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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