This letter is part politics , part book review , and part tale |
twofold . Firstly FIDE are pressuring us and other national |
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of woe , but more about my chess later ! |
federations to encourage coaches and controllers to get |
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If anyone had asked me a year ago , if I wanted to be part |
FIDE qualifications . For instance , FIDE object quite |
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of the ICU executive , I would have said , absolutely not . |
strongly to rating events that are not controlled by a FIDE |
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So what happened to change me ? Where and when was |
or International Arbiter . Establishing the National Arbiter |
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my Pauline conversion ? During the first half of the year , |
title is a stepping stone for anyone wishing to go for the |
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some very forthright opinions were expressed on the LCU |
FIDE titles . Secondly , encouraging controllers and event |
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blog about the then ICU executive . Regardless of their |
organisers to get qualifications can only improve the |
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truth or falsehood , the people making these statements |
events they run , and reduce the number of mistakes that |
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annoyed me with their negativity . I am a believer in the |
are occasionally made when making a draw , or deciding |
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maxim : put up or shut up . In June , I decided to run for the |
on disputes . Yes , of course , many of us have run |
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chairmanship . Most of my friends thought I was mad . |
tournaments , as I myself have . But I probably only know |
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They were probably right , but along with the opinions |
about 80 % of the rules governing disputes , and while this |
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about my mental health , there was also a huge range of |
is normally enough , for our prestigious events , this would |
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ideas for the betterment of Irish Chess . Thus , I |
not be enough . We will be holding training courses over |
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announced my interest in the position , and , the rest , as |
the next few years , and there will be a theory exam , but |
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they say , is history . |
the main qualification criterion is to have run a number of |
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Since September , your executive has been working hard |
tournaments . |
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on your behalf . We now have a budget with estimates for |
In early November , our women ' s officer and chess author , |
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our income , and allocations for our expenditure . This year |
Una O ' Boyle , contacted Senator Dan Boyle , who raised |
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is an expensive year for us , as we have to run the |
the issue of the recognition of chess as a sport in the |
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Glorney and Faber Cup competitions . For those of you |
Seanad . Sadly , his timing was somewhat unfortunate , in |
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who don ' t know , the Glorney is an international junior |
that he spoke two days after the Green Party announced |
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team event for boys . Mr . Glorney gave a bequest to |
they would be pulling out of government after the budget |
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sponsor such a competition , and it has been held |
had been passed . Even though we could expect no |
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annually since 1948 . Until the 90 ' s the competition was |
favours from a jilted Fianna Fail , it must be said that Sean |
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always between Ireland , England , Scotland and Wales . |
Haughey , who was responding to Senator Boyle ' s |
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But in latter years , teams from France , Belgium and |
questions , clearly didn ' t believe what he was saying , and |
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Holland have also played . This year , it looks as if there |
found it ridiculous that chess is not recognised as a sport . |
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will be the original four countries taking part . As our boys |
I must admit , that getting chess recognised as a sport |
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team have come very close the last two years to winning |
was not part of my vision , but sometimes opportunities |
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the competition , we have made it a goal to win the |
arise , and one must grab them while one can . I ' m not |
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Glorney . Our junior officer , Darko Polimac , has organised |
going to reveal all our arguments , because our chief |
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a complete training plan for the team , who will be picked |
weapon is surprise ... surprise and cunning ... cunning |
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early in the New Year by the new selection committee . |
and surprise - our two chief weapons are surprise and |
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Speaking of the selection committee , Gerry Graham is |
cunning ... and ruthless efficiency . |
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stepping down as the chairman after , I don ' t know how |
Now enough about politics . When I look back on the year , |
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many years , and I would like to thank him for all his good |
four events stand out . Firstly , there was the Dun |
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work in that role . Shannon Clements , who many of you |
Laoghaire |
Masters |
tournament |
organised |
by |
my |
will remember when he was secretary of the ICU , has |
predecessor , Eamon Keogh . What a fantastic event . In |
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kindly offered to step into Gerry ' s shoes . He is currently |
the GM event it was the battle of the Marks , with GM |
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gathering his committee , and will officially take over on |
Mark Hebden winning ahead of our own Mark Quinn and |
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January 1st . |
Mark Heidenfeld . Alex Lopez also scored his second IM |
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We are introducing some new national titles . We already |
norm . Well done Eamon for organising the event , to Gerry |
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have qualification criteria for the National Arbiter title , and |
Graham and Michael Crowe for controlling , to Mark Quinn |
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in the next few months we will be introducing 2 or 3 |
for doing the nightly reports , and to Una O ' Boyle for social |
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training titles . The details are still being worked out . You |
and promotional activities . |
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may ask what benefit does this bring , and the answer is | ||||||
4 | P a g e |
I r i s h C h e s s J o u r n a l |
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