Stockport and District Chess League
1
Attendance and apologies
Present
were: Andy Walker (East Cheshire) ; Sean Hewitt (Marple) ; Robin
Warhurst (Wilmslow) ; Peter King (Stockport) ; Shiela Holt (Denton) ;
John Lysons (Denton) ; Vic Rushworth (Stockport) ; Ian Chester
(Holmes Chapel) ; Ian Bates (Holmes Chapel) ; John Turner (Holmes
Chapel) ; Phil Cattermole (Macclesfield) ; Keith Johnston (Urmston) ;
Tim Plunkett (Urmston) ; Anthony Flynn (Wilmslow) ; Karl Lockett
(Altrincham) ; Neil Dainty (Marple) ; Tony Doust (Marple) ; Terry
Cowling (Cowling) ; Geoff Lawrence (Macclesfield) ; David Taylor
(East Cheshire) ; Keith Hodgson (Bramhall) ; Geoff Smith (Bramhall) ;
Mike Tunstall (Stockport) ; Andy Reeve (Stockport) ; Robert Shaw
(Buxton) ; Carl Pinel (Buxton) ; Ian Vaughan (East Cheshire) ; Karl
Lockett (Altrincham)
Apologies for absence were received from David Hughes (Altrincham) ; Dave Toole (Denton) ; Dave Holt (Denton) ; Dave Cook (Denton) ; David Kierman (Chorlton) ; Peter Taylor (Stockport) ; Dan Sheppard (Stockport).
2 Minutes of the 2010 AGM were amended to show that Div 2 winners were Macclesfield and then accepted by the meeting and signed by the President.
3
Matters arising
There
were no matters arising.
4
Officers' reports
4.1
President
Robin Warhurst said that the main thing in the year had been the new
ECF membership funding fequirements. He also reported that former
SDCL official and ex Macclesfield player Peter Neal, who had
previously emigrated to Turkey, had sadly died.
4.2 Secretary Sean Hewitt said that his first year as Secretary had entirely uneventful and had nothing to report.
4.3 Fixtures Secretary Karl Lockett thanked both Andy Reeve and Mike Tunstall for their help and assistance during what had been a quiet season. He stated that there had been 16 board defaults and 1 match defaulted plus one dispute which was still ongoing There was still one match left to play, but this was scheduled for the week after this AGM.
The new January grades had resulted in a few players being played out of order for the purposes of the league rules but this was with the agreement with all concerned and had caused no problems.
Honours were narrowly split this year. Marple won Div1, Div3 and the Charnley Cup whilst Macclesfield won both Div2 and DIv4.
4.4 Website Manager Andy Reeve thanked Karl Lockett and Mike Tunstall for their assistance during the season and erported that generally there had been no problems although it had been necessary to move the website hosting at the start of the season for technical reasons.
4.5 Handbook Secretary Andrew Walker reported that the new system (with a free copy for officials and captains, with other copies being paid for) worked really well. There was a slight problem getting some information from clubs and a new system for this was required. He also reported that we would need a new printer for the handbook in future as there had been significant delays in producing the handbook.
4.6 Grading Officer Mike Tunstall reported that there had been a slight problem with ‘batching’ but other than that, things had gone smoothly this year.
4.7 Treasurer Phil Cattermole presented accounts for 2011-12, which had now been audited. There was a small surplus on the year of £84.04 leaving current assets at £950.46.
5 English Chess Federation (ECF) Membership Scheme Update
Sean Hewitt gave an update. The new membership scheme would come into force on 1st September 2012. Players would be required to join the ECF or pay game fee of £2 per game (previously 58p). The costs of joining the ECF would be
Bronze Membership £13 (for players in league and county chess)
Silver Membership £19 (for players in Bronze chess and non-FIDE rated congress chess)
Gold Membership £28 (for players in Silver chess and FIDE rated chess)
The meeting noted the update, and decided that the league would not enter into a Membership Agreement with the ECF. It would be for players and clubs to ensure that players joined the ECF.
6 Team Fees for 2012
The Treasurer recommended that team fees should be reduced from £48 to £5 in light of the ECF membership scheme plus £2 per game played by a non ECF member. This was agreed unanimously.
7 Presentation of trophies
The awards were made as follows.
Division 1 Champions: Marple A. The Cup was presented.
Division 2 Champions: Macclesfield A. The Cup was presented
Division 3 Champions: Marple B. The Cup was presented.
Division 4 Champions: Macclesfield B. There was no Cup available for this Division. It was agreed that one should be purchased from League funds.
Charnley Cup: Marple. The Cup was presented.
Vic Knox Trophy: TBA As the league season had not yet been completed.
Eric Harrison Trophy: Michael Fernandez (Marple A, current performance 169, scoring 15 out of 18 games, aged 12). The Cup was presented to a Marple delegate in Michael’s absence.
8
Election of officers
The
following officers were elected unopposed.
President: Robin WARHURST (Wilmslow) to continue in office.
Vice President: VACANT. Nominations to be made by the fixtures meeting
Treasurer: Phil Cattermole (Marple) to continue in office.
Secretary: Sean Hewitt (Marple) to continue in office.
Fixtures Secretary Karl Lockett (Altrincham) to continue in office.
