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Updated 13.7.13
SCCU NEWS

SCCU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 6th July 2013 (start 2.15 pm) at the Fountains Abbey, Praed St, London W2
13 attended, plus the Auditor as an observer. Six Counties and two NCMs were represented.
(1) SCCU County Matches. It was reported that Sussex hope to resurrect two of their teams that have lapsed in recent years.
(2) Money. The "audited" Accounts showed a surplus for the year of £1217 and a bank balance of £5021. But the Treasurer said it was all rather meaningless for various reasons. Among other things:
• It included no Officers' expenses, mostly because no one had claimed any yet
• No invoices had been received from the ECF for team entry fees or for Game Fee due; or from the London Junior Championships for trophies
• The cost of trophies in the U14/130 was not known
     The Treasurer wondered if the financial year should be changed to end on (say) 31st August, more closely mirroring the chess-playing year. The Accounts would then not be available at the AGM and would have to go to the autumn Executive meeting. Or, as some said, you could move the AGM; except that AGMs do summery things like electing Officers and presenting trophies. The meeting talked about this for a while, but did not (and, in the absence of specific proposals on the Agenda, more or less could not) make any changes.
     It was remarked that the Accounts would be more meaningful if maintained on an accrual basis. We did work on an accrual basis till 2004, when it was decided that cash was simpler. Proposed: that we switch back to accrual. Voting was 8 - 8, which with hindsight can't have been right but there you are, and the Chairman cast against.
     The Accounts, meaningful or not, were approved. The Treasurer's Budget for 2013-14, proposing no change, was also approved.
(3) Multiple Votes. About this point someone, noting that someone else had just cast three votes, asked how many votes everyone had. It's in the rules, of course, but it would have done no harm to run through everyone's voting entitlements at the start of the meeting (as we never do). Certainly the two proxies should have been announced. In the SCCU, unlike some organisations we can think of, proxy votes are almost unheard of; but they do occur. This was possibly the second time there had been any since the year dot. Since you ask, it was established that one person present had 4 votes, one had 3, two had 2, and everyone else had 1. It's unusual for people to exercise more than 1 vote even if they happen to know they've got more, but it was noticeable that people started to do so from this point in the meeting.
(4) Members in Arrears. This actually came up under "Budget" but may be worth an entry to itself. The Treasurer noted that the various Member organisations which were in arrears a year ago had all paid up, with varying degrees of promptness. But two organisations had still not paid their affiliation fees for 2012-13. They are "deemed to have resigned", since they are more than 6 months in arrears. One is an NCM and, technically, must re-apply for Membership before it can compete again. However, it was agreed to accept 2013-14 entries from both on condition they make up the arrears.
(5) Election of Officers. David Smith was elected President at the end of David Howes's two-year term, and Julie Denning was elected Deputy President. All other Officers were re-elected unopposed.
(6) Appointment of Independent Examiner. We've never really understood why Officers are elected and Auditors are appointed, but Peter Baker gets an entry to himself this time because his title has changed. It's Independent Examiner now.
(7) Election of Non-County Member. The meeting elected Chess in Schools and Communities. The new Member replaces the London Chess Classic, which is now a part of CSC.
(8) SCCU County Match Rules
(a) Rule 5(c). Surrey proposed a revised version which would allow the use of ECF Rapidplay grades. After much discussion it became clear that, while the meeting wished to allow Rapidplay grades, it was unlikely to agree on a form of words. It was noted, also, that the "official" rules make no mention of January grades though we do, in fact, have unofficial published rules about them. The Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee was asked to come up with something.
(b) Rule 15. Surrey proposed a rule bringing the SCCU (sort of) in line with the new ECF "10-point rule". We say "sort of" because the ECF rule includes a huge anomaly, which Surrey's text attempted to avoid. However, the proposal was heavily defeated.
     Then there was a reserve proposal on the agenda, from Hertfordshire, seeking to use the ECF rule as it stood. The proposal was heavily defeated.
(9) Conduct of ECF Stage 2012-13. As someone remarked, when penalties are applied in 44% of matches there's something wrong. But no one seemed inclined to propose anything, and we were on the point of moving on when someone suddenly did. Ask the ECF to throw away the 10-point rule! (And revert to the old one, which is essentially the same as the SCCU's.) Carried very heavily, and the SCCU will make this proposal at the ECF AGM.
(10) SCCU Guidance for Match Captains. David Smith had drafted a document, based largely on an existing Surrey one. There was some disagreement whether match captains should be allowed to advise players on accepting, or offering, draws (the draft said not). The meeting preferred to allow it, and DS will redraft accordingly.
(11) Two more proposals for the ECF AGM. It was agreed to propose:
(a) That Council notes the increasing problem of players cheating using electronic devices and instructs the Board to establish procedures for the imposition of sanctions in proven cases. Such sanctions shall include an automatic period of suspension from all events under ECF auspices.
(b) That the Board’s decision on ECF events made 17.3.2013 (to require ECF Membership of all players in events organised and graded by the ECF) be rescinded in respect of school team competitions. (That one's attracted some attention on the EC Forum.)

