SCCU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 11th July 2009 (start 2.30 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, 1 Starcross St, London NW1
rjh 18.7.09
13 attended: the Officers, plus representatives from Essex, Herts, Kent, Middx, Surrey and the Non-County Members. (1) Officers' Reports (The Officers who declared Nothing to Report are omitted.)
Officers' Reports have a way of expanding into areas that might have been considered Other Business. We will treat these areas firmly as Other Business and report them further down, confining ourselves here to the Reporty bits.
(a) President. Tim Thurstan, at the end of his two-year stretch, said he had not always been as active as he would have liked. He thanked the Officers for their unstinting support.
(b) Grading Secretary. Howard Grist said he had done the SCCU grading.
(c) County Match Controller. David Smith distributed his written report. He noted the very high entry of 30 teams, boosted by the new U75 competition, and congratulated Herts and Kent on winning respectively the ECF Minor Counties and U100 titles. The U180 and U135 Jamborees had again been disappointing, with no less than three very late withdrawals.
Webmaster's note. Two national titles out of six is maybe a bit below par, considering the SCCU accounted for 45% of games played (or, at any rate, games graded) at the Union stage. But interpret that statistic how you will. We won't say which Union played 2.6% of the Union-stage games and took half the titles.
(d) Junior Organiser. Neill Cooper said there had been some dissatisfaction over home-teams defaults in the U14/90. He didn't say how many teams had defaulted any games at all.
(e) Bulletin Editor. Richard Haddrell reported that a County had paid £50 for a long run of back numbers. (It had come up in an Executive meeting and the price had been left to his discretion.)
Another thing that had come up in Executive was the possibility of digitising all the back numbers existing only on paper. That is, from 1958 to 1994. "Have you made any progress with this?" No, sorry. But it ought to be done if doable.
"Is this year's Annual Issue ready yet?" Give us a chance, it's got to carry a report of this meeting. But it should be out "fairly" soon. [Plug. Reserve your copy now by sending the Secretary (or Bulletin Editor) a cheque for £5 payable to SCCU.]
(2) Money. The audited - or reviewed - Accounts showed a deficit of £10. It would have been a surplus of £50 if the Treasurer had not accidentally undercharged three Counties for their entry fees, but we'll feel the benefit when it's added to their bills next year! Current assets are something over £3640. This is comfortably over the £3000 which has, in recent years, been regarded as the acceptable minimum. The Accounts were adopted.
The Treasurer had budgeted for no change in fees, and a surplus of £85. This had turned into a surplus of £135 with the Bulletin Editor's announcement of the transaction reported under (1). No one minded, and the budget was agreed. (3) Elections and Appointment. Mike Gunn was elected President in sucession to Tim Thurstan. Rod Langham stepped down as Treasurer, having given and Tim Thurstan stepped temporarily into the breach. (He said he had a permanent candidate in mind who was not available just yet. The Executive could appoint mid-term as appropriate.)
Otherwise it was the usual suspects, and Who's Who? carries an updated list of Officers. The meeting noted that the Auditor was available for one more year only. He would have liked to go this year, but had agreed to carry on for continuity's sake in view of the change of Treasurer. (4) Rule Changes.
Council considered various rule changes, some more contentious than others. Note that the Rules on the site are not yet updated. Note 19.7.09. They are now. General Rules. The Rules were amended to embrace Patrons and Life Vice-Presidents, who were previously not mentioned. County match Rules. Council considered five things:
(a) Grading limits (Rule 3). These were unanimously revised in line with the new ECF limits. The U75 (U100 now) was also changed from 10 boards to 12, likewise for ECF compatibility.
(b) Single/double round (Rule 7). Council unanimously agreed the change described two items down: Exec 6.3.09, item 3(c). The default is single-round if it goes to a vote of match captains.
(c) Rule 10(d) was shortened nem con, relieving home captains of their obligation to provide information about bus routes. It is not thought that this obligation has been consistently respected.
(d) Trophies. Council could not help being aware, while amending Rule 13 to take account of the new grading limits, that the U75 (now U100) has no trophy. David Smith offered to donate one. Council accepted his offer, and wrote it into the Rules as the David Smith Trophy. It will be retrospectively engraved with the name of its first (2008-9) winner.
(e) Rates of play (Rule 20). At last some disagreement. The Executive had asked the Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee to
come up with provisions for incremental rates of play in matches where suitable clocks were available. What it came up with was 35 in 100 min then 20 min to finish, with an increment of 10 seconds per move from the start. For complete matches, naturally. And by agreement between match captains, naturally. You don't introduce a radically new option and give the home captain the right to impose it on the other side. Well, the Sub-Committee wouldn't and your Webmaster wouldn't. Someone proposed an amendment that we do, and Council unaccountably agreed to it. Carried 6 - 4.
