Massachusetts Chess Association

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 7:30pm

Boylston Chess Club, 35 Kingston St., Boston, MA and via Zoom

ATTENDEES: Andrew Hoy (President), Robert Messenger (Treasurer and Membership Secretary), Jeffrey Caruso (Clerk), and Directors Dmitry Barash, Igor Klempf, Alonzo Ross, Elsie Smits, and Yi Wang.

CALLED TO ORDER at 7:38 p.m.

1. Minutes

MOTION (AH/RM): to approve the minutes of the September 14, 2022 Board meeting.  Passed 8-0.

Unanimous consent motion (JC/AH): to suspend the rules and to approve the Executive Session Minutes from the September 14, 2022 Board meeting, distributed earlier by email.  Passed without objection.

2. Treasurer’s Report and Membership Report

Mr. Messenger presented the treasurer’s report and membership report (appended), including reports on the Speigel 1st Qualifier, the Junior Open, and the Greater Boston Open. The GBO in particular was a great success.

He noted that 1st Qualifier had more players than in 2021, but fewer than the pre-pandemic level of 100+ players. We probably need to do more advance publicity, and Mr. Klempf volunteered to send an email blast prior to the 2nd Qualifier on November 13.

It was noted with sadness that one Life Member, the legendary John Curdo, 17 times Massachusetts State Champion, has passed away.

3. Tournaments

Mr. Messenger discussed upcoming tournaments. There is a November 10 deadline for Tournament Life Announcements for the January issue of Chess Life.  We have eight tournaments to schedule in early 2023:

Gus Gosselin Grade Championship 

Hurvitz Cup

Massachusetts G/60 Championship

Massachusetts Girls Qualifier

Senior Open

Spiegel Cup 3rd Qualifier

Spiegel Cup 4th Qualifier

Winter Team Challenge

The venue for some of these could be the Boylston Chess Club, namely the Girls Qualifier and the Senior Open. Others will require renting an event room and the Tournament and Scholastic committees will work to reserve 6 weekends at hotels for the remaining tournaments.

4. Education committee

Mr. Hoy relayed Prof. Sweeney’s report on the Massachusetts High School Chess League (https://www.mhscl.org/). As was discussed earlier, the MHSCL had an online season last year with an in-person final at the Boylston Chess Club.  For the coming season we envision a season beginning in January through April timeframe, with three in-person events possibly held at BCC.

5. Next meeting

Unanimous consent motion (AH): the next meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at 7:30pm at the new location of the Boylston Chess Club, 35 Kingston St., Boston, MA.    Passed without objection.

ADJOURNED at 8:43 p.m.

Minutes written by Jeffrey Caruso, MACA Clerk