The following is the Report given by Shropshire Chess President Matthew Clark to this year’s AGM:
- I want to congratulate all clubs and players for their resilience this year. It has been a real challenge to manage Chess under pandemic conditions. I am delighted with how much Chess has been played both over the board and online and it has been very encouraging to welcome new players to the League and to see some great games.
- I would like to offer particular congratulations to Maddocks Chess Club and it is fitting that we are holding the meeting here after such a successful season for the club. Maddocks A team deserve particular praise for winning Division 1 with 8 wins out of 8. This is an amazing achievement, considering the strength of the League and is testament to the quality of their players and their strength in depth. Well done to Maddocks as well for winning the Rapid Play League and to Maddocks B for coming in 3rd place.
- I want to congratulate Glyn Pugh on being crowned County Champion for the 2nd time. Glyn previously won the Shropshire title in 1985 and it is particularly impressive to win the title again 37 years later.
- I want to thank Chris for all his hard work with the Juniors. It is significant progress for Shropshire Chess that he has organised regular sessions for juniors at the Nerdy Café in Shrewsbury. I want to congratulate Chris for his organisation of the Shropshire Mega Final at Charlton School with more than 50 junior players. Congratulations as well to the Shropshire Junior team for their promotion in the Junior 4NCL Online League.
- Other recent achievements by Shropshire players include Charles Higgie’s impressive results representing Wales and drawing against a Grandmaster. Congratulations to Oswestry for winning the Shropshire Online League.
- I want to thank all Shropshire and club officials. I particularly thank Chris for all his hard work as treasurer and junior organiser, Adrian for his superb work as League controller. Nick Rutter for his work as Grading Officer and organising the County Championship and Nick Holmes for all the work on the Shropshire website. I also want to thank Tony for his hard work and support as Secretary and to thank Alison as well.
- I am delighted to pay tribute to Toby who stepped down as Publicity Officer this season. Toby brought a wonderful sense of humour to his articles that we have all enjoyed. They have provided a wonderful chronicle for Shropshire Chess on the website over the last 16 years. We are also very grateful to Toby for running the Summer Rapid Play Competition. Many Thanks to Toby for everything he has done for Shropshire Chess and we wish Peter Kitchen the very best as he takes on the role.
- Some sad news this year was that Dave Gostelow suffered a stroke which has had serious effects on his health. Dave has been one of the strongest and most enthusiastic Chess players in the county for many years. We wish him all the best with his recovery.