Minutes Sept 2014

2014-09-04

Chess Edinburgh Council Meeting Minutes
Held at the Edinburgh Chess Club on Thursday 4 September 2014

Present

Bill Marshall, Calum McGillivary, David Stewart, Dave Taylor, Eddie Gillespie, Jim Wallace, Martin Robinson, Jim Crawford and Robert Crawford

1. Apologies for Absence

Graham Kerr

2. Minutes of the Last Meeting

Slight typos raised and changes noted. Minutes of last meeting approved by Martin Robinson and seconded by Jim Crawford.

3. Matters Arising

Matter of accounts raised and David Stewart�s confirmation as second signatory clarified, which was previously agreed. No other matters.

4. Edinburgh Chess League

Confirmation of correspondence sent to Club Secretaries and Captains regarding entering an additional team. As yet no positive replies have been received from the Member Clubs to enter an additional team. The option of ten teams playing in Division 2 was not ruled out.

It was proposed and agreed that the league letter for entries will be sent to clubs on Monday 8 September 2014. This will allow enough time for replies. The problem of the whereabouts of the previous year�s letter template was raised and Members of the Council will try to locate this. If unfound a new letter will be drafted and sent.

Proposals for the Fixture Meeting�s date were suggested to be on Monday 6 October 2014. David Stewart agreed to arrange this and book the Staff Room at Boroughmuir High School as the venue.
Submissions by e mail for the league were proposed and well received by the Council. It was agreed that these entries would only be accepted if the entry payment was received in advance of the Composition Meeting, yet to be decided. Concerns were raised about an e mail entry and the possible exclusion of Clubs if they fail to pay on time.

The agreed closing date for entries was set at Saturday 27 September 2014. Acceptable forms of payment are cheque or cash.

It was also discussed that teams may propose voluntary relegation due to falling membership or changes in teams. League rule 1.2 Promotion/ Relegation, covers this situation if a request for to be relegated is received.

The new League Secretary, Calum McGillivary, agreed to be in correspondence with Bill Marshall to ensure that league data is shared and that the results will appear on the Chess Edinburgh website. The software for processing results will also be checked by Bill Marshall to ensure functionality by the Fixtures Meeting. Clipboards and fixtures forms were also being sought from Iain Hope and will be given to Calum McGillvary before the Fixtures Meeting. It was also agreed that result cards need to be sent to Calum although no suggestions of how this would be done were made.

5. Edinburgh Allegro Chess League

Concerns were raised about the venue in Roslin being booked for next season and the need for a provisional booking in April.

The start date for the league was confirmed to be the 9 October 2014 being the second Thursday of the month and the second Thursday of the month thereafter.

It was agreed that the �10 deposit will remain and will only be returnable to the club if no defaulted board occurs.

Entries and payment to the Allegro League is due by Saturday 27 September 2014.

6. Lothian�s Allegro

No date for the tournament has yet been set but the 10 January 2015 is proposed. Wester Hailes Education Centre is reported to be the likely venue and enquiries about booking have been made. However all efforts so far are reported to be unsuccessful with no rooms available for that time. It was agreed that Wester Hailes Education Centre was still likely to be the venue and the Council are working under that assumption. Concerns were raised about a possible change of venue , if required and its impact on entry numbers. If the date is not the 10 January 2015 it was agreed that all proposals for a new date will be distributed to the Council via email. Any change in dates would also need to be proposed to Arbiters to confirm their availability.

7. Summer Cup/Plate

The Council congratulated both the Summer Cup winners being the Tiger Cubs and the Summer Plate winners being Wandering Dragons 1.

It was proposed to present the Summer Cup to the Tiger Cubs at the Lothian�s Congress instead of the Fixtures Meeting. This idea was well received and will be proposed to the accepting team. If this idea is accepted the engraving of the trophy may have to be delayed until after the Lothian�s Congress.

It was also agreed that contact with Corstorphine Chess Club had to be made in order to retrieve the Summer Cup. Martin Robinson agreed to pursue this.

8. Edinburgh Chess Congress

It is still reported that the Congress is without a venue for 2015. James Gillespie�s High School was proposed and is being pursued but will be unsuitable until construction work has finished on the site. This will rule out the 2015 Congress being held there. However it was widely accepted by the Council that this would be a good venue for 2016 onwards.

