OTAGO CHESS CLUB.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16052, 20 April 1914, Page 8

OTAGO CHESS CLUB.

The twenty-eighth annual meeting of the j Otago Ghess Club was' held at its rooms, : Princes street, last Friday evening. The ; president of the club '(Ven. Archdeacon : Gould) occupied the chair, and there were about 20 members present , 1 Tho, adoption of the report and balance sheet, which showed the club to be strong ; financially, was moved by Mr H. J. Armstrong, seconded by Mr G. S. M. M'Der- < mid, and carried unanimously. The mam clauses o r the report are:— ; The committee have pleasure in stating . that the numerinal strength has been well ' maintained during the past year. Three ' club contests took place during the season j just closed —via., senior championship, junior ' championship, and handicap tournament. f Tho followmg are the prize-winners:— < Senior, 0. Balk; junior, J. A. Murphy; : handicap tournament—L. O. Coombs 1, 0. '! M. Isaac 2, J. A. Murphy 3. -The season '! was opened by his Worship the Mayor : (Mr Wm. Downie Stewart), making the - fiist move in a match for ail chess players, j held on May 19, 1913, between sides chceen . by president and' vice-president, the latter ' winning by 13 games to li. Two matches : were played during the year—Against the i Dunedin Athenaeum and Mechanics' In- - stitute, the first resulting in a win for ] the Atiienaaum' Club by 18i games to 13i, •' and the second for the Otag6 Club by 18 games to 11. During tho year two matches were played over the board' with our old • friends the Oamaru Club—the first at Dunedin, and the second at Oamaru. In 'both ' games Oamaru proved victorious; in the ' first by six games to five, and in the second j by eight games to four. The club also played a telegraph match with the Canter- j ■bury Club, which resulted in a win for £ Otago by eight games to four. This is the j first- game played between these two clubs for some years, and it is a recommendation E to the incoming committee to see that re- j lations axe continued now tihat the ice is . j broken. The innovation of forming a ;' ladies' branch to the club has been given a t trial, and proved a success, there, heme six members. Their success is due in a large s respect to Mr G. S. M. M'Dermid, who has { given valuable time to coaching them. ~ Twelve committee meetings and one special meeting were held during the year, and , were attended by Messiß Fraer, 11; M'Der- , mid, 11; Cleland, 10; Coombs, 10; Mao- i Laurra, 10; Hastings, 9; Armstrong, 8; . Gould, 8; Ellis, 4; Balk, 4; and Myers, 2. \ The thanks of the club are due to' Ven. j Archdeacon Gouldi (retiring president) for his' untiring efforts in- advancing the in- tj terests of the club and of chess generally, g The. thanks of the dub are also due to Messrs Barnes and Welton (of Wellington), 0 the club's delegates to the Chess Aseocia- T tion; to Mr A. V. Fraer, ban. secretary-; and Mr R. A. Cleland, hon. treasurer, who have all rendered valuable assistance during their term of office; also to tibe press, who have at all times been willing to publish notes and items of interest to the club. The election of office-bearers for -the en- s '• suinjr year took place, and resulted in the c following being- elected:—President, Mr P. c MacLaurin; senior vioepresident, Mr D. Harris Hastings; junior vice-president, Mr L. D. Coombs; treasurer, Mr R. A. Cleland (re-ekcted); .- secretary, Mr A. V. Fraer (re-elected); auditor, Mr- C M. j Isaac (re-elected); hon. solicitor, Mr W. G. e Hay (re-elected);' general committee —Eight 0 nominations were received for the five vacancies on the committee, and resulted j in Messrs H. J. Armstrong, O. Balk, G. S. , M. M'Dermid, and S. S. Myers being re- j. elected; Messrs J. Long and J. A. 1 Murphy tied for fifth place, and on the casting vote of the chairman Mr Lang was elected. F The retiring president vacated tho chair in 1 favour of the incoming president (Mr MacLaurin), who was accorded . a very hearty e round of applause on his assumption of the j president's offico. , Ho expressed gTatifioa- t tion at being elected to the highest office in the club, and then proceeded to present j the prizes to the winners of the various j, events above mentioned. Messrs Harris j, Hastings and Coombs also returned thanks for their election to the senior l and junior p vice-presidency respectively. c General matters of interest to the club , c were fully discussed, and a vote of thanks s to the chair (moved by Mr Fraer) closed tho fi meeting.