1
ASEAN Chess Confederation
Minutes of Annual General Meeting
13th June 2015 at 10.00 Hours
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Members Present:
1. Mr. Ignatius Leong (Singapore)
2. Mr. Panupand Vijjuprabha (Thailand)
3. Mr. Adianto Utut (Indonesia)
4. Mr. Jayson Gonzales (Philippines)
5. Mr. Gregory Lau (Malaysia)
6. Ms. Haslindah Ruslan (Malaysia)
7. Mr. Dang Tat Thang (Vietnam)
8. Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Trung (Vietnam)
9 Mr. Maung Maung Lwin (Myanmar)
Members Absent:
1. Brunei
2. Cambodia
3. Laos
1. Welcome Address by the President
As there was sufficient quorum, the President, Mr. Ignatius Leong called the
meeting to order at 10.15 a.m. and he extended a warm welcome to all present and
thanked them for taking time to attend the meeting. He noted that the 16th ASEAN+ Age
Group Chess Championships 2015 were now taking place at the Nanyang
Technological University. This was the same venue where the Inaugural Youth
Olympics and the 1st Asian Youth Games were held.
2. Adoption of Minutes of Previous Board Meeting held in Macau on 10 June
2014 at the Conrad Hotel.
The minutes of the meeting held on 10th June 2014 in Macau were read and
adopted. It was proposed by Mr. Maung Maung Lwin and seconded by Mr. Jayson
Gonzales.
3. Matters Arising
a) Regarding membership fees which was proposed by Mr. Prospero Pichay
from the Philippines and Mr. Utut Adianto, the Treasurer, Mr. Maung Maung Lwin
would send invoices to the respective federations as appropriate. The proposal was
USD 200.00 a year as proposed in 2011 in the Subic Bay – AAG. Mr. Leong noted that
in the event some federations were unable to contribute, we could find some form
of solutions regarding this issue. Likewise, member federations had to make
payment a total of USD 1,000.00 (5 years x USD 200.00) to the ACC.
b) Mr. Leong voiced his concerns with regards to proxies although he was not
against it. He believed that ASEAN should put safeguards in place to ensure that it
was not abused. He was of the opinion that any proxies should be bona-fide
representatives from their own federations only, or they should at least be residing
in the ASEAN region. He was hopeful that Asian Chess Federation and FIDE would
also adopt the same approach.
c) Mr. Leong expressed his disappointment over the division of ASEAN
members during last FIDE Election in Tromso, Norway, but the Kasparov Team just
had to move on.
4. Reports/Announcements by Member Federations
a) Thailand
Mr. Panupand Vijjuprabha reported that ASEANchess was becoming more and
more popular in Thailand. Thailand would also be hosting the ASEANchess
Tournament in the later part of the year. This was a hybrid Chess introduced in
the region and he hoped for its sustainability and not a one off event. This may
make a better change for it to be featured in the future SEA Games.
Chess in School Program was continuing and receiving good support. The
Association also encouraged and supported Thai chess players and officials to
attend FIDE Arbiters and FIDE Trainers seminars. During the Pattaya World
Schools in May this year, TCA sent three national arbiters to attend the FIDE
Arbiter Seminar and all passed the exam, and TCA also sent some 30 chess
trainers/players to take part in the FIDE Training Seminar held concurrently
during the World Schools Chess Championships in Pattaya, Chon Buri, Thailand.
Most got DIs and some got FIs.
b) Philippines
Mr. Jayson Gonzales apologized on behalf of Mr. Pichay Prospero who was
unable to attend the meeting due to other pressing commitments. Re reported
that the Philippines would like to host the next ASEANchess Masters Cup in
2016.
c) Malaysia:
Mr. Gregory Lau sought the support of all members to convince their
respective National Olympic Councils to lobby for International Chess and also
ASEANchess to be included in the next SEA Games which would be held in
Malaysia in 2017. He said we all needed to lobby to obtain at least 6 NOCs’
votes.
He reported that the MCF had started promoting Chess in the Universities and
colleges.
Mr. Lau reported that Malaysia had limited numbers of FIDE trainers. Hence,
they needed to grow the base of chess players to enable more to be accredited.
However, he noted that many teachers who were not involved in teaching
Chess in schools but were receiving certifications from FIDE.
Ms. Haslindah Ruslan was pleased to report that chess players in Malaysia are
now able to secure scholarships which would help the development of chess
players in Malaysia.
She appealed to the Board to reduce the bid fee for hosting the ASEAN+ Age
Groups. She noted that the current sum of 40,000 USD is too much for Malaysia.
Malaysia would like to host international events leading to the inclusion of
Chess in the SEA Games in 2017.
d) Vietnam:
Mr. Dang Tat Thang made 2 proposals. He suggested that the ASEAN
Championship be held concurrently with the ASEAN+ Age Group
Championships and echoed Malaysia’s appeal to reduce the deposit to US$
20,000.00 instead of US$ 40,000.00. We should look into alternating between
the SEA Games and the ASEAN Chess Championship.
Vietnam showed keen interest in hosting the AAG+ in 2016. He also proposed
to use the previous policy for AAG registration be reinstated. – i.e. for every six
players registered, the sixth players shall be free.
Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Trung added that the Vietnam Chess Federation would be
holding an election at the end of this year to elect their new Board members
and that Vietnam was keen to organize various international chess events in
different cities in 2016.
e) Myanmar
Mr. Maung Maung Lwin reported that Myanmar Chess Federation organized
the first Myanmar Open Tournament in 2014 and this year it was trying to
organize more international tournaments and FIDE rated local open
tournaments.