The meeting ended at 6.24 pm, to be immediately followed by an

SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
6.7.13
which did routine things. 8 attended.
(1) Date of Next Meeting Friday 4th October 2013. Dates of other meetings to be fixed at this meeting.
(2) Appointment of BCF and ECF Reps. D Smith in both cases.
(3) Appointment of Rules and Appeals Sub-Committee. DJ Howes, J Denning, K Elder, RJ Haddrell, JA Philpott; plus a sixth person: Middx to make a recommendation.

The meeting closed at 6.34 pm.
rjh 12.7.13, amended 13.7.13


3.6.13
SCCU OPEN FIXTURES 2013-14
County Match Controller David Smith davidandjanesmith@ntlworld.com writes:
Here are the fixtures for the Open Division of the SCCU Counties Championship for next season 2013-14. Six entries again, as last year.

Oct 5
Nov 9
Jan 18
Feb 8
Mar 15
EH      MK       SySx
KE      HSy      SxM
EM      SyK     SxH
ESy    KSx      MH
SxE     SyM     HK

May I emphasise that at this stage the fixtures are provisional only and can be changed by 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 dates later than 23rd March 2014.

All match captains are the same as last year (see the current Fixtures page).

If there are any queries or problems please advise me as soon as possible.


SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 5th April 2013 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, London NW1
9 attended.
(1) Money. Rather a lot of Members - five - are in arrears with affiliation fees, and in some cases entry fees as well. We're not sure how this has happened. They have already lost their voting rights at meetings - not that anyone thought about that at the meeting, and there weren't any votes close enough for it to matter anyway. We're not naming them, but we will when they're ex‑Members, and they soon will be at this rate. There is a payment deadline! One of the five actually owes for last season as well, is in the Union's debt to the tune of £340, and presumably ceased to be a Member nearly a year ago but no one noticed. This won't be anything worse than inefficiency on the Member's part, but even so.
(2) County Matches. The SCCU season is complete, and you know the results. Two things have gone to appeal, if that's the word both times. One was a 10.2, or rather Appendix D, claim in the Open which was rightly [alert: possible Webmaster's opinion] rejected. The other was an appeal against the Controller's rejection of a board-order claim in the U120 16.3.13. The verdict of the Rules & Appeals Sub-Committee is still awaited, we couldn't say why, and we'll tell you when we have it. But there is no question of the SCCU nominations for the national stage being changed.
(3) Juniors. You know how the U14/130 has gone so far, and only the Final remains. Someone remarked on the number of friendly games they've been playing (all at SCCU expense, because we're not billing the teams).
     It rather looks as though the Junior Jamborees (played in March last year) are not going to happen; but let's wait and see.
(4) SCCU Individual Championship 2013-14 and British Championship qualifying places 2014. Applications had been received from four congresses, happily matching the number of places in the Union's gift, and the Executive made awards to all four. SCCU Championship 2013-14: Hertfordshire Congress (November 2013). BCQ places: Thanet Congress (August 2013); Hastings Masters 2013-14; Weald Congress (July 2014, but places may be taken up in 2015).
(5) BCET Award 2013. The Executive decided on the SCCU's nomination. As always we withhold the name till the awards are announced.
(6) SCCU Tournament Rules: Guidance. This stems from item (3) in the next meeting down. Things had not really progressed, to tell the truth, but it is hoped to have something before the AGM on Saturday 6th July.
(7) Availability of Officers for next year. Both the President and the Deputy President have said they do not wish to continue. A name has been mentioned for the President's job next year, but we will not pass it on. Other Officers, as far as we can say, are available again. "If I'm spared," one of them said.
(8) ECF Matters (with particular reference to the forthcoming Finance Council meeting in Birmingam 13.4.13). The President would be unable to attend this meeting as SCCU rep, and it was agreed that Julie Denning would act in his stead.
     (a) Revamp of Counties Championships (National Stage). We won't print out the various proposals. They are set out in http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/C18.17-A-Discussion-of-the-Counties-Championship-Rule-Change-Proposals.pdf (sorry, ECF addresses do look like that). The Executive, after some discussion, came down in favour of the status quo though it would not dismiss the NCCU's approach out of hand. The Home Director's, it would.
     (b) FIDE rating of SCCU Open Division next year? The question came from the ECF Home Director who observed that 90 out of 130 players, in the first halfyear of the SCCU Union stage 2012-13, were Gold Members (the FIDE requirement) or better. The Executive noticed that this meant 40 players who were not Gold Members or better, and reflected also that FIDE rating would require changes to a rate of play which was in no obvious need of changing. The Home Director's suggestion was not favoured.
     (c) Advance registration of graded events with ECF. This proposal, made by the ECF Board, is not very revolutionary; but it has attracted hostility through the frankly insensitive published plans for its implementation. (Read them. They're there for download.) How will the SCCU react? The minute secretary's notes say: "JD to vote as sees fit, preferably against."
(9) Date of SCCU AGM: Saturday 6th July 2013. The day the ECF Counties Finals were going to be.