(f) Sorry, it was six. Twenty-Two. Someone quite liked the eccentricity of having two Rule Twenty-Twos, but on the whole Council thought one of them should be renamed Twenty-Three. It renamed the second one. U180/U135 Rules. In what was meant to be just another ECF-compatibility change, it was proposed that Rule 5 become: "In the U185 competition no player may have a grade higher than 184, and not more than three players in a team may have a grade higher than 169. In the U150 no player may have a grade higher than U149." However, with a competition whose viability was in doubt, it seemed perverse to retain the extra (below-board-three) restriction in the U180/185. It was dropped. Oh, and the competitions are renamed in the obvious way. U14/90 Rules. These were amended in one place to bring them into line with current practice. It had been intended to amend the grading limit as well, but in view of uncertainty about the forthcoming junior New Grades - see (7) below - it was decided, for the moment, to leave the Rules untouched in that respect. For the coming season the organiser would slot in whatever figure seemed best when the grades were known.
(5) NCM Reps. Only two of the NCMs had nominated anyone, so three places remain unfilled. They will not be re-advertised, but nothing prevents further candidates from coming forward. The Two are David Sedgwick and Scott Freeman. (6) Chess for Schools. We have now reached Other Business. (This one was actually dealt with under President's Report!) Some remained sceptical about the manufacture and distribution of sets. Why had a "main distribution event" in September 2009, mentioned in a recent report, suddenly disappeared from a later one? Was there any evidence that Holloid under new management had actually manufactured any sets? No one present knew the answer to either question. It must be said, though, that the sets now being distributed are quite different from those produced in the early days. (The floppy boards, disappointingly flimsy but this is a free gift, have been bought in by Holloid from another manufacturer.) (7) ECF Grades 2009. This one, less improbably perhaps, came up under Grading Secretary's Report. It seemed there was a problem with junior New Grades. How quickly it would be resolved was unclear, but there was a possibility of delay. The adult grades, at least, would fit the pattern already published.
The meeting closed at 5.42 pm, to be followed after a short intermission by an
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
which did routine things. 11 attended. (1) BCF/ECF Rep MJ Gunn (2) London CA Rep MJ Gunn (who said there had still never been a meeting for him to go to) (3) Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee MJ Gunn (convener), RJ Haddrell, JA Philpott, T Thurstan; and, subject to his agreement, C Fewtrell who was not present (4) Next meeting Friday 2nd October 2009.
The meeting closed at 6.05 pm. That's more than half an hour later than last year, but it was the AGM's fault.
SCCU OPEN FIXTURES 2009-10
14.7.09
The County Match Controller writes:
Here are the fixtures for the Open Division of the SCCU Counties Championship for next season 2009-10 Still six entries, same as the current season just ended..
Oct 10
Nov 7
Jan 9
Feb 6
Mar 6
KE HSy SxM
SyK SxH EM
KSx ESy MH
SxE SyM HK
EH SySx MK
May I emphasise that at this stage the fixtures are provisional only and can be changed by mutual agreement between the Counties and Match Captains concerned. If changes are made however please ensure that the following points are observed:
(a) Ensure that both myself and the SCCU Webmaster Richard Haddrell are advised
(b) Please do not re-arrange matches for 27th or 28th March 2010 or later, as these dates are too late to ensure timely nominations for the 2010 ECF National Stages. In addition, the weekend of 27th and 28th March is provisionally earmarked for the SCCU Jamborees, Senior and Junior, which are again planned to take place together.
At the moment both Essex and Hertfordshire are in the process of electing/appointing new Match Captains for their Open teams, so I will provide this information once it is known to me. If any contact is required at this stage, please use the existing captains.
If there are any queries or problems please advise me as soon as possible.
SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 6th March 2009 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, 1 Starcross St, London NW1
11 attended. We'll be more or less chronological as usual, and there's no harm in saying we've omitted a sensitive item. (1) Glenroy Cup. SCCU Individual Championship Trophy, that is. It was noted that this trophy is still with a previous winner, and someone undertook to attempt its retrieval. [He has since contacted the previous winner, and plans are afoot for its return to the Union.] (2) ECF Yearbook. The Secretary got rid of the Union's surplus stock of "free" Yearbooks. All three of them. The YB contained a loose leaf insert received by email from the ECF that very morning, nearly a month after publication. It corrected some errors in the (summary) ECF Accounts on pages 6 and 7. No doubt the insert went to everyone emailable who had bought a YB. If you haven't had yours, ask the ECF Office. But someone who knows about these things said he wasn't too confident the Accounts were right now.
