SHROPSHIRE CHESS ASSOCIATION AGM held Wednesday, July 10th,2013
at Telepost.
Attendance Richard Thompson, Gary White, Richard Szwajkuw, Fred Harris, Vincent Crean, Graham Ives, Steve Szwajkuw, Steve Rooney, Alf Evans, Francis Best, Matthew Best, Glyn Pugh, Nick Rutter, Christopher Lewis, Colin Roberts, Nathanael Paul, Toby Neal, Eric Inglis, Ivor Salter, Ian Davies Jamie Hopkins
1. Apologies for absence.
Received from Windsor Peck, Graham Shepherd, John Smith.
2. Minutes of 2012 AGM. Correction T Neal did not attend. Approved and adopted.
3. President’s Report. Francis Best commented on the sad loss of Iain Wilson and all the years service that Iain had given to Shropshire not only in the various posts on the committee but also to the Shropshire Chess congress.
Francis continued with pictures and comments about various items, the congress and getting grandmaster participation, the league winners 2012/13 Newport, an old picture of the county’s under 140 last success and to wish the current U140 team, success in the final against Kent. Francis made a plea for help with the juniors like Nigel Ferrington giving a simultaneous display. Francis wanted to get more events like the public Ironbridge display, in which Gary White, Toby Neal, Glyn Pugh and himself played to try and publicise and promote chess from which you may gain players.
4 Officers Reports
General Secretary: Glyn Pugh had nothing new to report.
League Controller: Vincent Crean Thanked all for a smooth season and had no issues.The database worked without problems and only had one default in the season. There were few problems with snow. Vince wants to start the 2013/14 season a week earlier 9th Sept so as to enable fixtures to be every other week, teams to be entered by 24th August. There was only one complaint re playing for two teams – see later discussion.
Vince asked for a list of new captains along with email and telephone numbers.
First division won by Newport A and the trophy presented to N Rutter while Telepost B and Shifnal & Telford B were relegated.
Second division won by Wellington A but no trophy presented with Priorslee B promoted while Shifnal & Telford C and Priorslee C were relegated. Third Division was won by Oswestry A and the trophy presented to Graham Ives, with runners up being Wellington B.
Fred Harris expressed dismay that Shifnal & Telford had played a weakened team in the last match. Keith Tabner commented on three clubs actually having a D team.
Treasurers Report – Alf Evans presented his report, which are due to be audited by Richard Thompson and should any changes be made they would be reported to the secretary. This was accepted.
Items to note were another successful congress, which made a profit and £114 going to ECF for non- registered ECF members.
The expected drop in league income with the introduction of ECF scheme –see later under item 6.
The blitz event had made a minor loss.
F.B commented that it was not good for the congress to support core activities and best for the congress to stand alone. Could not guarantee, that the congress would make a profit. May use cash to spend on new equipment / publicise chess to get new players.
S.R commented on previous year had a large profit from the Nigel Short simultaneous and it was better to have two have two or more profitable events to help support the county.
NR – proposed that no change to club fees should be made with income and expenditure roughly equal.
The report was accepted.
Grading officer: Nick Rutter said grading had ended in June and all results sent off and should be out 31st July. The Unity cup results being in the next year.
F.H wanted to know if all results were in outside our county and F.B commented that you can check event before grading. S.R said the ECF needed congresses to be reported quickly within ten days.
County individual: Nick Rutter said there had been 22 players. Winner was Jamie Hopkins with 5.5 on goal difference, with Nick Rutter also on 5.5 and Trevor Brotherton on 5. Under 160 grading prize went to Glyn Pugh on goal difference, and under 140 prize to Chris Lewis, Simon Mayhew & Stuart Ross, and under 120 prize to Colin Mace.
Cox : Keith Tabner said four man teams changed the dynamics of the event and would like views on the format. The event was won by Newport with Telepost A runners up and the trophy was presented to Nick Rutter.
Minor : Organised by John Smith for second and third divisions. There had only been two defaults and the winners were Wellington and the trophy was presented to Toby Neal, who also won the player of the tournament.
Quickplay : Tony Neal gave a brief report of the second event being held at WHT with seven team played as a league before the top four entering a knockout. The fourth place was tied and a five minutes blitz was played between Shrewsbury A and Telepost A. From this result, Telepost never looked back and defeated Church Stretton in the final. The cup was presented and pictures could be seen on the website.
