2009 AGMMinutes of the AGM held on 3 June 2009. Attendance The meeting was attended by Norman Wedley (Chairman), Mike Angel, Francis Bowers, Alan Brookbanks, Kevin Clark, Harry Currie, Paul Hanks, Tom Hazel, Marcus Misson, Patrick Ribbands, Charles Richmond, Chris Ross, Chris Russell and Paul Kemp (Secretary). Apologies for Absence Apologies had been received from Peter Baddeley, David Barnicoat, Lee Chapman, Marcus Connolly, Rob Henderson, Michael Pope, Stephen Pride and Ola Winfridsson. Admission of Godmanchester Comrades and Royston as Affiliated Clubs The meeting approved the admission of Godmanchester Comrades and Royston as affiliated clubs. Kevin Clark gave an outline of the Royston club and said they planned to play in the first division and possibly the Team 500 competition. Minutes of the AGM Held on 21 May 2008 The minutes were agreed. Paul Kemp said that the ECF had apparently agreed that there was no outstanding liability from the former Cambridgeshire Chess Association. Reports of Association Officers for 2008/09 Norman Wedley said it had been another good year for the Association, and thanked the officers for their hard work. He encouraged other club members to come forward to help in running the Association and spread the administrative workload. Paul Kemp said he was pleased with the level of integration of the former County Associations that had been achieved over the past two years. New clubs had been admitted and additional tournaments had added variety and increased opportunities to play chess. The inter-association (north v south) match had been won by the south; the Jamboree had again been won by Linton; and the Rapidplay had been a success, with 65 players competing in three sections and producing a surplus of £90. He said that he would run the 2010 event to a similar format. On behalf of Michael Pope Paul Kemp reported that the League division 1 title had been won by Peterborough A and division 2 by Cambridge B. The League had run smoothly, with results and League tables rapidly posted on the Association’s website. The meeting warmly thanked Michael for his work as League Secretary over the past two years and wished him well on his move to Salisbury. Chris Russell reported that Andrei Timoshenko had won the County Championship, beating Paul Kemp in the final. There was an inconclusive discussion of the respective merits of holding the County Championship as a knockout or a Swiss, together with other possibilities. It was agreed that the new organiser would bring proposals for the 2009/10 event to the Executive Committee meeting in September. Peter Baddeley had produced a written report on the Team 500 event which Paul Kemp read to the meeting. Warboys had won the northern zone and Cambridge the south: the final was to be played later in the month. The meeting agreed to run the event again in 2009/10, learning lessons from this year’s experience particularly around fixture scheduling. In the light of changes to the grading system it was agreed to raise the aggregate maximum team grade to 550, and players graded below 100 would be deemed to have a grade of 100 for the purposes of calculating the grading limit. On junior chess Francis Bowers reported that it was hoped the "Chess sets for Schools" initiative would shortly (at long last) begin to deliver the promised sets, though ECF delegate Marcus Misson remained sceptical. Rob Henderson’s written report summarised the varied fortunes of the Under 9 and Under 11 teams. On a positive note there was an enthusiastic body of primary school players and junior entrants to the Cambridgeshire Rapidplay had acquitted themselves well. Marcus Misson, County first team captain, said the team had finished third in the East Anglian zone, thereby qualifying for the national Under 175 stages. Unfortunately he had been unable to raise a team to play against Yorkshire, and had conceded the match. Patrick Ribbands said that the Under 150 team had won the East Anglian zone, but had lost to Lancashire in the first match of the national stages. Lee Chapman had asked for feedback on the website, which was extremely positive and he was thanked for taking over mid-year when the previous arrangements had collapsed. The intention that certain officers could update their sections of the website was warmly welcomed, and officers were reminded of the importance of keeping the website up-to-date. There was discussion of the withdrawal of the contacts page on grounds of data security, and whether there were ways of providing secure links. Report of the Treasurer and Adoption of the 2008/09 Accounts Harry Currie presented the accounts for 2008/09 which showed a surplus of £71.30 and an accumulated balance of £1491.78. The County Championship trophy, lost by the previous holder, had been replaced at a cost of £100. It was likely that the Fenland Cup, which had also been lost, would require replacement in the coming year. The audited accounts were adopted, and Harry and Roger Burbage (auditor) were thanked for their efforts. It was agreed that in future the AGM would be moved later in June to allow more time for the completion and auditing of the accounts. Adoption of a Revised Constitution Paul Kemp introduced the new constitution which he asked the meeting to adopt. Major changes included the deletion of the section on eligibility for County teams (a matter for the ECF); the inclusion of a section on trophies; and the rewriting of the financial section to provide for a budget to come to the Autumn Executive Committee and to give greater flexibility to the Committee in setting fees for various events run by the Association. Greater clarity had been provided on the roles of the AGM and the Executive Committee. The AGM would review the past year, deal with governance matters (eg constitution, League rules) and appoint officers: the Executive Committee would finalise arrangements for the forthcoming season (League, County Championship, special events, etc and the financing of those). Paul Kemp said that as far as meeting arrangements and voting rights were concerned the new constitution reflected the status quo, though he did raise two matters for discussion which after a lively debate the meeting agreed. Firstly it was agreed that an Extraordinary General Meeting could be called at the request of three member clubs, rather than three officers. Secondly it was agreed that the voting rights at the AGM be amended to one per affiliated club, plus one for each team entered in the League, to a maximum of three teams, rather than one vote per club without League representation and three votes for League participants. With these amendments the new constitution was adopted. Amendment to League Rules Paul Kemp and Michael Pope proposed an amendment to rule 18 which concerned the eligibility of players where a club had two teams in the same division, as the current rule had caused some confusion in its interpretation. The amendment would require a club with two teams in the first division to nominate which team their three highest-graded players would represent, so that they could not play for both teams. It would further require any player joining the club who was higher-graded than any of the nominated players to similarly be nominated. Chris Ross proposed an amendment to extend the nomination requirement to the four highest-graded players, which was passed by 7 votes to 2, and the amended rule was then adopted. County Teams 2009/10 Patrick Ribbands reported that the grading bands for County teams would be altered in the light of the grading changes, and an extra competition would be introduced. Nationally the ECF had decided that the categories for 2009/10 would be Open; U180; U160; U140; U120; and U100. The EACU would decide which events to run locally at their AGM in July, but it was highly unlikely that they would run an U180 competition. Cambridgeshire had run Open, U150 and U125 teams in 2008/09, but an U100 was withdrawn for lack of support. It seemed fairly clear that we would wish to run an Open and U160 team in 2009/10, but how many other teams could we run and which should they be? There was some support for an U140 team, but beyond that it was felt that we would struggle to raise teams. Patrick advised that a final decision could await the Executive Committee meeting in September, and it was agreed to revisit the matter again then in the light of the EACU’s discussions in July. Election of Association Officers for 2009/10 The following officers were elected: | Chairman | Norman Wedley | | Vice-Chairman | Peter Walker | | Secretary | Paul Hanks | | Treasurer | Harry Currie | | League Secretary | Chris Russell | | Team 550 Organiser | Peter Baddeley | | Tournament Secretary | Marcus Misson | | Special Events Organiser | Paul Kemp | | Junior Organisers | Rob Henderson & Francis Bowers | | Match Captains | | Open | Ola Winfriddson | | Under-160 | Patrick Ribbands | | Under-140 | Charles Richmond | | Website Co-ordinator | Lee Chapman | | Grading Officers | Chris Russell & Patrick Ribbands | | Auditor | Roger Burbage | | ECF Delegate | Marcus Misson | | EACU Delegates | Norman Wedley, Paul Hanks & Francis Bowers |
Any Other Business Concern was raised at the level of noise on occasion at the Warboys club. A County Championship match played there had been abandoned partway through, and some League matches had been played in less than ideal conditions. Marcus Misson admitted the problem, but said there was little more he could do, and the club were reluctant to move in the absence of good, affordable alternatives locally. The discussion was inconclusive, although it was agreed that in the absence of an arbiter the team captains should try to agree how to proceed if the playing conditions deteriorated to an unacceptable level during the course of the match. The date of the Executive Committee meeting was fixed as Wednesday 16 September at Warboys, with the north v south match on 23 September, also at Warboys.