Appeals for an alternative venue for the 2015 congress were largely unsuccessful though Sciennes Primary School was suggested as a possible venue due to a Gymnasium, Canteen and large amounts of Class Rooms. Dave Taylor agreed to make contact with the School about the possibility of holding the Congress there.

David Lloyd�s Leisure Centre was once again proposed as a suitable venue but the furniture hire make the venue not financially viable. The proposal for an increase in entry fees to �30 was made in the event if we returned to this venue, which appears doubtful. It was agreed that alternative venues will be pursued as a priority before considering the options the Council has.

It was agreed that organising the Congress has been made more difficult as the Council are still without a Congress Director. It was also emphasised that the venue and its suitability need to be confirmed by the next Council Meeting. If no suitable venue was found the Congress for 2015 faces the possibility of not being organised.

9. Lothian�s Congress

Chris Donkin the Lothian�s Congress Director was unable to attend the Council Meeting. Chris sent an email to state that everything was going to plan in which the venue is booked and the Congress will take place on 20 & 21 September 2014.

Graham Kerr the Tournament Entries Secretary is handling the entries and enquiries. So far it is reported that sixteen entries have been received but this is expected to increase closer to tournament start date. A team of four Arbiters will attend led by Andie Howie and the Director is confident this will be enough.

The venue is booked for 6 � 8 pm on the evening of Friday 19 September 2014 to allow for set up.

In addition, it was also discussed that Graham Kerr will be acting as Tournament Director for roughly a three hour slot on the Saturday while Chris Donkin is absent.

10. Primary & Secondary Schools

Dave Taylor reported an overall positive and healthy period for Lothian Junior Chess. He reports that the Committee now has eight members, up from seven in which three are new members.

It also reported that they recently held the inaugural Annual General Meeting in August and had an impressive attendance.

Although there are no fixtures to report on since the last meeting the Lothian Junior Chess Congress, held in November at Wester Hails Eduction Centre, is looking promising. Contact has been made with Dunbar school with regards to entering the junior league. However, it was reported that they are still reluctant to jump into full league chess.

The Council acknowledged the great progress and work being done by Lothian Junior Chess.

11. Guidelines for Play-off Matches

The Council reviewed the recent written guidelines for Play off Matches. It was proposed by Calum McGillivary that the team in the higher division will be the Home team as a default venue should the participating teams not agree a venue. Overall this proposal was well received and then agreed by the Council; a second was received by Dave Taylor.

It was also agreed that these new guidelines are to be made available on the Chess Edinburgh website.

Dave Taylor proposed an amendment to the constitution which would state the Councils procedures when disputes occur. The procedures would cover when Council Members have a conflict of interest. This will be looked into by Bill Marshall and suggestions will be presented at the next Council Meeting.

12. Website:

Bill Marshall reported that he is working on the archive section for last year�s results. No further points to report.

13. President

No additional points or matters raised.

14. Treasurer

It was been reported that last year�s results have been audited and signed off by Robin Murray. The financial report was shared between Council Members and no concerns were raised.

There has been no contact between Chess Scotland and Chess Edinburgh for grading fees for both the Summer Cup & Allegro League. The invoice was expected in August and still needs settled. Calum McGillivary agreed to follow this up on behalf of the Council. The Council took the time to thank Eddie Gillespie for his hard work and commitment to Chess Edinburgh and the accounts.

15. AOCB

David Stewart made the Council aware that the Civil Service Chess Club is holding a five round graded Allegro Tournament on Sunday 19 October 2014 with a start time of 10 am. The entry fee is �5 per player and will include lunch and refreshments. The tournament is being held at:
Slateford Bowling Club,
28 Lanark Road,
Edinburgh,
EH14 1TH

The recent request to change the Chess Edinburgh name was also discussed. The proposed name of �Lothian�s Chess� was received in view of the similar Lothian Junior Chess. However no further discussion was made.

The Council also raised concerns about Chess Scotland�s recent announcement to stop the physical production of the Grading List from the 2015/16 season. The new format will be PDF only at a cost of �1.50 per copy. However the Council believed it would be more suitable for events to have a physical copy.

Dave Taylor proposed the setting up of a Sub Committee for the purpose of getting new teams involved with Chess Edinburgh. It would be set-up encourage chess players who are non-league forming and entering their own clubs in the league. This was considered by the council but no action was taken.

16. Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting will be on Thursday 27 November 2014 at 7.30 pm at the Edinburgh Chess Club


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