Chairman's Welcome
Dear Chess Friends,
Welcome to the new Munster Chess Union website, and I would like to take this
opportunity to thank Ray O'Brien for his work in making this a reality. It is a
cornerstone of my thinking with regard to Munster Chess that we need to be more
accessible to the individual players who make up our membership and support the various
clubs throughout the province, this new website will enable us to do that.
I would also like to thank Frank Noonan and Simon Lawrence for all their hard work
on the executive and Gerry Graham whose extensive support and willingness to share his
expertise and experience have been invaluable.
Thanks are also due to all the various people involved in organising the conferences
that take place in the province and the arbiters who oversee them, without their hard
work we could not have the opportunities to play the game we love that we currently
enjoy. For those of you who have yet to play in the conferences, please do come and
join in, they are great fun and the community spirit is wonderful. You need not worry
about not being the greatest or most experienced chess player, I am living proof of
that!
This is a time of change for Munster Chess, the executive committee has been
considering several ways to increase the involvement of club members and to encourage
the expansion of chess opportunities by encouraging the spread of new clubs, hopefully
this website will be of assistance in meeting these goals and encourage a greater degree
of communication between clubs and the executive.
There are some exciting plans for the coming year, proposals include the introduction
of a second club competition in the form of a knockout tournament to complement the
existing league, with rounds to be played at club venues to keep down costs for clubs
taking part. We are also looking to have the Munster Chess Championship as a stand alone
event in future to include a junior championship alongside the main event, this will
hopefully raise the profile of the championship and increase the number of tournament
opportunities for those who wish to enter.
Whilst we are, very grateful to those gentlemen who originally set up the Munster
Chess Union and drafted its constitution, we also acknowledge that their hard work was
performed many years ago and this years AGM will see the presentation of a proposed
revised constitution which attempts to bring us up to date and take into account issues
which we, with the benefit of hindsight, can address which were unforeseen when the
original constitution was drafted all those years ago. the world has changed and we
need to move with it.
Perhaps most importantly, this website will enable your executive to share
information directly with us, the members, and by doing so increase our involvement
in what is after all our Union. I for one am excited about what we can achieve together
and look forward to sharing the journey with you.
Yours in Chess
Alan Salsac
Chairman Munster Chess Union
30th July 2014