The Executive, later in the meeting but we'll be achronological, discussed the possibility (see ECF Board report 10.1.09) that the ECF Board might seek the abolition of the YB (and ECF Diary). No one, offhand, knew the net cost of the YB but a figure of £5000 to £10,000 was mentioned. This notwithstanding, the Executive would not happily see the YB go. Its reasons were broadly those of your Webmaster in his Yearbook Review that follows the Board Report. As for the ECF Diary, your Webmaster uses his but others owned to binning it. (3) SCCU County Match Rules. Three possible changes were discussed.
(a) Incremental time limits. Some spoke strongly in favour of providing for these in the rules. If we did, how many Counties would actually be able to provide the electronic clocks required? A likely answer seemed to be: Herts, Surrey, Essex and probably Kent, and how many matches at a time was not clear. It was noted that the National Club rules allow for increments. However, someone emphasised the advantage of uniform rates (not easily achievable with increments if some Counties use clockwork clocks). The Executive, with 1 vote against, agreed to propose writing increments into the rules. The Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee will look at the detail.
(b) Default time. You will be aware that the new 2009 Laws (effective from 1.7.09 and only just validated, indefensibly late) stipulate a default time of zero if the organisers forget to say otherwise. Luckily the SCCU rules say otherwise - one hour - but still someone favoured changing it to 30 minutes. Objectors cited, among other things, the M25; and the suggestion was withdrawn.
(c) Single or double round. The Executive agreed nem con to propose, at the AGM 11.7.09, that Rule 7 be amended so that matches will be single-round if the number of teams is more than 5, double-round if it is less than 5, and single or double by majority agreement of match captains if it is 5. The Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee will draw up a formal wording. (4) SCCU U180 and U135 Jamborees 29.3.09. Entries are few so far, but it sounded as though more were coming. (5) Juniors. The Executive agreed a nomination for a BCET Schools Award 2009. We never publish school names till the Award is confirmed. (6) British Championship qualifying places 2010, and SCCU Individual Championship 2009-10. Places were awarded as follows. SCCU Championship: Surrey Easter. BCQ: Thanet, Ilford, and the Hertfordshire Congress.
So what are the rules? The BCQ places go to the highest-placed player eligible and not already qualified, and in the event of non-acceptance may be offered to others on the same score level but not below it. The SCCU Championship is open to SCCU players only, and the Champion (or other SCCU nominee) gets a British Championship place unconditionally. The SCCU does not pay British Championship entry fees, but the SCCU Championship carries a prize of £100.
Note. Last year the ECF announced late in the day that FIDE-rated open Swisses would have an automatic BCQ place replacing - not supplementing - any place which a Union might already have awarded. The SCCU has asked if the same arrangement will apply this year. ECF: "The decision has not been made yet." (7) County Matches (again), and Grading Bands. The ECF will propose, at the April Council meeting, that the bands remain unchanged in 2009-10 despite the introduction of New Grades. The stated reason is that we should give it a year to see how things go. Amendments on the day would almost certainly invalidate postal votes, so we needed to decide now whether we wished to make a counter-proposal of our own. Yes, we did. The Executive favoured change by a bigger margin than last time, but still it was only 6 - 3. The Union will propose [has proposed, now] new limits of 180, 160, 140 and 120. If our proposals are accepted, we shall further propose a new U100 section. This would be the equivalent of the current SCCU U75, extended to national level.
The paper (Word doc) that will go to Council is here. (8) SCCU Bulletin. A County had asked the Editor if he had spare copies of back numbers. If so, they might be interested in buying a whole run of 16 or 17 years. Yes, the Editor had the years in question, and he'd ask the Executive for guidance on price. So he did, and they said they'd leave it to him. Fair enough. He will now have to look up his records of the grand Clearance Sale of, early nineties was it, and see what price he charged then. (Yes, there was a buyer who took one of everything, but it didn't clear the stock.)
This led to other things. If there were spare copies, perhaps they should be stored in someone else's house as a precaution against fire. (Remember what happened to the Union's pre-war records!) Actually there are no spares before 1978; twenty years' worth of Bulletins exists only in single archive copies, as far as the central records go. (Anyone else out there got Issue 1? It would be nice to think someone had.)
Someone said "filing cabinets", but we've just found out how much a fireproof one costs (and weighs!). Another thing that has been suggested more than once lately, for reasons unconnected with fire, is digitalisation of the Bulletin. Big job? Someone said it might not be as big a job as you'd think. It will be looked into.
