ESSEX CHESS ASSOCIATION

MINUTES OF A GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 15 MAY 2008 AT WANSTEAD HOUSE LONDON E11 2NT AT 8.00 P.M.

Present:

D. Smith (DS) in the chair, J A Philpott (JP), J Campbell (JC), A Corish (AC), M Crane (MC), B. Gaze (BG), I D Hunnable (IH), D J Millward (DM), J. Rosenberg (JR), I B N Smith (IS), P Staniland (PS), G Strachan (GS) and John White (JW)

1. Apologies for absence

S Abbott, A Lutton, I MacLachlan, D Payne, C Ramage and S Wedlock

2. Minutes of the previous GPC meeting held on 31st May 2007

Having been circulated in advance these were taken as read and agreed as a true record.

3. Matters arising - none

4. League review

DM circulated his written report with League Tables for 2007/8 confirming that the four divisions of the Essex League had been won respectively by Writtle, Basildon, Ilford II and Brentwood II. There had been eleven adjudications with one successful appeal. The new League structure had worked well, but Bishop's Stortford and Waltham Forest would be withdrawing as from next season which would, in the absence of further entries, lead to four divisions of just six teams each. The Division 4 Trophy (last won by Newham) was missing and DM would endeavour to trace this.

5. Knock-out competition

In the absence of CR there was no written report, but the 2007 Competition had been won by Barking who overcame Wanstead in the Final, with the Plate going to Upminster who beat Thurrock in the Final. IS had produced leaflets and entry forms for the 2008 event. Comment was made regarding the conduct of the draw for this event and (ahead of any formal re-write of the Rules) CR would be reminded that all teams should be included in the first round draw in order to avoid later problems.

6. Tournaments

IS advised that the 2007 Team Blitz had been won by Cavendish with the Essex Individual Lightning Championship going to David Chandler after a tie with Roland Payne (who was ineligible for the trophy). The Individual Rapid Play Championship had been won by David Haydon, and the Trophy was taken away by MC to pass on to the winner. Leaflets and entry forms for all the 2008 events were now available.

MC proposed the introduction of a new Summer Blitz event to be hosted by the participating Clubs in Essex. The Rules of the event were distributed and MC would contact Clubs to seek support.

7. County teams

John Philpott reported that the County Teams at both U175 and U150 level had won their divisions of the SCCU Counties Championship, although the U150's had then been eliminated in the Quarter Final of the ECF National Stages. The Chairman pointed out that the President (JP) had given invaluable service during the past season by keeping both the Open and U175 teams running in the absence of “official” Match Captains, and hoped that suitable Captains would be found for the coming season.

JP gave details of the progress to date of Essex teams competing in the Counties Correspondence Championships. The Ward-Higgs team had made a strong start, but following a loss against Yorkshire stood on 9/11 compared with Yorkshire's 13.5/16. The Sinclair team was slightly struggling in a division dominated by Gtr. Manchester, but both the Butler Thomas and Brown Pond teams were challenging for the titles.

8. Officers for 2008/2009

Most current officers were understood to be willing to continue, except for the President and Chairman who indicated their intention to stand down. It was also noted that the General Secretary had, with his apologies, advised that he would not be seeking re-election and, as stated earlier, there remained a vacancy for Match Captain.

9. Proposed changes to Essex League Rules

(i) All League games to be played in one session.

IH had submitted a paper to the LMC which detailed both the background to the current situation and the various options available. After some debate the meeting agreed upon the principle that all League games should be played in one session with seven votes in favour to four against.

Discussion then turned to the specific time controls to be used, IH expressing the view that the usual one-session rate of play of 30 moves in 75 minutes followed by a 15 minute QPF was the worst option and that other alternatives were worth consideration. After further discussion there was general agreement that the two best solutions were a) 24 moves in 60 minutes followed by a 30 min quickplay finish, and b) all moves to be played in 90 minutes. On a show of hands option (a) gained five votes and option (b) four votes.

(ii) Raising “fine” for home player defaults to £ 10 (Rule 28(d))

It was pointed out that this Rule related not to a fine but to the maximum amount in expenses which could be claimed by an away player in the event of a defaulted board by the home side. After a brief discussion the proposed amendment was agreed with just one vote against.

(iii) Home player must state adjudication or adjournment (Rule 30(b))

Following the change in the format of League Matches agreed in 9(i) above this proposal was now irrelevant and was not proceeded with.

(iv) No smoking Rule 21 can now be removed

After some discussion surrounding the necessity to remove a now redundant Rule, the proposed change was agreed with five votes in favour to four against. It was agreed that a statement should be issued at the start of the new season that for the avoidance of doubt, the removal of this rule did not mean that smoking was now permitted.

A further proposed Rule change to bar Club Second Teams from Division One had been properly submitted by the Club concerned, but had failed to find its way onto the Agenda. It was agreed that a short GPC meeting would be held immediately prior to the AGM in June to consider this item.

10. Any other business

JR referred to his earlier proposal to impose fines on those Clubs who failed to return trophies to the AGM and it was agreed that this matter should be re-submitted to the additional GPC meeting referred to above.

The meeting closed at 10.00 pm