As the new Southampton Chess League season, 2022-23 gets closer, we take a look back at the League AGM 2022 to see what the new season might look like.

The Southampton Chess League’s Annual General Meeting was held at our club’s venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. Matthew Coldwell opened the League AGM 2022 at 19:30 on Tuesday 14th June. 20 people from the various clubs of the Southampton League attended. The League AGM concluded at 21:00.

Malcolm Clarke presented his Secretary’s Report, in which he noted that the 2021-2 season was in a sense experimental, as the League began to find its feet after the pandemic-caused break. The Robertson Cup and Plate were not contested as the League focussed on getting the League up and running in its reduced format. Fraser Macleod presented the Treasurer’s Report, and League subscriptions for the clubs were agreed.

Election of officers

• Chair: Matthew Coldwell was elected, and was Chair at the AGM, keeping things moving at a good pace.
• Vice Chair: Michael Pope
• League Secretary: Fraser Macleod
• Fixture Secretary: Malcolm Clarke
• Treasurer: no takers for this role yet, so Fraser continues for the present.
• Webmaster: a candidate for this role to be sought from the Clubs. Since the AGM Graham Stuart has kindly stepped up to fulfil this position.

2021-22 Season trophy presentations

	2018/19	2022 winner
Division 1	Ringwood A	Fareham A
Division 2	Hamble B	Salisbury A
Division 3	Ringwood B	Basingstoke A
Division 4	Salisbury C	Fareham B
Division 5	Ringwood C	Basingstoke C

Note: Robertson Cup, Individual and Rapid-play competitions were not held this season.

Planning for the 2022-23 Season

The structure of the new season was discussed: number of Divisions, number of boards per team, start and end dates of the season and so on. The clubs were invited to say how many teams they would field, and their Division preferences (assessing where they saw their teams would compete according to expected player strengths). There will be Robertson Cup and Plate competitions.

Here are some key features of the forthcoming season:

• There will be 5 Divisions in Southampton Chess League.
• The season begins on 28th September 2022 with a Division 5 fixture between Basingstoke D and Salisbury D.
• There will be Robertson Cup and Plate matches.
• Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will be fielding 4 teams, playing in Divisions 2, 4, and 5 (our C and D teams are both in Division 5). This represents the player strength profile of our club’s membership.
• Match captains can notify results directly to the SCL Website, as in recent seasons.

The League structure established, it will be for our Club’s own AGM, on Wednesday 21st September to decide, amongst other things, which players will play in which team, and who the team captains will be.