ups one and two). Now an annual tradition for the Club, the Summer Tournament brings an impressive number of people weekly at a normal slow time due to vacations.
We continue to have a strong presence on the Internet. Mike Goeller’s blog, The Kenilworthian, has gained a substantial following on the Internet. It has been mentioned on About.com, and now gets approximately 6,700 hits per month (with a peak of 11,665 in September). John Moldovan now contributes to the Web Site as well via his blog, The Chess Coroner. The Internet remains a strong way to communicate to members between meetings, to keep less active members informed as to current goings-on, and to attract new members to the Club.
To meet members’ ongoing fashion needs, we ordered golf shirts featuring a newly designed Club logo this year. With the design now made and paid for, we have the option of ordering other items (e.g. bags, hats, shirts, etc.) in the future. (NOTE: We have a couple shirts left over for those interested.)
The Club continues to benefit from having a diverse rating distribution in its membership. Members range from unrated to 2300+, giving everyone someone of similar ability to play or to analyze their games with. Having people new to chess is an important part of the Club. Our fiscal situation remains strong due in large part to the free availability of the Kenilworth Community Center to us. As a result, our low annual dues generally do not make financial considerations a hindrance to joining the Club.
It has been my pleasure to serve as your Club President in 2006. I thank everyone who assisted in suggesting, running, and organizing the various events during the year. I wish you all a Happy Holiday season and look forward to another year of chess in 2007.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Demetrick
President, Kenilworth Chess Club
14 December 2006
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2 comments:
Fortunately I will be able to come to the club during the spring next year. Has the schedule been planned yet? I am interested in playing in the club championship.
The championship usually starts the second week in January -- probably the 11th or 18th this year. We have not mapped out the calendar yet, but we should do so before January.
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