There's more. No one mentioned it at the time, but the Union's surviving minute books going back to 1930 are stored in the Secretary's house and he lives in the same house as the Bulletin Editor. Well, even hand-written minute books can be photocopied.
The meeting closed at 10 pm.
rjh 13.3.09
SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 3rd October 2008 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, 1 Starcross St, London NW1
9 attended. In more or less chronological order: (1) Oxfordshire. It was confirmed that Oxon are not renewing their affiliation to the SCCU this year. (2) Money. The Treasurer said his invoices to the Member organisations were mostly out, or were going out this weekend. Yes, with two years' worth of adjustments for unplayed games! (3) County matches. It was noted that the SCCU U75 was in place, with three teams (10 boards double round). Someone said the Chilterns had just introduced an U100, each team to consist of six adults and six juniors, and the adult half plays against the opposing junior half. (How long before the adults start refusing to play?)
Reverting to the SCCU, there was some feeling that the question of single or double round, when there were five or six teams, should be decided by the majority view of match captains rather than allowing a single captain to decide the issue as at present. (See Tournament Rule 7.) But it was observed that any County could propose a rule change, and none had so far. (4) Juniors. The Junior Organiser was not present, but had sent a report. He proposed a new SCCU Secondary Schools knockout competition starting in 2009-10. The competition would be over four boards and open to any school in a County affiliated to the SCCU. Entry would be free, and games not graded. Some queried this last bit. But the rules are only in draft. (5) SCCU Bulletin. Remember the Bulletin? The Editor had just produced not only the long-awaited 2006-7 issue but also the 2007-8 one. Both have been sent to the faithful subscribers, and two or three more copies were snapped up at the meeting. A few copies remain, price £5 the pair. Just email the Editor rjh@sccu.ndo.co.uk. You will treasure your copies when the Website is gone. (6) SCCU Website. The Webmaster had nothing to report, but confirmed that the site's tenth anniversary approached. "And is it still getting a birthday card every year?" - "Of course." (7) British Championship qualifying place. The Surrey Congress, which was awarded one of the SCCU's places at the March meeting, had now acquired one from the ECF because its top section is FIDE rated. It is not allowed to use both. Thus a spare SCCU place was available, and CCF (the only congress unsuccessful in March) had asked if it could have it. The Executive, noting that CCF top sections were never large, awarded the place to the CCF January Congress which avoided clashes. It seemed quite likely (the Executive wasn't sure) that CCF would have preferred the Easter congress for reasons of timescale. But it was agreed they could always come back to us if January was impossible. (8) New Grades. Howard Grist gave a quick run-down on the New Grades, in case anyone was not familiar with them. But the main thing on the agenda was grading bands. What should the new bands be next year, and were the ECF going to take the lead on this or would someone have to push them?
To your Webmaster's amazement, there was considerable feeling that the bands didn't need changing. (It went to a straw poll, and Change beat Preserve 5 - 4.) At any rate we could raise the subject at the October Council meeting, under the next item down. Who knows, perhaps it will also be raised at the New Grades Meeting that precedes it. (9) New ECF County Match Rules. The Home Director has changes on the agenda for the October meeting. His draft is largely a (much needed) re-arrangement. But there are some changes of substance: -
(1) Every Union is entitled to nominate two teams in each competition, not just the Minor; and three if at least five teams in the Union competition complete their fixtures without defaulting a match. In addition, any County is Minor which has not qualified for the current season's Open. The Executive was not unhappy about this - it will give us more nominees, after all - but noted that it would have the likely effect of increasing the number of Preliminary matches, which is not obviously a good thing.
(2) The draft considerably extends the section that is binding on the Unions at the qualifying stage. One person saw this as a step towards abolishing the Unions by stealth, and another suspected a typo. (Can "Sections A to C" be a mistake for "Sections A and B"? Depends who's making the mistake.) The Executive opposed the change.
(3) Ungraded players, in all but the Open, must now have a "grade" assigned by the Controller. (Why? It makes sense in the Minor but nowhere else.)
(4) A pool of Arbiters would be set up who would be on the end of a phone on match days in case problems arose which the captains could not resolve. The Executive had no objection to this.
There are one or two other changes we won't mention, and there's a non-change we will. There is no change in the stated grade limits. This was, perhaps, the wrong place to propose changes to grading bands. But it was agreed we would seek an assurance from the ECF that there would be proposals (if only for no change, presumably).
The Executive also picked up faults in the drafting. The SCCU will ask the Home Director to put the Rules to the Governance Committee (which we understand he has already declined to do). (10) ECF Elections. The Executive had no difficulty deciding which way to cast the Union's vote in the contested election. It discussed other posts as well.