Letter from the Secretary

I trust you are all having a good summer. Please note my current e-mail address may be different from the one you already have. (My e-mail address is michael.chapman@baesystems.com

I wrote a letter to Mr. Smith, Marr College Chess Club, some 2 months ago. There has been no reply to date.

Members Present.

Paul Stevens Mike Chapman Vincent Bennis Ian Sloan

Jim Wainwright opened the meeting by thanking the members for attending. He was pleased to announce that the club had gained 3 new members during the past season, namely George Allen, Hugh Cameron and Stewart Hunt. An E.O.G.M was held in January to decide on the new venue for TCC. The result was that the club should accept the generous offer made by Mr & Mrs White to use the ‘Hopkins Coffee House’ as our new premises. (Which turns out to be an excellent venue for the Troon Chess Club).

03 Adoption of the minutes

1The minutes were duly adopted. Proposed by Duncan Malcolm, seconded by Ian Sloan.

The annual prize giving was again held in the Ardniel Hotel. It was well attended and a friendly, but, highly competitive knockout tournament was played afterwards. The winner was Clive Baird.The club gained 3 new members, but James Gray and Frank Park did not attend the club, however Frank did make a welcome appearance during April and it is hoped that he will make a regular appearance next season. Unfortunately, halfway through the season the Venice café became unavailable and we thank Gerry for all his support of the club. The club now meets in Hopkins Coffee shop. Thanks to Mr & Mrs White. Again some Troon players supported the Ayrshire Championship with a good tournament had by most. Jim Wainwright tested our ornithological knowledge by presenting a quiz which was won by Hugh Currie and raised £30+. The Web-site is up and running with lots of information displayed. (Ian will give a report later). There are books and magazines available for those who wish to borrow them. Speak to Joe Bradley on this point.

Duncan Malcolm expressed that the ‘A’ Team had just missed the ‘cut off’ point and thus had to do battle in the relegation zone. The team scored 28 points out of 54, with Irvine finally winning the league with 38 points. The team was without Len weir for most games, as he played for the ‘B’ team this season. Joe Bradley, Jim Wainwright and Vincent Bennis all played at least one game for the team, with the best team player being tied between John Calder and Duncan Malcolm.

Joe Bradley stated that the ‘B’ team was in fact not relegated due to the restructuring of the league. Some players were lost to the ‘A’ team and the new players Hugh Cameron, George Allen and Stuart Hunt made a valuable contribution. Joe thanked all players for there support and the best team player was Joe Bradley. The final league position has not been confirmed as yet.

The Junior Club started fairly flat with only four or five regular attendees, then one night a gang of about six new guys walked in and took over the joint. Their leader was Andrew Coll who was to prove himself the top cat. His one loss in the club against Manreek Basi upset him greatly. The Championship had 3 runners up, Manreek Basi, Andrew Welsh and last years winner, Daniel Couttie.

In order to retain interest during February I changed things and introduced a ‘pairs’ competition where a strong player was teamed with a weaker one. The idea was to spread the prizes and yet Andrew would not be denied. It saw an improvement in the play of Martin John and they edged home winners on the final night.

I was a bit dubious about the real ability of this group of youngsters, but we entered them for the Ayrshire junior league. Despite the fact that the Greenwood team who won was all secondary pupils, Troon managed to finish joint second. Six teams took part. I was very pleased with this performance.

One final story, Largs ‘B’ were playing Troon ‘B’ and Troon were a man short. Joe asked if he could borrow a junior member to play. I went across to Andrew and told him I was suspending his pairs match with Daniel as he was needed for the ‘B’ Team. He was not pleased but did as he was told and began his game against his sixteen-year-old opponent from Largs. Andrew at the time was only nine. He won his game and then returned to his other game and won that too!!!!!!!! Events such as this are what make chess folklore!

All competitions were well contested. We had the largest entry for the club championship with an all play all just being possible. In the final outcome Norman Jackson only played 1½ games due to family and business commitments. The champion is Gary Weir whose return to form is very welcome. He was well pursed by Duncan Malcolm, Clive Baird and latterly John Calder. It looks as though there will be a tie for runner up and it is my recommendation that John Calder be nominated for the outstanding game award against Norman Jackson. It was adjourned in January and Norman’s appearances have been rare since.

