A growing Anstey Chess Club prepares to attack three divisions in the Leicestershire league in the 2022-23 league season
On 11th August thirteen Anstey Chess Club members gathered in the Anstey Methodist church for the the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). Chaired by ‘El Presidente’ Ben, the meeting consisted of lively discussions, important decisions, presentation of the new Presidents trophy and the usual informal and friendly environment which distinguishes our club. Next to the chairman, Boris ‘The Toaster’ almost set his hand on fire trying to keep up with the conversation as the minute taker. ‘El Capitan’ Oskar, Matt ‘The Dark Destroyer’, Mick ‘Just Mick’, Julian ‘Mr. Engine’, Mike, Brian ‘The Griller’, ‘The Lion’ Leo, Bob, ‘Big Daddy’ Valdas, and regular Dave were all at the venue, seated and ready for the meeting which started promptly at 7:30pm sharp.
The first point of attention were the reports from the chairman and the captains, and ‘El Presidente’ began with a long dramatic speech of gratitude aimed at the members, mentioning the growth and progress of the club throughout its short but colourful life. Ben continued with the numbers, showcasing his and John ‘The Torturer’ ‘s great book-keeping ability, which came as no surprise with the latter being a former accountant. The first team captain then preseted the report for the first team and gave the deserved honourable mentions for Matt and Julian who made the big difference in the second part of the league season. (for a full league season report, click here) With the last report, the chairman passed the ball to our second team captain Oskar who presented his report which included interesting stats which highlighted the great progress for our Anstey 2. Honourable mentions received Mike, Boris, Leo, Matt and Hal, all deeed responsible for the amazing performance of our second team in the second half of the season. ((for a full league season report, click here)
The meeting continued with a lively discussion about a Club Championship to be held this year. ‘Just Mick’, ‘Mr. Engine’, ‘The Griller’, ‘The Dark Destroyer’ and Mike all stepped in with ideas and opinions about the idea. The pros and cons of all formats were outlined and in the light of the expressed interest Ben summarised that there will be a sort of Club Championship in the incoming year, and that he will organise it appropirately with the members interested to take part. Following the agitated conversation, ‘El Presidente’ went on to present ‘The President’s Trophy’ which was given to ‘The Toaster’ for the time he had spent last year in developing the club’s website and Facebook page.
The membership fees were discussed and Ben confirmed that all subs would be due by the end of September.
The topic went by quickly as it preceded the main event of the evening – the decision of how many teams to participate in the next league season. As expected, all members weighed in with their opinions and conversation quickly started leaning heavily towards having three teams as opposed to two. The only concern was defaulting boards and the need for ‘doubling up’ (one player playing for two teams regularly) as the former would harm the teams while the latter was deemed as unacceptable by ethical and moral standards. Nevertheless, the members of our great club stepped in with ideas and commitments in order to ensure that even the most difficult periods will be addressed accordingly, and that all of the players would receive the opportunity to play competitive chess. Halfway through the conversation, returning Alan decided to join the meeting, apparently unaware of its starting time. At the end, all hands were raised in favour of having three teams in the Leicestershire Chess League’s 2022-23 season. Following their great performance, both the first and the second team were promoted, and in the next season Anstey 1 will be in Division 2, Anstey 2 will be in Division 3, and the brand new Anstey 3 will be in Division 4.
With the above put through, the members decided that the new first team captaincy would fall to Matt who agreed to step in, as he was already deputising for Ben at certain events. ‘El Presidente’ himself is taking the leadership of the second team while ‘El Capitan’ will be the captain of the third team. After the captaincy, the subject ‘Any other business’ encompassed several conversations about various ideas, from renaming the club to getting branded Anstey Chess Club t-shirts for the members. With topics like library initiatives, club promotion via various means, podcasts, Junior chess and even Reykjavik Open, the future looks bright and exciting for our favourite Anstey Chess Club. The meeting ended around 9pm and several members headed to ‘Passage to India’ where they enjoyed fun conversations, cold beer (except for ‘The Lion’ who naturally had Coke) and great curry.
After another great evening for the club, we are looking forward to what appears to be a bright future in front of Anstey Chess Club and its members. If you want to be part of this exciting journey, whether as a competitive player or just casual chess enthusiast, pop over to the Anstey Methodist Church every Thursday from 7:30pm. All abilities welcome!
Anstey Chess Club 