Cranston Chess Club

Milad got clear first place and Earl clear second in the July Tournament. Congratulations! What's amazing is that both of them were under the median rating!!! Watch out!

FIDE Master David Griego (rating 2494) visited us one night in July. I don't think he played, but he stayed for a while and kibitzed a little!

The Sven Brask Chess Club (www.svenbraskcc.org, meets Wednesday evenings just over the border in MA) will host a lecture and simultaneous exhibition with GM Larry Christiansen (2622, #24 in top 100 list in the US) on Wednesday August 31 at 7pm. GM Christiansen will be playing against 40 boards. Reservations will be open to the public on August 10. The Sven Brask Club has graciously reserved some limited number of spots for members of our club. The cost will be $15 to play a board. You must get back to me ASAP if you are interested in attending this event. If you would like to attend but need a ride, let me know. If you would like to attend just to watch, let me know as well.

I wanted to remind you that you can renew or obtain USCF memberships through the club. This is always $1 cheaper than what's offered on the USCF site, and at least $3 cheaper than in most other places. The club also gets a commission if you join/renew through us, so you'll be helping the club too.

The results of the election and survey are in. 35 out of 43 eligible members cast a vote. This is 81% of the membership! This means that the Bylaws have been ratified. Thanks for helping out.

Results of the election (all counts out of 35):

- Approval of the Bylaws: Yes (35)

- President: Luis (32)

- Secretary/Treasurer: Brian (30)

- Club name: Cranston-Warwick Chess Club (15); Cranston CC got 10 votes, West Bay Chess Club 10, Rhode Island Chess Club 1, Quahog Chess Society 1, Knights 1.

Results of the survey (all counts out of 35):

- Fee/Prize structure of rated tournaments: 15 members were in favor of keeping a similar structure to the current one, with moderate fees/prizes. 12 were in favor of eliminating prizes and reducing fees. 2 were in favor of raising fees/prizes.

- Time control for rated tournaments: 16 members were in favor of keeping it as it is (40/75 SD/30). 6 were in favor of G/105, 3 for G/90, and 4 for G/60.

- Day of the week/time of the day for meetings: Almost everyone was in favor of evening times. As far as the days are concerned, 31 members said that Tuesdays were convenient, 14 Thursdays, 12 Wednesdays, 10 Mondays, 8 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 3 Sundays. Bear in mind that members listed all convenient days, not the best day for them.

- Location: 9 players live in Cranston, 5 in Warwick, 5 in Providence, 5 in N. Kingstown, 2 in Conventry, 2 in W. Warwick, 2 in Woonsocket, 2 in Wakefield, 1 in Riverside, 1 in Johnston, 1 in Cumberland.

- Time to get to the club: 21 members get to the club in 10-20 minutes, 7 in 21-30 minutes, 4 in more than 30 minutes, and 3 in less than 10 minutes.

In general, the results of the survey seem to confirm the current choices for rated tournaments, meeting day and location. It seems that opening a second night on Thursdays could help a little bit. If we get a bigger location for Tuesdays, it will be near our current place. For rated tournaments, it seems the membership is pretty evenly split between "no prizes" and "moderate prizes". We will look to leave prizes at a moderate level, but also to reduce them a bit in order to lower the fees. This should, I hope, make everyone happy.

Cheers,

Luis

Contact: info@cranstonchess.org