Board of Directors Meetings

Our Board of Directors  Meeting for the Committee of the Corporation is open to all, and your voice is important for the quality and improvement of our FREE Scholastic Chess Tournaments.  The meetings are due to take place every tournament for fifteen minutes after the trophy presentation, from approximately 3:30 to 3:45. (Most recent will be placed on top.)

The Right Move Chess Foundation

5/30 TRM Board Meeting Notes

  1. Attendees: Walter Mockler, Sreeni Alampalli, Sandeep Alampalli, Jon Leisner, Smita, Iyengar, Zach Calderon, Mary Ann Sorrentino
  2. Preparation for TRM 137
    • Walter will coordinate medals inventory with Brother John.
    • Sreeni will coordinate team awards with Brother John.
    • Smita will update team totals on the website prior to the tournament.
  3. Picnic Preparations
    • Brother John confirmed the reservation at CBA.
    • Supplies:
      • Mary Ann will bring the left over supplies from last year. Smita will try to get water from Hannaford.  Brother John has put in the request for Stewarts ice cream.
    • Brochure:
      • Mary Ann will send a draft brochure to the board members for comment. Dates will be included on the schedule but most locations have not been determined yet.
  4. USCF Vouchers
    • After a great effort by all, we sold all of the 300 vouchers we ordered.
    • It required an extensive effort and we are at risk of losing money by purchasing such a large quantity of vouchers. We would like to order less vouchers next year.
  5. 2019 – 2020 Board
    • President – Mary Ann Sorrentino
    • Vice-president – Being recruited
    • Treasurer – Brother John McManus
    • Chief Tournament Director – Jon Leisner
    • Steward – Walter Mockler
    • Information Technology Officer – Smita Iyengar
    • Public Relations Officer – Zachary Calderon
    • Secretary – Liz Alexander-Jacob
  6. 2019 – 2020 TRM Season Rules and Format
    • There was a lengthy discussion about TRM rules and tournament format. For the 2019 -2020 season we will use the Rules below.

2019 – 2020 TRM Season Rules

  1. General – There will be a series of about 10 free monthly chess tournaments for scholastic players from October through June. Tournaments will usual occur on the first Saturday of the month.
    • Only tournaments following 2019 – 2020 season standard format described below will be used for awards purposes. These tournaments will be named using the TRM ### format.
  2. Tournament Registration
    • Online registration will be open until 6:00 pm of the Thursday prior to the tournament.
    • Players that register online and don’t show up (without proper notification as defined on the registration form) will be assessed a $5 penalty at their next tournament.
    • Onsite registration will be available on the day of the tournament. To play round one players must register by 9:15 am.
  3. Sections – There will be four unrated section and four rated sections.
    • Rated sections – Adults are not allowed to play in the Rook section independent of rating. Rated sections will include:
      • Open – Open to all – Players with a standard rating over 1400 must play in open.
      • King – Standard rating of up to 1400
      • Queen – Standard rating of up to 1000
      • Rook – Standard rating of up to 600
    • Unrated sections – Rated scholastic players will not be allowed to play unrated scholastic sections. Unrated sections will include:
        • AWE – All Welcome
        • kNight – Scholastic – Up to 12th grade
        • Bishop – Scholastic – Up to 5th grade
        • Pawn – Scholastic – Up to 2nd grade
          • In an attempt to promote growth of players and ensure unrated players are paired against players of similar ability there will be a move up rule for unrated players.
            • Players in unrated sections are strongly encouraged/recommended to move up after winning a trophy (1st, 2nd or 3rd) two times.
            • Players in unrated section will be required to move up after winning a trophy three times.
            • The move up progression will be: Pawn to Bishop, Bishop to kNight, kNight to Rook.
            • For example, if a 1st grader wins three trophies in the pawn section, they will be required to move up to the bishop section.
  4. Tournament format –
    • For all sections other than open – tournaments will consist of four games at G/30 d/5, with games scheduled for 10:00, 11:30, 1:00 and 2:15.
    • For the open section – tournaments will consist of three games at G/45 d/5, with games scheduled for 9:45, 11:45, and 1:45.
    • All rated sections games will impact regular and quick rating.
    • A maximum of one half-a-point bye is permitted and can be for any round. Players must let TD know before pairing of the round for which the bye is requested. If it is for the first round, players are to request the bye during registration.
  5. Tournament Awards – Presented following the final round
    • Individual
      • Awards are for Scholastic players ONLY.
      • There will be NO AWARDS for adults.
      • There will be no awards for AWE or Open.
      • USCF Standard Tiebreak System will be used to break the ties.
      • For all sections other than AWE and Open –
        • Trophies will be awarded to the top three SCHOLASTIC players in each section with 12 or more players.  Trophies will be awarded to the top two SCHOLASTIC players in sections less than 12 players.
        • Medals will be awarded to scholastic players with 2.5 points. New players (first, second or third TRM tournament) will earn a medal with two points.
    •  Team
      • Players must register for a team in order for their score to count towards team score.
      • The top four scores of scholastic players from each team will be added together to determine team score. This task will be performed by TRM volunteers by using the tournament results from SwissSys.
      • Teams scoring 12 or more points at a tournament get a certificate.
      • In the event of a tie, number of players present at the tournament for each team that has a point tie will be tallied and the team with more players will win the tiebreak.
  6. 2019 – 2020 Season Awards
    • Individual
      1. Scholastic Player of the Year Award and Top Scholastic Players will be based on player scores for standard TRM tournaments held throughout the 2019 -2020 school year (TRM 138 through TRM XXX) in both rated and unrated sections. Awards will be given to the top 10 players.
    • Team
      1. Team of the Year Award and Top Teams will be based on team scores for standard TRM tournaments held throughout the 2019 -2020 school year (TRM 138 through TRM XXX) in both rated and unrated sections. Awards will be given to the top 10 teams.