The meeting closed at 10.31 pm
rjh 12.4.13


SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Friday 5th October 2012 (start 7 pm) at the Exmouth Arms, London NW1
It wasn't the pleasantest Executive meeting we've been at. 8 attended.
(1) Money. The Treasurer had brought along electronic copies, on CD, of the last four years' worth of SCCU Accounts plus financial papers, inherited partly from his predecessors, going four years further back than that. The Secretary took a copy for the records. It was agreed that the Treasurer should always keep records for the two previous years.
(2) County Matches. It was noted, with regret, that Herts had taken their U160 team to East Anglia to avoid date clashes with their SCCU Open team. They can't have been re-arranging dates last year. Hang about, though. Herts Open and U160 never played on the same day last year. Ah, it must be the U120 team that had the clashes. Er, no, no clashes there either. Clearly Herts re-arranged with success last year. We understand the SCCU Controller had said he would do the job for them this year by avoiding their U160 clashes in the first place, but they have chosen another path.
     It had been suggested that the website should carry the addresses of County venues. The Controller thought there would be a danger of people believing the website without noticing last-minute changes. The idea was not pursued.
     Another suggestion: that we insist on ECF Membership in the coming season's SCCU County matches. This seemed to be seriously meant. It was agreed that we couldn't do it, not this year, but we'd consider it for next year.
     There was some discussion of the multiplicity of result-sheet formats in use. The Controller was not specially concerned about the format, but thought he might make an "official" one, to be downloadable from the website. (The Webmaster's one request is: if your form is an Excel spreadsheet, for heavens sake arrange it so it prints on one sheet of paper!)
(3) SCCU County Match Rules The AGM had asked the Executive to look at Rule 19, which requires a warning for a player's first Mobile offence in a game. Who is to give the warning? Some thought it was inconsequential, and it was agreed with one dissenting vote that the rule did not need changing. Then it was agreed that the Controller would issue an instruction anyway, to the effect that one match captain should give the warning and tell his opposite number that he had done so. That bit got two dissenting votes and one of them wasn't your Webmaster's.
     It was further proposed (and not for the first time) that we should have guidance on the role of match captains. This was postponed to the Spring meeting, if only so we could have a look at the Surrey Association's guidance.
(4) U185 / U150 Jamborees. See item 2(b) in the next report down. It was agreed to give the Jamborees a miss this year. We could always reconsider if there was a riot at the AGM.
(5) Juniors. It was proposed that SCCU junior events 2012-13 be treated in the same way as adult for grading purposes. Grade everything, and don't insist on ECF Membership. Agreed, but with one vote against.
(6) ECF Matters. Or ECF AGM Matters. The Executive decided our position on a number of issues.
     Elections. Short / Jones: Short. Edwards: None of the above. We would support the earlier motion (item 11) not to pursue the proposals at the end of Mr Edwards's election address.
     Standards of Conduct for ECF officers. We oppose: the exclusions are far too wide.
     Accounts. Yes, all right. There aren't any. The Executive's view was "shambles", and in fairness the Board's view may not be different.
(7) Date of next meeting. Friday 5th April 2013, at the Exmouth Arms if available. The date of the AGM could not be fixed till we knew the date of the ECF Finals day.