In the Gardner cup there were five contestants which was little to few even for 2 games against each opponent. Two players emerged as front runners and it was eventually Vincent Bennis who got over the finishing line first.

The Coronelli saw major upsets when Ian Sloan knocked out Gary Weir and Clive Baird fell to Jim Wainwight. Also there was a 3 game match between Mike Chapman and John Calder. (Mike was the eventual winner and went on to the next round.) We now have got a final between Duncan Malcolm (white) and Ian Sloan which has been arranged to be played in the Ardneil Hotel on Wednesday 10th May. (If both players are in agreement to this.)

The Radford was once again a stroll for Joe Bradley, who finished some thirty points ahead of the nearest contender, Jim Wainwright, who just scrapped ahead of Len Weir by 2 points. My recommendation for this tournament is that the proscribed openings be rested for a while and that player’s minimum time be increased to 45 minutes on each clock. Players must have equal games on white as black. I feel this will restrict the knockabout element of this competition. I would also request that ‘Radfords’ are not started before 8.00pm in order to prioritise Championship and Coronelli games. (It was decided to action this at the next committee meeting. M.C.)

I wish to congratulate all those who won, but more importantly, to thank all those who competed. I would also single out Joe Bradley for his excellent work with the chess boxes.

Gary Weir reported that the club was still in the ‘black’, which was helped by Jim Wainwright’s quiz, which raised £31.50 for the club. Gary recommended that the club fees remain as they were for the last season apart from the slight increase of the associate membership. Adult £17, Associate £15, Unemployed /Junior £10.

During the season an EOGM was held and it was decided that we take up the kind offer made by Mr. & Mrs. White to use the ‘Hopkins Coffee House’. This has been extended for the 2000/2001 season as well. Thanks to Len Weir for being instrumental in arranging this excellent venue. The annual rent is £100 and will be paid mid-season.

The membership agreed to accept the Treasurers recommendation regarding the membership fees. (Adult £17, Associate £15, Unemployed /Junior £10.) P-M.C & 2^nd J.W.

Jim Wainwright, who is the club president, starts his second year in office. Norman Jackson continues as Vice president for another year.

	Proposed	Seconded
Joe Bradley was elected as ‘Equipment Convener’	G. Weir	J. Wainwright
Len Weir was elected as ‘Press Correspondent’	M. Chapman	P. Stevens
Mike Chapman was elected as ‘Club Secretary’	J. Wainwright	G. Allen
Gary Weir was elected as ‘Treasurer’	P. Stevens	V. Bennis
Len Weir was elected as the ‘Tournament Convener	J. Bradley	D. Malcolm
Ian Sloan was elected as ‘Web-site Controller'	D. Malcolm	J. Bradley

	Proposed	Seconded
Vincent Bennis	G. Weir	I. Sloan
John Calder	M. Chapman	D. Malcolm
Paul Stevens	J. Wainwright	D. Malcolm
Duncan Malcolm	M. Chapman	J. Wainwright
George Allen	G. Weir	D. Malcolm

Ian Sloan reported that 545 total visitors had viewed the TCC web-site since it became live during the summer of 1999. Some 150 ‘visits’ would have been made by myself, the remainder averaging out at about 1 per day. The tracking software has been amended which now logs any repeat visitors to the site. The most visited page was the Club Championship. I am looking for suggestions for change, enhancements etc. What you like or dislike about the site. Please let me know of any ideas.

It was felt that to help promote the club and improve the ties with Marr Chess Club a match between Troon and Marr take place. This could be in the form of a simultaneous match. Mr. Smith (Marr College) currently runs the MCC and will need to be contacted. Mike Chapman agreed to contact Mr Smith before the end of the School term.

Gerry McDermott again donated £20 the Junior Club (1999/2000 season). All members thanked Gerry for his donation.

Month (2000)	Jan	Feb	March	April
Return Visitors	0	0	0	2
New Visitors	0	0	9	17
Total Unique Visitors	0	0	9	19
Internal Page Impressions	0	0	0	0
External Page Impressions	0	0	36	129
Total page Impressions	0	0	36	129
Total Sessions	0	0	18	46
CAR index¹	0	0	0	189
CRR index²	0.0	0.0	0.0	22.2