Paul Kemp CAMBRIDGESHIRE COUNTY CHESS ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Held on 16 September 2009
at Warboys Sports and Social Club, Forge Lane, Warboys (Draft) Attendance The meeting was attended by N Wedley (Chairman), H Currie, P Kemp, C Russell, C Donald, MMisson, P Baddeley, T Hazel, P Hanks. Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from C Richmond, R Henderson, F Bowers, S Pride, P Ribbands, OWinfridsson, K Clark, L Chapman, M Connolly. Minutes of the Meeting Held on 10 September 2008 The minutes of the previous meeting referred to last season's business and were unanimouslytaken as read. There were no matters arising. Octavia Hill Chess Club Clive Donald stated that Octavia Hill Chess Club started in July 2009 and had enough members to contemplate entering competitions requiring teams of four players. Their affiliation to the Association was approved by all present. Grading Officer's Report The number of games requiring grading had increased to 530 and the new list was issued by August. There were some frustrations from late submission of a few results and clubs should note the next deadline is 20th June 2010! The grading officers were thanked for their considerable efforts. Competitions County League Composition and Entries Division 1 : Cambridge A, New England A, Peterborough, Royston, St Neots, Warboys A Division 2 : Buckden A, Buckden B, Cambridge B, New England B, Spalding, Warboys B Fixtures will be arranged within the following week. Team 550 Entries and Arrangements Entries : Cambridge, New England (x2), Octavia Hill, Royston, Warboys Sadly, the aims of an enjoyable competition and reducing travelling with North and South divisions were not compatible with current low level of entries. The League Organiser was given extra time and the latitude to increase the aggregate grade up to 600 if this would encourage further entries. Due to the variability of the format between seasons, a neutral name was required for this competition and suggestions would be welcomed from all clubs. Fenland Cup The draw for the event is: Peterborough v New England Cambridge v Warboys County Individual Championship Closing date for entries was set as 31st October. M Misson proposed that the venue for the early rounds be split between the north and south of the county to promote entries due to less travelling. The first round would be held at New England and Cambridge, the second at Peterborough, the third at Warboys with the final to be decided later. Cambridgeshire Grand Prix C Russell agreed to monitor the total points scored in the County Leagues, the 550 competition, the County matches and Rapidplay to decide the winner of the Cambridgeshire Grand Prix. Special Events The interim schedule was as follows: | 23rd September | North v South match | Warboys | | 24th January | County Junior | Milton | | 14th March * | Rapidplay | New England | | 5th May | Jamboree | Warboys |
The date and venue of the later events are subject to confirmation. * Revised from the original date of 21st March. County Teams The grading limits for the teams had been decided at EACU level as Open, U160 and U140. Trophies The current disposition of trophies is: | County Individual | A Timoshenko | | Jack Taylor Rapidplay | A Timoshenko | | County 1st Division | Peterborough | | County 2nd Division | Cambridge | | Jamboree | Linton | | Fenland Cup | lost | | Team "550" | none |
H Currie is to investigate purchase of two trophies for those missing above and it was proposed that the Grand Prix winner is awarded an individual memento at a small annual cost. It was noted that engraving was not up to date especially for the history of the County Individual and it was decided that P Hanks should attempt to get a plaque added of past winners. Contacts An appeal was made for all clubs (especially the absentees) to ensure that contact details for their current captains and club secretaries are made known to the Association Officers for onward distribution. Membership of Disputes Committee Norman Wedley, Paul Kemp and Francis Bowers were re-elected en bloc as the Disputes Committee. Tom Hazel, Marcus Connolly and Marcus Misson would be co-opted as necessary. Association Funding A further £60 would fall due to the ECF because of the increase in the number of graded games. This leaves a balance of £1385 from which the purchase of trophies would be deducted. The healthy state of the finances means that fees can be held at the same level as in 2008. i.e. | £38 * | for 1st Division teams | | £30 | for 2nd Division teams | | £10 | for 550 teams |
* Revised from the £45 stated in the meeting after recalculation with the latest entry numbers. Any Other Business It was accepted that the FIDE ruling of zero tolerance on late arrivals at the start of a match would not be implemented in Cambridgeshire competitions. The reduced representation of clubs and difficulty in encouraging entries were held to signal the declining health of chess in Cambridgeshire and it was agreed that some initiatives were needed to reverse the trend. Among ideas discussed were: P Hanks was tasked with canvassing the opinion of the clubs with the aim of discovering how to improve participation. Provisional AGM Date The preference was for a date in the third week of June 2010 (avoiding World Cup commitments!)
[Minutes from the 2008 AGM are also available.] |