APRIL 6, 2019

  • April 6, 2019 – Bethlehem Central Middle School – 4:00 – 5:00.
  • First and most important, thank you:
    • Huge thanks to Mike Klugman and Bethlehem Central School for hosting TRM 135. Bethlehem middle school is a great venue providing plenty of space for players and parents alike.  The school accommodated us until 5:00.
    • Thank you to all that helped with the tournament, Liz and Brother John on the floor, Smita providing remote assistance on the team totals, and student volunteers that helped with clean up (Aryan Mishra was eager to help!)
  • Attendees:  Brother John, Mary Ann Sorrentino, Jon Leisner, Walter Mockler, Liz Jacob, Karen Merker
  • Financials:
    • Discussed upcoming purchases including trophies, medals and vouchers.
      • Trophies will be ordered with the same section names (Open, King, Queen, Knight, Bishop, and Pawn). Medals will be ordered in largest bulk quantity for pricing advantage.
      • This year we purchased 300 vouchers for USCF membership. We have only sold about 200 memberships.  This will lead to financial losses for TRM.  We experienced a similar loss last year.  Discussed option for the board purchasing fewer (200) vouchers, which would increase the price of each, voucher slightly but would limit TRM losses.  We generally sell around 200 vouchers per year so there would be little financial losses to TRM.
    • Tournament Format changes
      • Discussed adults being allowed to participate in TRM tournaments.
        • The attached letter
        • (singed by Lucas Rosen – Guilderland Y, Ernie and Matthew – Newburgh, Cathy & D – Rockin’ Rooks, and Karen – Merker – Mighty Pawns) presented by Karen Merker indicating opposition of allowing adults to play in scholastic sections was discussed.  In the letter scholastic TRM sections are defined as all sections other than Open and AWE.  For the remainder of the year:
          • Adults will be allowed to play in Queen and King sections.
          • No trophies will be awarded to winning adults.  Top three children will get trophies.
        • Consideration to change this rule (effective next year) will discussed at a future board meeting.
      • Open format may change to longer format with fewer games such as G45 d10 for next season.
      • We discussed a mandatory move rule to ensure that kids playing in the unrated sections are playing at the appropriate level. IF this change is made it will become effective for next year.
        • If a player wins a trophy two times at one level they would be moved up to the next section (Pawn to Bishop, Bishop to Knight, and Knight to Rook) independent of age or grade level. Players that win a trophy in Knight two times may receive a complimentary USCF membership as a prize from TRM.
      • The $5 no-show penalty has been very effective. There have been very few no-shows.  The penalty will remain in effect.
    • Board for next year –to be decided in May
    • Picnic
      • Brochure to be prepared
      • Awards to remain the same
      • TRM to provide hot dogs, hamburgers, and ice cream
      • Instead of a blitz tournament, Jon suggested a simul, or a double simul depending on the number of expert players willing to play.
        • One idea is a beat the TD simul with kids playing against our very own Jon Leisner!
      • Schedule for next year to be set over the next couple of weeks.

