Chess Moves 2011 November-December.pdf

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The European Team Chess
Championships 2011
Mickey Adams, front, and Nigel Short in full flow at the tournament - pictures courtesy of Chessdom
Round 1 of the 2011 European Team Championship took place on 3rd November
at the Porto Carras resort in Halkidiki, Greece. The English men’s team had a nar-
row 2.5-1.5 win against Latvia with wins for Mickey Adams and Nigel Short on the
top two boards and a draw for Gawain Jones on board 4.
The women (captained by Glenn Flear) lost 3-1 to a strong Bulgaria team with
Dagne Ciuksyte and Maria Yurenok (making her England debut) drawing on
boards 2 and 3.
In round 2 the men played Greece and the women faced Israel ...
(This report, by Lawrence Cooper is continued on Page 5)
Report on Annual General Meeting
ECF News
- Andrew Farthing, Chief Executive
affect the goals and nature of the organisations, and
this is something on which members need to be
reflecting.
The “glass half empty” part of my nature causes me to
worry about the absence of challenge. Members’ time
is limited, of course, and I’m sure that the issues relat-
ing to funding had a greater immediacy and promi-
nence in the minds of many, but we do need to be
looking further ahead as well.
I should very much welcome feedback on either docu-
ment if readers want to contact me in the usual way.
Directors’ reports
All of the directors’ reports were received and
approved.
The Director of Finance’s report led to lengthy discus-
sion of the draft ECF annual statement of accounts,
which showed a deficit for 2010-11 of £5.6k. This was
a disappointing outcome, to put it mildly, given the
expectations of a significant surplus during the bulk of
the year. An unexpectedly heavy workload in the
Director of Finance’s day job meant that there had
been very little time to delve into the reasons for the
deficit or to finalise the accounts. Unfortunately, this
left the Board and Council without definitive answers
to their questions, and approval of the accounts had to
be postponed. It will take place as soon as practicable
by mail and e-mail.
One sentence in the Director of Marketing’s report
proved controversial. Referring to the incident prior to
the British Championships prizegiving, Stewart
Reuben stated, “Had the Marketing Director been con-
sulted initially there would have been no problem.”
Many felt that this assertion was questionable, and a
statement to this effect from Alex McFarlane was read
by the Chairman. Council members reiterated their
support for British Championship organisers, and I
took the opportunity to repeat the Board’s view that
the regrettable accusations made by some following
the incident were entirely without foundation. A pro-
posal to note (rather than approve) the Director of
Marketing’s report was overwhelmingly defeated;
Council members appeared to accept that the state-
ment was the expression of an opinion which, whilst
they might not agree with it, was within the director’s
right to express. The report was approved on a show
of hands, with 3 votes against.
The ECF’s Annual General Meeting took place at the
Euston Square Hotel, London on Saturday, 15
October. What follows is a summary of the main deci-
sions taken.
Extended sentence
To begin on a personal note, I was re-elected as Chief
Executive with no votes against. Although there was
no candidate opposing me, I did not take my re-elec-
tion for granted, and I am grateful for the support
shown. I’m sure that I made mistakes during my first
year, and doubtless there will be things I get wrong in
the months ahead as well. I do promise, however, that
I shall give of my best and follow my conscience and
my judgement in trying to do what’s right for the ECF
and English chess.
Achievement Report and Long Term Strategic Plan
Both papers were approved nem con [none against]
and without any questions posed or comments made.
As the author of the papers, I confess that I was
ambivalent about this. I may be in a tiny minority in
believing this, but I genuinely do think that these doc-
uments are an important part of the ECF’s health as an
organisation.
It’s a common enough reaction among chess players to
question the value of the ECF and to ask what it actu-
ally does, so the Achievement Report has to be tested
against whatever benchmarks members wish to apply
to see if the reported actions are adequate. Similarly,
when a planned action was not completed, is the expla-
nation satisfactory?
With regard to the Strategic Plan, I acknowledged dur-
ing the meeting that this was something of a holding
document, as the ECF makes a transition from its cur-
rent form to something (or rather, two somethings)
different. I did try to set out some indication of how
a split into a charity and a non-charitable body would
CONTENTS
European Teams - FC, 5
ECF News - 2
Junior - 10
Grand Prix - 18
International - 19
Results - 19
4NCL - 22
ChEx Bookshelf - 23
Book Reviews - 26
Batsford - 27
Calendar - 28
2
Directors and Officers Responsibilities
A number of changes were approved, removing out-
dated references (to a Manager of Chess for Schools
and to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
and bringing responsibility for the Voting Register
Officer under the Non-Executive Chairman, a more
natural home.
The age limit for the players covered by the Director
of Junior Chess & Education was lowered from 21 to
18. This brought the regulations into line with existing
practice, whereby the Director of International Chess
has dealt with the World Junior Championships (for
U21s) rather than the Director of Junior Chess.
Elections and Appointments
Every year at the AGM, the members of the Board are
elected, along with the FIDE Delegate and the
Chairmen and members of the Finance and
Governance Committees.
