Achievements for
2008 by CV Executive Committee
It has been a highly productive year for Chess Victoria (CV).
There have been many achievements that have successfully promoted Chess in
Victoria.
I am extremely proud of these achievements and I am grateful
for the timeless efforts of my executive committee in assisting to achieve
them.
1.
Winter interclub 2008 - for the first time very generous cash
prizes of $1,150 were introduced for all grades
2.
Victorian Interschool Championships - more than 1000 children were
participating with nearly all top Victorian Juniors played in the finals.
3.
Separate Girls Finals (for Primary and Secondary schools
girls) were resurrected. All results are available on CV website
www.chessvictoria.netfirms.com.
4.
Victorian Championship and Reserves 2008 was played in 3 different
venues with prize money of $4,600. The last round was played in high
profile venue (National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road) with many
spectators present.
5.
Australian Masters 2008 was reintroduced again after 2 years. CV
was one of the cosponsors of the event. The Title of Victorian Masters was
won by IM Guy West. The winner of the tournament Vladimir Smirnov from
Russia achieved IM norm.
6.
Sponsorship by the number one radio station 3AW created a lot of
interest during the promotion of the Victorian Open and the Victorian
Championships. Interviews with the current Mayor of Melbourne Robert
Doyle, Channel 9 News Peter Hitchener and Fairfax radio presenter Denis
Walter. Twice editorials were published at the weekend’s Herald Sun
Newspaper.
7.
Introduced the Working with Children Act and made a constant effort
to create awareness for all clubs of the importance of work ethics when
working with children at the clubs or in the schools.
8.
Victoria (Canterbury Juniors) was host of the elite ERGAS squad
9.
The formation of the National Junior Chess League
10.
CV provided the venue for the traditional Elwood Bendigo Bank
Tournament in November saving this important event
11.
.CV Vice President Leonid Sandler was CV representative in
inaugural meeting of Australian Junior Chess League(AJCL)
12.
We would like to mention some fantastic performances of Victorian
players at home and overseas:
-
Victorian
Champion Igor Goldenberg became International master after a strong
performance in New Zealand,
-
Sam Chow
and Domagoi Dragicevic making IM norms,
-
Victorian Juniors captured many titles at the Australian Junior
Championship 2009 in Adelaide.
-
Cedric
Antolis winner of the under 18 title, Sally Yu under 18 Girls, 6 years
old Ethan Lim won the under 8 title with his older sister Denise who won
the girls under 12. Overall, Victorian Juniors outperformed their rivals
from other states.
-
11 year
old school boy Bobby Cheng won a few very strong tournaments in Victoria
and continues to improve,
-
Eugene
Schon won equal third at the Australian Open Championship 2009.
The Executive Meetings of CV for 2008 were conducted during the months of
March, April, May, June, August and October. I would like to thank on
behalf of CV all clubs that participated and made the time to attend the
“All Presidents” meeting in August. The President’s meeting was very
productive, not just in terms of issues and ideas discussed but also the
opportunity for all the members to meet with the new Executive Committee
and understand better what CV was trying to achieve in its first year of
office.
Rental Agreement
For
the year of 2008, the executive committee believes that CV has utilised
the premises of BHCC to its full potential. For 2009, Chess Victoria has
managed to negotiate and secured a very good rental agreement of $3,000
with BHCC.
Winter
Interclub
This year Winter
Interclub was very successful with its new structure and price incentives.
We had a lot of teams participating which created a strong and exciting
tournament. Chess Victoria’s decision to allocate prize money for the
winning teams was based on the belief that good incentives will create
more interest and a more competitive chess atmosphere.
We would like to
acknowledge the fact that there is a lot more that needs to be done to
make the participation of all affiliated clubs possible. We will work
closely with all of you to find the best structure for Winter Interclub as
this tournament has been for years one of the most exciting chess events
during the winter season.
Australian
Chess Federation ( ACF)
CV negotiated $1,000
payment instead of the original $3,000 plus requested by ACF for
outstanding fees dating several years ago. The higher fee was originally
requested by ACF due to Victoria’s interschool championships data going
missing and a proper estimate was not possible to be made.
Leonid Sandler represented CV as ACF delegate and has
participated in numerous telephone conferences making sure that the
opinion of CV committee is known to ACF Executive Committee. Thank you to
all CV delegates who participated in ACF annual conference in Sydney 2009.
New
Affiliated Clubs
This
year two new affiliated clubs joined CV - the former Frankston RSL Chess
Club now the Frankston Chess Club with new and much better premises and
the former Serbia CC as the City of Yarra Chess Club. This brings the list
of affiliated clubs in Victoria to 17.
It was also great to see the continued strong growth of
Croydon CC and Noble Park CC.
CV Executive
Committee would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new
committee of the oldest chess club in the country Melbourne Chess Club and
wish them all the best for the upcoming year.
CV
Web site
The
web site has been a huge success with more than 11 600 hits for CV website
in 2008.
The
Executive Committee would like to thank Gerrit Hartland the
webmaster
for his support during
the year by keeping the web site updated with the latest information. As
we all know the website desperately needs a face-lift and hopefully this
year we will be able to focus and create more modern and easy to use
website.
In 2008, the
Executive Committee made the decision to purchase the second website that
was available for sale
www.chessvictoria.com.au. We currently own
www.chessvictoria.com and
www.chessvictoria.com.au. From next year, we anticipate to activate
the two websites. This will make it easier for new members to browse on
the internet will be easier to join a chess club via CV website.
Olympiad Dresden
I would like to thank
all players of Victoria who actively supported with their donations our
Olympic Team. I was very proud of the excellent performance and desire to
win that was evident in each round during the Olympiad from our men and
women teams.
Darryl Johansen’s participation in the Dresden Olympiad was significant.
ERGAS squad
The
extreme success of this year’s Ergas Squad needs acknowledgment. Special
thank you to Kerry Lyall for her hard work and dedication.
Finally, I wish to
recognise and thank my Executive Committee, for their unbelievable support
and dedication, late meetings that some times would reach the early hours
of the morning. Without this support, CV would not have been able to
achieve any goals that were set in the beginning of 2008.
I would like also to
acknowledge Gary Wastell for all of his support and advice, Geoff Keenan
for his kind offer to chair every Victorian AGM, Gary Bekker Publicity
Director for all of his grade ideas during the year on how CV can rase
money and find new sponsors (CV will utilise all of them in the upcoming
year!), Milic Sucevic
Ratings Officer
for the
prompt and always correct rating’s list for every single tournament in
Victoria and David Flude Publicity Support Officer for his dedication to
promote all CV tournaments and events via his News Letter distribution.
In conclusion, as a
President of CV I am proud to have achieved all that I promised to you in
my letter addressed to all clubs in the beginning of the year dated 7th
of February 2008.
I am also proud that
the new Executive Committee has strengthened the profile of our
organisation in all the ways I outlined.
Katrin
Wills
President Chess Victoria
08-02-2009