Their best accolade was the hosting of Chess in the 2013 SEA Games.
For their Chess in School programs, chess had been taught in all top private
and international schools. Moreover, he was delighted that chess is now a
subject for a sport degree in universities offering Bachelor of Sciences and
Bachelor of Arts & Sports degrees.
He also said that chess in Myanmar had gradually developed a lot, even
without any financial support from the government.
Mr. Maung Maung Lwin received a proposal from the Myanmar Military Chess
Committee to hold an ASEAN Military Chess Championship and ASEAN Police
Chess Championships. Philippines and Indonesia showed interest to join this
event.
Myanmar is still a long way to being able to organize these championships but
will make efforts to send more players to take part in future AAGs.
He initiated a Chess magazine which went into publication in January 2015 and
was receiving favourable feedback. He hoped to raise advertisement revenues
from this Magazine in the near future.
f) Indonesia
Mr. Utut Adianto reported that Indonesia will have at least 4 medal events at
the 2019 Asian Games.
He noted that there were too much politicking in the chess community and he
called on everyone to close ranks and to focus on promoting chess which
mirrored our normal life. He proposed looking into other youth tournaments
other than the AAG to further promote chess excellence in the region.
He hoped that we could strengthen the region with best practices so that other
regional grouping could look up to us and respect us for our achievements.
Therefore he made the call to inaugurate the ASEAN Young Masters Cup which
Indonesia would kick off by hosting this event this year.
5. Report by the President
Mr. Ignatius Leong reported that there were altogether a total of 445
participants, of which there were 360 players flying in from 16 countries to
take part in this 16th ASEAN+ Age-Group Chess Championships 2015.
Chess had been included in the ASEAN Paralympic Games to be held in
Singapore in December 2015 at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
He noted with disappointment that we were unable to convince the Singapore
Olympic Council to include Chess in this year’s ongoing SEA Games. It seemed
that South East Asian countries when asked to nominate their preferred ‘other
sports’, only 2 countries supported Chess. The 2 countries were Vietnam and
Malaysia.
Mr. Leong proposed that Thailand should host the first ‘ASEAN Chess’
Championship.
Mr. Ignatius Leong and Mr. Utut Adianto would visit Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
to lobby for chess to be included in the SEA Games in 2017. Alternating with
the SEA Games we could have our own Chess Games with Vietnam taking the
lead in 2016.
A considerable amount of efforts (cash and equipment) had been made to
promote Chess in Laos but it was disappointing to note that Laos was still not
able to send young players to the AAG+. He hoped that the Laos leadership
could make more efforts and commitments in the future.
6. Elections for the ACC Board 2015 to 2018
The following were elected to the ASEAN Chess Confederation Board for the
term 2015 – 2018.
President Mr. Ignatius Leong (Singapore)
Deputy President Mr. Utut Adianto (Indonesia)
Vice President Mr. Maung Maung Lwin (Myanmar)
Vice-President Mr. Dang Tat Thang (Vietnam)
Vice-President Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Trung (Vietnam)
Vice-President Mr Pichay Prospero (Philippines)
Vice-President Mr Jayson Gonzales (Philippines)
Secretary General Mr. Panupand Vijjuprabha (Thailand)
Treasurer General Ms. Haslindah Ruslan (Malaysia)
6.1 The Meeting resolved that a bank account should be opened in Malaysia.
7. Tournament Calendar for 2015 to 2017
For federations bidding for the next editions of the ASEAN+ Age-Group
Championships, the organizers must be prepared to offer US$40,000 as Event
Fee which would help subsidise other official ASEAN events.
The proposed events going forward were as follows –
Inaugural Invitational Tournament for ‘ASEANchess’ – October
2015 (Thailand).
ASEAN Chess Championship – October 2015 (Thailand)
ASEAN Young Masters Cup – Nov 2015 (Indonesia), 2016
(Philippines)
ASEAN+ Age-Group Championships (April 2016 Pattaya or Chiang
Mai).
8. Other Matters for Consideration
1) Knight of ASEAN
Mr. Leong reported that the distinguished title of “Knight of ASEAN” was
first conferred in 2006 to GM Utut Adianto and subsequently to GM
Eugene Torre in 2010 for their excellent achievements, contributions
and services to Chess in their respective federations and the region. For
the year 2015, he would like to propose a new nominee who had likewise
distinguished himself as a chess player in his youth and his many
contributions to Chess in Singapore and the region. He is still supporting
the Singapore Federation with his expert advice and financial
sponsorships. The Board unanimously endorsed his nomination for IM
Tan Lian Ann.
2) Closing Remarks
Mr. Jayson Gonzales expressed his delight in knowing that the ASEAN
Chess Confederation was working so closely together in the promotion
of Chess in the region. He was happy to be working with a visionary
Board with members who were able to set aside their personal interests
for the success of the region, unlike other chess groupings.
In closing, the President thanked Mr. Gonzales for his observations and
he was glad to be able to share their vision of a dynamic confederation
and especially thanked the 2 Grandmasters present for their wise
counselling. He noted that we had come a long way since the
Confederation was constituted in 2000 at the Zonal Championships in
Vungtau, Vietnam. Mr. Leong and Mr. Dang Tat Thang were the founder
members and were still serving actively up to the present.
As there were no other issues for consideration, the President adjourned the
meeting at 11.55 hours.
Recorded by:
Miss Patcharada Bhramawongse,
Thailand Chess Association Officer.
Vetted and Approved by:
Mr. Panupand Vijjuprabha,
Thailand Chess Association General Secretary.
13th June 2015