The meeting closed at 10.18 pm.
Which leaves the unpleasant bits. This is the SCCU Website and some restraint is natural, but we must report. At this moment we're undecided how much to report, and we'll come back to it. For the moment we have omitted a couple of very minor items related to the matter. None of this has any bearing on Union policies or everyday operational affairs.
rjh 11.10.12, revised 12.10.12
The unpleasant bits
We're sorry to have taken a while. We won't report the two minor items. They were minor, and led to nothing. But they were both related, directly or indirectly, to an affair which has been grumbling along unreported, mostly outside Executive meetings, for more than eighteen months. It stems from a dispute at a County match the season before last which one person has returned to repeatedly, to the frustration of people who consider the matter long closed. We give no details. When it surfaced again at the end of this meeting harsh things were said, voices were raised, and tempers flared. This has not been the sort of thing we associate with SCCU Executive meetings.
rjh 27.10.12


SCCU ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 14th July 2012 (start 2.15 pm) at the Fountains Abbey, Praed St, London W2
12 attended, plus the Auditor as an observer.
(1) Grading. Julie Denning said the SCCU grading was nearly done and would be completed on schedule. She urged everyone to check their games as listed in the ECF online database (you know, http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/) and report any errors.
(2) SCCU County Matches
     (a) Grades. Which grade should a captain quote in the second half of the season: August or January? Some solve the problem by quoting both (and on this website we have displayed the January one, since we don't have room for two). Some give just one without saying which it is (and we do say, where we can tell: sometimes it seems to be a mixture). It was agreed that giving both was best.
     (b) U185/U150 Jamborees. Not for the first time, the viability of these was questioned. This year's events with two entries each - even fewer than the year before - might have been cancelled except that the venue was already paid for (and still we lost £60). Perhaps non-SCCU (eg Chiltern) Counties could be invited to play. The Executive was asked to consider.
(3) SCCU Website. The Webmaster apologised for not having caught up with the County Final results yet. "Yes, but you could have been a bit more effusive than 'The world and his dog knows the SCCU came away with 6 titles out of 7'." Sorry!
     Someone else, or it may have been some two or three else, thought the site was old fashioned. No quarrel there, it's the most old fashioned website we know. But it seems that this causes some things - the County league tables were specifically mentioned - to be less than user friendly for some people. This had never occurred to us. The frankly crude way in which the site is coded certainly has its disadvantages, but we had supposed they impacted mostly on the editor. Views, anyone? No one's using Open Forum at the moment.
(4) Money
     (a) Accounts. The Treasurer's Accounts showed a surplus of £124 and liquid assets of £3804. They were adopted. There was some discussion of unpaid junior entry fees. Two Counties (Surrey and Middx) had still not paid their £20 fee for the U14/130. Yes, they were named in the Accounts and why not, though one person thought it objectionable. We believe arrangements for payment are in hand. One problem is that it isn't always clear who invoices should go to, since the junior organisations are often independent of the adult County associations.
     (b) Budget. The proposed Budget 2012-13 envisaged a deficit of £70, including a deficit of £150 on junior activities. The Treasurer commented that it was hard to budget without knowing whether there would be any junior activities, but you won't know why he was in doubt about that unless you've been reading ahead. (There will be.) On the assumption that junior activities were to continue, the Treasurer recommended that their entry fee be increased to £30. In the absence of any proposal to change the Membership subscriptions or County Championship entry fees, they remain the same as before: County Membership £50; Non-County Membership £25, or £20 if paid promptly by 31st October; County Championship entry fee £20 per team.
     The Budget was adopted.
     (c) New ECF Membership/Game Fee setup. The meeting spent some time on this. Not on its merits, thankfully, but on its practical application. No one was proposing that we should require players to be ECF Members; we would leave that decision to the individual Counties. Game Fee, for any non-Members, would continue to be the Counties' responsibility. The ECF would bill the Union for it, and the Union in turn would bill the Counties. As the rules currently stood, the Union would have to make an estimated payment in December (with adjustment in the following year, or maybe sooner if the discrepancy was large).* However, we would not bill the Counties till the end of the season. "That's what we have reserves for."
     Would the ECF provide a detailed breakdown of non-Members' games, making it easy for us to bill each County for the correct amount? Yes. Something very much along these lines goes to the graders now, every time they submit an event for grading. Exactly when the final figures will come isn't too clear. It needs to be as late as possible, or players will mess up your work by sneakily taking out subscriptions in August, backdated to 1st September.
     How will we make our December estimate? Guess. The grader's return at the halfyear might help, if it were available by 15th December. It won't be.
     The County Match Controller was asked to write to all the Counties making the point that, while ECF Membership is not required for the SCCU stage, it almost certainly will be required in the national stage.
     * It was suggested, at the meeting, that the requirement for a December payment might soon be dropped. We'll believe that when we see it. It would mean a change to the Game Fee Bye Laws, at the ECF AGM presumably and that isn't till October.
(5) Elections and appointment. Neill Cooper, through pressure of other things, felt unable to continue either as Deputy President or as (unofficial) Junior Organiser. Tyrone Jefferies of Kent was elected Deputy President, and Angela Eyton of Middlesex was elected Junior Organiser. All others were re-elected (or re-appointed) unopposed. Everyone is in Who's Who.
(6) Election of Non-County Member. Oxfordshire Juniors were elected nem con. This was lucky, because they have already played in the U14/130 in the season just concluded. Membership is a condition of playing in the U14/130.
(7) Rule Change. Rule 3(a) of the General Rules was amended to permit the election of NCMs at any general meeting, rather than just AGMs. Oxfordshire's position could have been regularised last autumn if the new version of the rule had been in place.
(8) Defaulted matches and the National Stage. The meeting spent an amazing amount of time on this. It started with the three matches defaulted by SCCU teams this year in the first round of the national stage. Clearly we should take steps to minimise the risk of a repetition, and it was agreed that the Controller would seek explicit acceptance of nomination in future, rather than asking the Counties and taking silence for consent. It isn't always an easy question for a County. If you qualify in five adjacent divisions, should you sacrifice a couple and go all out to win the others? Maybe Counties (not only in the SCCU) need to consider this well in advance to avoid hasty last-minute decisions.
     It has to be remembered that the rules change in the national stage. Adjacent teams, protected against the need to play simultaneously in the SCCU stage, suddenly lose that protection in the national stage. It can still be avoided with the opponents' consent - until Finals Day, so long as that institution prevails. But Finals day comes up later.
     At this point (actually we've jumped to Any Other Business, but it ought to have been this point) someone suggested that the national-stage default dates should be on alternate weeks, keeping adjacent divisions apart. It was objected that this was only postponing the problem till Finals Day; also that it gave other events one more set of dates to avoid. However, on a straw poll (by something like 6 votes to 4, no one seemed very sure) the meeting favoured alternate weeks. It was a straw poll, and no decision was taken to actually do anything about it.
     Back in the main body of the meeting, it was time to talk about Finals Day. This time, funnily enough, a straw poll favoured use of a central venue. Should it move around? The question was raised but not answered. However, there was some feeling that we could do better than an unattractive venue in Leicester. (We think the objection was to one particular venue, not to Leicester in general. We should add that the venue objcted to was much cheaper than others on offer.)
(9) Chess in Schools and Communities. The meeting noted the CSC's recent Highly Commended award from the Sport and Recreation Alliance. David Sedgwick would convey our congratulations to Malcolm Pein and the CSC.
(10) SCCU U14/130. The outgoing organiser had mooted a number of modifications, and two of them would require rule changes. One was an increase of the grading limit to U140. (It has already been there once and come down again.) The other was a restriction on the use of U11 players. The incoming Junior Organiser said she was content to continue with the existing rules till she got a feel for people's wishes. She could always bring rule changes to Council in the Autumn if she wanted.
(11) Insurance of Trophies. Council referred this to the Executive.

