I just want to post a quick piece on the Leinster Chess Union (LCU) AGM, which was held on the 25th of June. I'll emphasise issues of interest to ICU members, but many readers will be from Leinster, so I intend to cover all the key points. This is all based on memory and a few hastily scribbled notes from last night, so please don't take this as a complete or definitive record.

The meeting kicked off with the President's address from Phil Smith. The key issue for him seemed to be increased member participation in the running of the ICU. He asked everyone to encourage their club members to attend the ICU AGM in September.

Treasurer Gordon Freeman reported that the LCU has run a small surplus again. The LCU's finances are in a commendably healthy state. The only issue raised from the floor was over the paltry interest received on the deposit account. Phil Smith explained that this is a trade off - the account could be moved to one with a higher interest rate, but this would mean that withdrawals would require far longer notice and would incur penalties.

Peter Scott gave a quick report on the leagues. He noted that the ICU was again unable to provide the LCU with an up to date list of ICU members, which made it impractical to implement the LCU rule that league players must be ICU members. Jack Killane is retiring as a league controller, so Peter asked for a volunteer to get in touch with him (you can get him at if you're interested yourself).

Michael Germaine gave a report on the LCU competitions run this year, namely the two weekenders - the City of Dublin and the Leinster Championships, the Christmas blitz and the Branagan Cup and Killane Shield. He got a laugh when he misread Wayne Murphy's name as "Wayne Rooney"!

Kevin Kostick of Dublin University (henceforth DU) discussed the ruling against his club in the Branagan Cup final. In that competition, teams are composed of five players from a panel of eight - this is explained clearly on the application form. In the final versus Phibsboro, DU used two players not in their panel, and were disqualified by the controller. Kostick argued that the controller, Germaine, is a member of Phibsboro and also that DU didn't have access to information about Phibsboro's panel that Phibsboro had about theirs. There had been an appeal to the LCU, which upheld Germaine's ruling. Germaine and Scott explaned that an attempt to put detailed information online had been made but there had been some difficulty with the website. Germaine had emailed the information about DU's panel to Phibsboro when their captain asked him for it, and would have made the same information to DU had they requested it.

PRO Pat Fitzsimons gave a short report, mentioning some sponsorship from Greencore for the forthcoming City of Dublin weekender, articles in the Northside People and Southside People - free fortnightly newspapers with a large readership in Dublin, some other media work and the LCU School of Excellence.

We moved on to motions. First up was one suggesting that all players under 1200 in the leagues be treated as if they are 1200 for the purposes of the 150 point rule - board order. This was not put forward as there were objections about it not having been distributed to clubs before the meeting, though it seems to me to be worth discussing next year. Next was a motion to reinsert a rule about relegating teams which give a walkover. The rule had been omitted when the rules underwent a big rewrite last year. This was passed, though there were some concerns that the wording was a little unclear.

On to elections, where the following committee was voted in:

• President Phil Smith (Bray)
• VP/PRO Pat Fitzsimons (Elm Mount)
• Tournament Director Michael Germaine (Phibsboro)
• Leagues Controller Peter Scott (Elm Mount)
• Treasurer Gordon Freeman (Gonzaga)
• Webmaster Eddie Gahan (Benildus)
• Secretary Charlie Talbot (Curragh)

In other business, Rathmines declined promotion to the Armstrong, as that would leave them with three teams in that division, and there was a vote of thanks to the outgoing committee.

We wrapped up with a prizegiving.

If I've misrepresented anything here, gotten something wrong, or just plain forgot something, let me know, and I'll fix it.