University of Bedfordshire & Luton Chess Club DRAFT Minutes of Annual General Meeting on 2nd of September 2025.
1. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND SECRETARY FOR THE MEETING & MINUTES OF 2024 AGM.
Humayun Mirza was elected as Chair for the meeting. Peter Montgomery was elected as Secretary for the meeting. The draft minutes of the 2024 meeting were agreed as a true record.
2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
The following members were elected to serve as the club’s committee for the 2023/2024 season. Andrew Pye was elected as Chair. Peter Montgomery was elected as Secretary. Dixon Jones was elected as Treasurer.
Kamil Ozdemir was elected as A Team Captain. Aleksandar Juhasz was elected as B Team Captain (H Mirza to assist). Tim Hayden was elected as C Team Captain.
3. OFFICERS REPORTS
These are attached in the supporting documents. The 2024/2025 C team captain felt the B Team captain’s report was unfair in saying that other teams “pinched” his players. It was accepted that this was an unfortunate choice of words to use and tighter controls of players switching between teams is needed for the coming season.
4. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
It was agreed that Subscriptions for the 2025/2026 year would be £20 for adults in employment, £10 for pensioners and the unwaged and £0 for juniors. In cases of financial hardship the club’s committee will have the discretion to reduce or waive the fees. New club members who join later in the season will be considered for a pro rata reduced club fee.
5. CLUB TOURNAMENTS
Thomas P O’Brien was confirmed as club champion. Samir Vora won the club ladder competition.
There will be a Club Championship run using the Swiss System. The number of rounds needed will depend on the number of entrants. Time controls will be the same as those used in the Bedfordshire Chess League (BCL).
There will be a rapid play tournament using the same time controls as the BCL Cordon Trophy.
The ladder tournament was not very popular suggestions for alternative formats are welcome.
Players in the above tournaments must be English Chess Federation (ECF) members. Andrew Pye & Peter Montgomery agreed to act as the Tournament Controllers.
6. BEDFORDSHIRE CHESS LEAGUE
The club currently have enough players to enter 3 teams in the BCL. The A team will be in Division 1 and the C team in division 2 but we will not know which division the B Team will be in until after the League AGM.
The club should be able to send at least two teams of 4 to the Cordon Trophy, date to be confirmed after the BCL AGM
7. EQUIPMENT
The club has sufficient new sets boards and clocks to host two home matches plus one spare clock. There are plenty of spare sets and boards. The club has additional Digital Clocks used at the library but these are not suitable for league matches. We have a good supply of scoresheets.
8. LEAGUE AGM
Peter Montgomery and Richard Lewis will attend. Others are welcome to attend but the club only has 2 votes at the meeting. The clubs proposed changes and supporting document were agreed.
9. PROPOSAL TO RENAME ONE OF OUR TEAMS
The proposal to rename the C Team as University of Bedfordshire was accepted.
10/ COMMUNICATION AND WEBSITE
Currently the club uses WhatsApp. We also have a website,
https://www.lutonchessclub.com/
Daman Singh agreed to continue as Media Controller. Emmanuel O. Tijani volunteered to write web content. All other members are encouraged to provide content if they can.
10. AOB
The club’s proposed constitution was accepted.
Peter Montgomery will be compiling a new database of members and will provide forms for to be completed.
REPORTS 2025-2026
Chairperson’s Report Not available . Treasurer's Report by Dixon Jones
The club currently has £466.60 in funds. If I continue as treasurer I still prefer to collect cash but I will set up a method for people to pay electronically. Given our strong financial situation I would support a reduction in fees for the 2026/2027 season’/ Unfortunately, I apologise for not being in the country for the AGM.
A Team Report
The Team finished in 5th place in division 1 of the Bedfordshire League. This is a creditable performance given that the teams who finished above us have an average player rating considerably above ours. With some stronger players having joined the club during the season we can look forward to the new season with renewed optimism.
B Team Report
The B team were always going to have a difficult season having gained promotion to the first division. The team performed well coming close to causing some upsets against very much stronger teams. As expected the team finished in 7th place and are relegated to Division 2 for next year. We look forward to playing agaist teams where we will be much more evenly matched.
University of Bedfordshire Team Report by Tim Hayden
The newly formed University of Bedfordshire (UoB) chess team, formerly known as Luton C, played their first matches in the Bedfordshire Division 2 league. One of the core aims for the UoB team is to allow some of our younger and less experienced players the opportunity to experience competitive over the board chess matches.
In the 2025/26 season the UoB team played 14 matches and used 18 different players, 10 of whom had ratings under 1500. Godfrey Sackey-Clarke scooped the prize for the most regular player, appearing 11 times for the team, closely followed by the UoB team captain, Tim Hayden with 10 matches. The team finished 7th in the League, one point above Bedford E, and just 2 points behind Milton Keynes C. The players all performed so well for the club, and never once suffered a whitewash, even when out ranked on every board. Particular mention must be given to one of our younger players, Yusuf Khan, who with 3 wins from his 6 matches had one of the best success rates for the team.
Luton Chess Club, and the UoB team suffered a very sad loss mid-season with the sudden and unexpected passing of the Club Chairman, and UoB team player, Andrew Pye. Andrew’s passion and enjoyment for chess was inspiring, and he was instrumental in seeing through the idea to allow all players, no matter what their ranking ability, the opportunity to experience competitive chess. Our thoughts and gratitude will be with you Andrew, and we hope that you are still playing chess, wherever that may be.
Looking ahead to the 2026/27 season, the UoB team welcome back Luton B into the Division 2 league, and so can look forward to some nice local away matches! We look forward to welcoming back many of our players who played last year, however as some have moved on, we are hoping to provide opportunities for new and more young players.
Tournament Controller Report by Peter Montgomery
As already mentioned by Tim Hayden above, we lost Andrew Pye, the tournament controller part way through the season. We did manage to complete most of the games and complete the Club Championship.
Eustace Onyeji finished first place with a maximum 4/4 points. Julian Hudson, Samir Vora and Jonadab Oki finished in joint second place with 3/4. Congratulations to Eustace Ojyeji who becomes the new club champion and the first University of Bedfordshire alumni to take the title.