Adult ParticipationDate: January 5, 2019

Location: Albany High School

TRM 132 Chess Tournament was our largest tournament of the season with nearly 140 players.

Liz G and her helpers from Albany High were great hosts.  Albany High dedicated a large cafeteria to TRM players, a large cafeteria to parents/spectators, and a small quite room for the Open level players.  Everyone had plenty of space.

Thanks to all the great volunteers for helping to make things run so smoothly.  Special thanks to Jon, Sreeni, Smita, Liz and Nitin.

There was no official board meeting after the tournament.

We collected $20 for no-show fees and $135 for USCF memberships (9 memberships sold).  John Femia donated $5.  Our very own TD, John Leisner, committed to co-sponsoring a tournament.

Date: December 1, 2018

Location: Giffen Memorial Elementary School

TRM 131 Chess Tournament, went very well with nearly 100 players.

Herman Calderon and his helpers from Giffen were great hosts.  Herman provided seating areas for parents in the small cafeteria, a nice quit space for our  players in the large cafeteria, and he opened the gym so players could burn off some energy.

There was no board meeting after the tournament.

We received $69 for 7 USCF membership vouchers.  We received: $400 from Lakshimi Maddali and Freinds for tournament sponsorship, $200 from Alomgir Monsur for tournament sponsorship and a $5 donation from John Femia.

Date: November 3, 2018

Location: Oneida Middle School

TRM 130 Chess Tournament, November 3, 2018 went very well.

Patrick Bergin, Paul Wilson, and their helpers from Oneida Middle School were great hosts.  The school was a great venue with nice seating areas for parents, skittles in the library, plenty of space for our 90+ players in the cafeteria, and the gym was available for some basketball fun.

There was a board meeting after the tournament. Attendees:  Mary Ann Sorrentino, Walter Mockler, Sreeni Alampalli and Sandeep Alampalli (left early), Jon Leisner, Dave Finnerman, Nitin Obla, Newburgh Armory Unity Center.  Board meeting started at around 4:00.

We received $89 for 9 USCF membership vouchers.  We received commitments from 4 individuals (Carlos Varela – March or April tournament, Alomgir Monsur, Paul Wilson – MLK, Dayanga Family) for $200 tournament co-sponsorship.

At the meeting we discussed:

  • Requiring players of winning section to move up. The board decided that for the remainder of this year coaches/club organizers will be asked (by the board) to encourage serious/competitive players to move up according to their performance.
  • Ways to encourage participants to notate their games. Newburgh Armory Unity Center will provide TRM logo booklets at the next tournament, with a small note on the back of the booklets indicating they were provided by Newburgh Armory Unity Center.  Players will be encouraged to use the books to go over games with expert aides.
  • Volunteer experts will be available for post-game review (if there are volunteers, and there is space at the venue).
  • There will be no more self-reporting of team scores. A TD helper will add the 4 highest scores from each team using SwissSys output at the end of round 4.  Players are responsible for making sure their team name is properly listed on the pairing/ranking sheets.  The team competition has not changed in any other way (still top 4 scores with tie-breaker determined by number of participants).
  • Round one tends to be difficult due to repairing due to no-shows. Going forward we will track on-line registration no-shows and require $5 payment (if they do not send an email notifying TRM of their inability to play by 9:15 am the day of the tournament) at their next TRM tournament.  The registration form and tournament specific campaigns will clearly state this rule.
  • TRM boards for casual play will be set up in the skittles room (if there is a skittles room at a tournament). Casual games will be moved out of the tournament room and into the skittles room.

Board meeting adjourned at 4:30.

Date: October 13, 2018

Location: Albany Community Charter School

TRM 128 Chess Tournament,  during the National Chess Day weekend, went very well thanks to all the great volunteers (there are too many to name but:  Nitin, Rakhi, Sandeep, Sreeni, Brother John, Liz, Juhi, Cooper, Manasvin, Christine any many others!  You were each instrumental in making today a success).  Special thanks to Dwayne and the students from Albany Community Charter School for providing a great venue.

New officers were announced at the beginning of the tournament:  President – Mary Ann Sorrentino, Vice President – Christine Zhao, Secretary – Michael (Walter) Mockler, Treasurer – Brother John McManus, and Web Activities – Smita Iyengar.

There was a quick board meeting after the tournament. Received $400 check donation each from Sorrentino family and Alampalli family for tournament sponsorship. Ernie Johnson committed to sponsor TRM 129.  Received $63 cash for 7 membership vouchers.

Past season board of directors meeting notes can be accessed here.