My first year as ICU Chairman was by no means an easy one.
With no Membership Officer elected at the previous AGM and with a committee made up mostly of people who had little or no experience, it was always going to be tough. Thankfully Michael Crowe stepped into the role of Membership Officer shortly into our term but due to unforeseen circumstances two of our officers were forced to resign from their posts which left us in an awkward position. It took a while but replacements were eventually found in the form of Rory Quinn and Debbie Benjamin. Special thanks must be given to Debbie as she has done great work for the committee all the way from the other side of the Atlantic.
Despite our personnel problems we battled on and in light of the serious financial problems of the ICU the committee had to cut costs so it was decided to cancel the Grand Prix indefinitely and also to make the ICU journal an online only magazine.
This year was the first year it was possible to pay ICU membership fees online and except for some hassle caused by Paypal's strict rules, it was a great success. I would like to urge everyone to use this system of payment as it greatly cuts down the amount of work required to process membership forms.
On a positive note the inaugural issue of Kids Corner was released this year with great acclaim and special thanks must be given to Mark Quinn and John Healy for the hours of work they put into it.
On the chess front things went a lot better,
The Irish Championships got a face lift this year due to very generous sponsorship and was one of the best in recent years. One of the stipulations by the sponsor was that it had to be an open tournament where anyone of any rating or nationality could take part but the top Irish player would take the title of Irish Champion. This gave Irish players a very rare chance for GM and IM norms and Brian Kelly tried to take full advantage of this but just missed out on the chance to get his second GM norm by half a point. Nick Pert and Mark Hebden won the event on 7 out of 9 but as the top two Irish players Brian Kelly and Stephen Brady were proclaimed joint Irish Champions.
It was Irelands turn to host the Glorney and Faber this year and we didnt disappoint. The event was held in D.C.U. and had teams from England, Scotland, and Wales competing as well as three Irish teams. This year for the first time a Four Nations Championship was incorporated into the event and was for under 14 and under 12 players. The event drew huge publicity due to the participation of five year old Shane Melaugh from Donegal who was representing Ireland in the under 12 event. Special thanks must be given to Pat Fitzsimons who stepped in to organise the event and produced a great tournament.
We had some success abroad at junior level this year with David Fitzsimons who at the age of 16 became the youngest ever Irishman to beat a grandmaster and also at this years British Championships in Great Yarmouth where 8 year old Ronan Magee finished joint 2nd in the under 8s, 9s and 10s and also 13 year old Ryan-Rhys Griffiths scored a very creditable 5/11 in the main event.
I would like to thank everyone who served on the committee with me this year and I would also like to thank everyone for the great support which I have recieved.