Publicity officer: Toby Neal said there had been a change and reports went to the Express Star editor. This meant that some items were edited out, dependant on space, and he cannot always get everything in. Likes any comments to pass on, beware any unguarded words. FB say it was good to keep website refreshed and that Peter Kitchen did a similar report for the Shrewsbury Chronicle.
Website editor: Keith Tabner, say that he now suffered from a slow internet connection but was working to resolve this. He had no pictures of Ludlow and Wellington for the Minor trophy. He needs to be kept constantly feed with information. He thanked Vinny and Graham for behind the screens help.Keith felt a board could be connected to the website and all the moves of a game could be broadcast in future.
Congress organiser: Steve Rooney / Francis Best reported 136 entries and GM Stephen Gordon had won the open event, with 10 players above 200. Gavin Cooper won the Rosebowl for the best Shropshire player in the open. Toby Neal joint winner in the Major and a cleansweep in the minor for Shropshire. The congress making approx £1200 profit. The event counted towards the Gran Prix of the ECF and had received good comments on the ECF forum on how it had been run. The surplus may be invested in more equipment. Thoughts for next congress about buying / hiring equipment, about increases in prize money, and discounts for GMs were aired.
T.N felt we don’t want to chase GMs and should let FB/SR organise without constraints. S.R felt subsidised entries may result in return favours from titled players, recalling four GMs doing a simultaneous when the 4NCL was helped years ago. G.W felt players liked to watch GMs.
County Junior organiser – SR. There had been an experimental one day league event, where several schools who had not previously entered had participated. Training was mainly run on a Saturday at Ford, Shrewsbury. Care has to be taken with CRB checks but teaching of youngsters can be rewarding. Generally would like more help training and events such as N Ferrington simultaneous.
County first team captain: - no team
County under 140 team: Roger Brown said Shropshire U140 team had finished in third place in the MCCU winning 4 and losing 2. If the team had drawn the last match they would have finished first. They had qualified for the nationals and had beaten Essex 9-7 and Lancashire 11-5 and were due to play Kent in the final at Warwick.
MCCU delegates: Nothing to report.
ECF delegate: Fees not changing. ECF want events to be registered before they happen.
5 ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Election was en block. Vote All for – none against.
6.Review of ECF registrations
ECF membership agreement was signed.
Some clubs sorted themselves out registering players
The three game rule not always applied
Small number of clubs a little tardy
Shifnal & Telford now comply, with other clubs having a small number of players playing the odd game and the club will be charged the game fee.
G.I said there were 78 games played by non members (20different players ) and he had a list of who they were as the ECF will chase the county.
The treasurer of S& T felt it had been difficult collecting their club fees and registrations.
A.E said it was messy doing it for all the county and thought registrations was better to sort at club level.
K.T said it was easier if members registered individually.
It was proposed that each club to sort out membership and report to league controller . F.H / A.E
As there are problems with people joining part of the way through the year and non enforcement of three game rule it is advised that someone should download the ECF members list and give a reminder at Christmas to club who need to act.
7 Substitutions and playing for two teams.
There was a lot of discussion about this, on why people do it, to get more chess, and the effects of teams managing to survive rather than folding, to bringing in ‘ringers’. Discussion about whether there should be different rules for a club with 1 or 2 teams, to those with 3 or 4 teams. When can a player start playing for another team. Define which is the player’s primary club or should anything go.
F.H felt rule 9 should be delegated to a sub committee but this avoids the issue.
S.R need to make decision on what we are doing.
R.T to avoid ringers need to pre register players for the club.
G.I beyond a certain point need to approve – V.C can disallow.
From this discussion a proposal that – No one can play for any team unless registered 7 days beforehand. No new registrations after the end of February unless approved by league controller.
Vote 14 For – 3 against 4 abstentions
Rule proposed – Can play in same division. Vote 4 for, 16 against 1abstention
8 Shropshire Rapidplay League – attached discussion paper presented by Matt Best
With digital clocks incremental time controls may be possible to implement. It would be possible to play games on the same night at one club. Scheduling would be looked into and done perhaps once a month. If clubs had insufficient players they may combine.
An email is to be sent out to gauge the opinion of club secretaries and if sufficient interest a league will be organised. The rules for the competition will be sent out.
9 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Richard Clarke is organising the Unity Cup The Shrewsbury town championships are being organised for any Shrewsbury based club member
The meeting ended at 10:37