The meeting closed at 6.16 pm, and was seamlessly followed by the traditional

SCCU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
14.7.12
which did routine things.
(1) Date of Next Meeting Friday 5th October 2012. Dates of other meetings to be fixed at this meeting.
(2) Appointment of BCF and ECF Reps. DJ Howes in both cases.
(3) Appointment of Rules and Appeals Sub-Committee. DJ Howes, J Denning, K Elder, RJ Haddrell, JA Philpott
(4) Insurance of Trophies. All right, one non-routine thing. Renewal was due at the end of September, before the Executive next met, and on a straw poll (yes, another one) no one was going to argue against renewal even if we left the decision till after the expiry date. So, Trophies to be insured. This does not preclude discussion for future years.

The meeting closed at 6.39 pm.
rjh 22.7.12


3.5.12
SCCU OPEN FIXTURES 2012-13
County Match Controller David Smith davidandjanesmith@ntlworld.com writes:
Here are the fixtures for the Open Division of the SCCU Counties Championship for next season 20012-13. Still six entries, same as the season just ended.

Oct 6
Nov 17
Jan 19
Feb 16
Mar 16
HE      KM       SxSy
EK      SyH      MSx
ME      KSy     HSx
SyE    SxK      HM
ESx     MSy     KH

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 the weekend of 30th March or later, as these dates are too late to ensure timely nominations for the 2013 ECF National Stages.

Sussex have a new Open Match Captain: Dix Roberts, 6 Foxleigh Close, Horsham, W Sussex RH12 4AX 01403 260933 dix@foxleigh.globalnet.co.uk. Or, on the day, contact Paul Batchelor (see current U180). I understand that all other County Open Match Captains remain the same as in 2011-12.

If there are any queries or problems please advise me as soon as possible.


Earlier material is in the Archive.


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