The results of the Board elections were as follows:
• President – CJ de Mooi was re-elected on a hand
vote, with 1 vote against;
• Chief Executive – Andrew Farthing was re-elected
on a hand vote, nem con;
• Non-Executive Chairman – Mike Gunn was re-elect-
ed on a hand vote, nem con;
• Director of Finance – Gareth Caller was re-elected
on a hand vote, nem con;
• Non-Executive Directors – John Wickham and Jack
Rudd were re-elected on a hand vote, nem con;
• Director of Home Chess – Adam Raoof was re-
elected on a hand vote, with 1 vote against;
• Director of Junior Chess & Education – Phil Ehr
was elected in a poll, defeating Sabrina Chevannes by
107 votes to 91 (with 4 votes for “Neither of the
above”, 1 spoiled ballot paper and 3 abstentions);
• Director of International Chess – Lawrence Cooper
was re-elected on a hand vote, nem con;
• Director of Marketing – Tim Woolgar was elected in
a poll, receiving 95 votes in favour against 89 votes for
“Not this candidate” (6 abstentions).
Nigel Short was re-elected as the ECF’s FIDE
Delegate on a hand vote nem con.
John Philpott was re-elected as Chairman of the
Governance Committee on a hand vote nem con.
Richard Haddrell and Andrew Leadbetter were like-
wise re-elected to the committee (with 1 vote against in
the case of the latter).
3
There was no candidate nominated in time for
Chairman of the Finance Committee. However, Mike
Truran has offered his services, and the Board
expressed its intention to appoint him and sought
Council’s views. None of the members present object-
ed. Ray Clark, John Philpott and Ian Reynolds were all
elected to the Finance Committee on a hand vote, nem
con.
Goatcher Chandler was reappointed as Auditor.
The Future Funding of the ECF
It will be recalled that the Finance Council in April
2011 voted in favour of moving to a membership
scheme as its future funding model. Following a peri-
od of consultation, the AGM was presented with a
paper setting out the final version of the membership
proposals and a set of detailed changes to the Articles
and Byelaws for approval.
Following considerable discussion, the results of the
polls were as follows:
• The amendments to Articles 1.1 and 5.14, removing
the need for individual Direct Members to sign the £1
guarantee, were approved by 184 votes to 22, a major-
ity of 89%;
• The amendment to Article 30(1), concerning the allo-
cation of voting rights based on actual or deemed
Game Fee, was approved by 156 votes to 23, a major-
ity of 87%;
• The changes to Byelaw No.1 (Direct Members) were
passed by 137 votes to 57, a majority of 71%;
• The changes to Byelaw No. 2 (Game Fee) were
passed by 134 votes to 61, a majority of 69%.
An amendment to Byelaw No.2, seeking to exempt
members of national federations other than the ECF
from payment of the “Pay to Play” fee for congresses
was defeated in a hand vote 19-8.
It should be stressed that Council did NOT set the
membership or game fee rates at this time. The ECF’s
rules require that this is done by the Finance Council
(i.e. in April 2012). The meeting was asked to note a
paper setting out the rates which the Board proposes
to present to Finance Council next April, which it did
on a hand vote, with 2 votes against in the room and
10 directed proxies against.
County Championship rules
An amendment granting the Director of Home Chess
discretion to nominate a central venue for the Final of
each Championship, subject to Board agreement. This
amendment, from the SCCU, was intended to give
flexibility to the Director of Home Chess, so that, if
the finalists are from the same geographical region, it
would not be mandatory to insist that both travel to a
central venue when a more local solution might be
preferable.
Comments
For most people, the decision over the funding pro-
posals will be the dominant feature of this year’s
AGM. Some members expressed deep reservations
and questioned whether they would continue within
the ECF if the changes were implemented. Others
were clearly anxious about specific aspects.
I am extremely conscious of these concerns. I recog-
nise the scale of the challenge in the months ahead,
not least to communicate effectively with players and
organisations across the country to explain what is
happening and to try to persuade as many people as
possible of the benefits and value of supporting the
national federation.
There are anxieties about the implementation of this
project, particularly the IT solution for online mem-
bership. I understand these concerns and the reasons
for them. I shall be committing as much time as pos-
sible to ensuring that the project is carried out in as
professional a manner as possible. For many, this
statement may be a cause for scepticism, and I under-
stand this. However, I have experience of implement-
ing projects on a much larger scale and of greater com-
plexity in the past, and I am optimistic that this can be
done in a satisfactory way.
I shall report progress over the coming months. For
now, I would ask for patience. I know that people have
many questions about the practical details of the
scheme but would respectfully ask that the Federation
be given some space to work at this time.
Peter Purland and Stewart Reuben
I should like to express my appreciation to both Peter
and Stewart for their unflagging support for the ECF.
As a relative newcomer to the Board, I was particular-
ly fortunate to be able to call upon two such experi-
enced directors for their counsel.
Peter’s dedication to the cause of junior chess is well
known, and many young players and their parents can
testify to his contribution in this area. Junior chess is
commonly considered a difficult area in which to
serve, but Peter was always careful to insist on the
warmth and friendliness of the vast majority of those
with whom he came into contact, and the pleasure
which he took in giving young players the opportunity
to develop consistently shone through in our conver-
sations. It is good news indeed that Peter has con-
firmed that he will continue to support junior chess
activity in various ways, his departure from the ECF
Board notwithstanding.