Website Manager: Andy Reeve (Stockport) to continue in office.
Grading Officer: Mike TUNSTALL (Stockport) to continue in office.
Handbook Editor: Andrew WALKER (East Cheshire) to continue in office.
Auditor: Ian VAUGHAN (East Cheshire) to continue in office.
Disputes
Panel: five members (two
Sub-Committee Members & three Deputies, in addition to the
Fixtures Secretary) were elected by the meeting: I. Bates (Holmes
Chapel), A. Doust (Marple), D. Holt (Denton), R. Shaw (Buxton), and
M. Taylor (Stockport).
9
Changes to League Rules
not affecting the
constitution
1. Changes to Rules 17A, 17B (proposed by Carl Pinel)
It is proposed that Rules 17A and 17B are modified to read as follows:
17A Rate of Play (quickplay finish)
The rate of play shall be 36 moves in the first 75 minutes, and at this time control (i.e. after Black's 36th move) the clocks shall be set back 15 minutes. Each player shall make all his remaining moves before the next time control. The player whose flag falls first shall lose unless his opponent has insufficient material remaining to mate, in which case the game shall be drawn.
17B
Rate of Play (not a quickplay finish)
If
both captains agree before play starts, time controls allowing for
adjournments may be adopted. The rate of play shall be at least 36
moves in the first 75 minutes, at least 52 moves in the first 105
minutes, at least 68 moves in the first 135 minutes, and so on. The
clocks shall be set back at each time control, i.e. after black's
36th, 52nd, 68th moves, etc. All games are to be played to a finish,
through adjournments if necessary.
If this time limit was agreed in the first match that season between the same teams, there must be a similar time limit in the second match.
After discussion, these two proposals were taken together and passed unanimously.
2. Change to Rules 25A & 25C & addition of 25E (proposed by SDCL Committee)
25A Player Registration at the Start of the Season
Before the first match of each year's play in the League and preferably at the Fixtures Meeting, each Club shall supply to the Fixtures Secretary a list of its players in order of playing strength with their current grades, together with their current ECF membership number for the season, where known. Any player for whom a current ECF membership number is not provided shall be charged to their club at £2 per game. For the purposes of SDCL board order the grades current at the time of the fixtures meeting shall remain in force for the whole of the playing season irrespective of any subsequently published ECF grading list.
Each ungraded player shall be given an estimated grade (to be agreed between the Club and the Fixtures Secretary) and placed in the list at a position that reflects the player's playing strength.
The Club may make any rearrangements to the order it wishes provided that it does not place a player who is more than 15 grading points stronger than another player below this latter player.
After discussion, this proposal was passed unanimously.
25C Method of registering and playing New Players
A new player may be registered at any time during the year by notification to the Fixtures Secretary or, in his absence, the League Secretary before his first match. If players are new to the League (i.e. players not on website grading list), clubs should provide details of their previous club(s)/country and their ECF registration number (or date of birth) upon registration. If date of birth is not available, full name and whether male or female shall be supplied. Newly registered players must supply a current ECF membership number else games played by them will be charged to their club at £2 per game.
The Club must provide a revised registration order following the principles in rule 25A.
After discussion, this proposal was passed unanimously.
25E Deregistration of players
Any player will be automatically deregistered after playing [Insert Number] games if they have not supplied a valid ECF membership number. They will not be able to re-registerin the current playing season until they have a current ECF membership number.
A discussion saw this proposal changed to
Any
player will be automatically
deregisteredineligible
after playing [Insert Number] games if they have not supplied a valid
ECF membership number. They will not be able
to re-registereligible
in the
current playing season until they have a current ECF membership
number.
A further discussion then took place as to the number of games which should be allowed before a player was ineligible. 3 games received 10 votes, 4 games received 9 votes and 5 games received 4 votes. The proposal of 3 games was then passed with 1 vote against.
3. Changes to Rule 25 (proposed by Mike Tunstall)
25A Player Registration at the Start of the Season
Delete “…shall remain in force for the whole of the playing season irrespective of any subsequently published ECF grading list.” and replace with “…can be used for the whole of the playing season irrespective of any subsequently published ECF grading list.”
A discussion saw this proposal changed to
Delete
“…shall
remain in force for the whole of the playing season irrespective of
any subsequently
published ECF grading list.” and
replace with “…can be
used for the whole of the playing season irrespective of any
subsequently published ECF grading list.”
25D Revision of Player Registration during the Season
A revised registration list may also be submitted if playing strengths of registered players change during the season to a degree not coverable by the 15 grading points flexibility described in rule 25A. If such a revised list is submitted, it must include revised grades for all the players and may not be used for team order until agreed by the Fixtures Secretary or, in his absence, the League Secretary. At the discretion of the Fixtures Secretary, an unregistered player shall be treated as having defaulted the game for the purposes of the match score. For the purposes of SDCL board order the grades current at the time of the fixtures meeting can be used for the whole of the playing season irrespective of any subsequently published ECF grading list.
After discussion, these two proposals were taken together and defeated with 6 votes in favour and 15 votes against.
The secretary undertook to re-draft this proposal and present at the fixtures meeting.
10 Any Other Business.
The was no AOB.
The meeting closed at 10.10 p.m.