This was a mixed year, with some highlights and some disappointments.

On the playing front our mens’ international team achieved its seeding in the Olympiad in Turin, with a particularly good performance of 7/11 by Alexander Baburin on Board one. The highlight of the womens’ team performance was the performance of 14 year old Poornima Menon, who was awarded, the title of Womens’ Fide Master based on her performance of 6/10. This was the second successive Olympiad, where an Irish teenager was awarded this title at the Olympiad and augurs well for the competitiveness of the Womens’ team in the future.

The level of participation in weekend tournaments dropped for the first time in recent years. There was also a poor entry for both the Irish Championships and the Irish Junior Championships.

The Ulster Chess union which withdrew from the Irish Chess Union in 2005 remained outside during the year. A small number of Ulster based players maintained their membership.

Further discussions were held with the National Sports Council in relation to the recognition of Chess as a sport. There is some movement in that the Sports Council now recognise the need for amending legislation to allow chess, bridge and other activities, which do not meet the current legal definition of sport to be recognised and subsidised by the state, because of their contribution to the community. However I do not anticipate this new legislation will be forthcoming for another year or two. At least we are past the stage when there was outright opposition to our case.

The Services provided by the Union were marked by continued improvement in the web site and the production of two excellent editions of the Journal. The high standards and quick response in preparing ratings was continued under new management. The membership officer experienced some difficulties in keeping up, associated with the necessity to give members a password to the site. In the coming year an alternative system of paying membership fees on line is being introduced. This should reduce the workload on the membership officer and Treasurer.

Junior Chess this year was noted for the absence of personality differences which had been evident in previous years and therefore by a relatively trouble free year. The outstanding performance of the year by a junior was undoubtedly that of the 12 year old Kilkenny player, Ryan Rhys Griffiths, who achieved a rating performance of 2104 in competing in an open tournament in Budapest in July, where he scored 5.5/11.

Overall there has been little progress this year in achieving the targets set out three years ago in our 5 year plan. A fundamental problem in achieving many of our objectives (whether of increasing the number of players or improving standards) is the small financial base we have to work with. A motion from the Executive suggests that we adopt a radically different approach to obtaining finance than in the past, targeting the significant number of new millionaires in the country to support chess as a philanthropic gesture to grow the sport. Significant funding would enable us like other sports to hire a full time development officer and to subsidise the coaching and travel of potential future stars. With our present structures and approaches we will achieve very little and that slowly.

I would like to thank sincerely all the members of the executive who served with me over the past four years and want to wish the incoming Chairman and Executive every success.