Stewart’s service to the ECF – and before that, the
British Chess Federation – has taken many forms and
will be well known to all, I am sure. I first encountered
Stewart’s name in the 1970s, in the pages of B.H.
Wood’s Chess magazine, where he was prominent as
organiser of huge events in London. As I started to
accumulate back issues of the magazine from the
1960s, I was able to enjoy Stewart’s “Letters from
America”, in which the startling exploits of a certain
Robert J. Fischer were beginning to rock the founda-
tions of the chess world. I shall miss Stewart’s anec-
dotes as much as I shall miss his sage advice, and I am
sure that he shall continue to be a loyal friend to the
Federation.
In addition to the above, the ECF expressed its grate-
ful appreciation to the following departing officials:
• Steve Connor – Webmaster for the consistently excel-
lent British Championship website, through which
many of us will have enjoyed live coverage of the top
games;
4
Vote of thanks
by Andrew Farthing, Chief Executive
The Annual General Meeting on 15 October included
a unanimous vote of thanks to a number of ECF offi-
cials who were stepping down from their roles after
years of dedicated service.
Among these were two members of the Board:
• Peter Purland, Director of Junior Chess & Education
• Stewart Reuben, Director of Marketing
• Carl Hibbard – responsible for the ECF’s online
grading database, the indispensable reference source
for grading information;
• Andrew Martin – Manager of Coaching, well known
to hundreds of players through his chess DVDs and
unfailingly entertaining commentaries at the British
Championships;
• John Paines – a former Board member (Non-
Executive Chairman) and member of the ECF’s
Governance Committee;
• Bob Veitch – for many years, the custodian of the
ECF’s voting register, ensuring that each member’s
voting rights were correctly reflected at Council meet-
ings;
• David Welch – Alternate to the Director of Junior
Chess & Education and joint Manager of the British
Championships, David has made a long and notable
contribution to English chess, and the Federation will
greatly miss his services.
On behalf of the ECF and everyone involved in
English chess, whether as player or organiser, I should
like to offer my sincere thanks to all of the above for
their commitment of time and energy in service of our
game. The Federation, in common with English chess
as a whole, places enormous reliance on an army of
dedicated volunteers to keep the game alive and thriv-
ing. We owe all of the above individuals a huge debt,
and they will be much missed.
England (22) – Bulgaria (8) 1 : 3
8.1 IM Houska Jovanka 2415 – WGM Videnova Iva
2297 0 – 1
8.2 IM Ciuksyte Dagne 2327 – WGM Voiska
Margarita 2328 �½ – �½
8.3 WFM Yurenok Maria S 2106 – WGM Djingarova
Emilia 2309 �½ – �½
8.4 WFM Bhatia Kanwal K 2087 – WGM Nikolova
Adriana 2286 0 – 1
Round 2 pairings:
England (8) - Greece (19)
5.1 GM Adams Michael 2734 – GM Banikas Hristos
2620
5.2 GM Short Nigel D 2698 – GM Mastrovasilis
Dimitrios 2621
5.3 GM Howell David W L 2633 – GM Papaioannou
Ioannis 2600
5.4 GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 – GM Halkias Stelios
2593
Israel (15) – England (22)
10.1 IM Klinova Masha 2316 – IM Houska Jovanka
2415
10.2 WIM Porat Maya 2299 – IM Ciuksyte Dagne
2327
10.3 WIM Efroimski Marsel 2230 – WFM Yurenok
Maria S 2106
10.4 WIM Vasiliev Olga 2305 – WFM Bhatia Kanwal
K 2087
Open section:
Round 2:
England (8) – Greece (19) 1�½ : 2�½
5.1 GM Adams Michael 2734 – GM Banikas Hristos
2620 �½ – �½
5.2 GM Short Nigel D 2698 – GM Mastrovasilis
Dimitrios 2621 0 – 1
5.3 GM Howell David W L 2633 – GM Papaioannou
Ioannis 2600 0 – 1
5.4 GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 – GM Halkias Stelios
2593 1 – 0
Round 3:
England (8) – Armenia (4) 2 : 2
8.1 GM Adams Michael 2734 – GM Aronian Levon
2802 �½ – �½
8.2 GM Short Nigel D 2698 – GM Movsesian Sergei
2710 �½ – �½
8.3 GM Jones Gawain C B 2635 – GM Akopian
Vladimir 2681 1 – 0
8.4 GM Pert Nicholas 2563 – GM Sargissian Gabriel
2671 0 – 1
5
Round 1 results:
Latvia (seeded 27) - England (8) 1�½ : 2�½
8.1 GM Miezis Normunds 2547 – GM Adams
Michael 2734 0 – 1
8.2 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 – GM Short Nigel
D 2698 0 – 1
8.3 IM Neiksans Arturs 2502 – GM Howell David W
L 2633 1 – 0
8.4 GM Starostits Ilmars 2456 – GM Jones Gawain C
B 2635 �½ – �½
European Team Chess
Championships 2011
(continued)

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