Page published 5 August 2014. Corrected 6 Aug to show Pattinson's correct affiliation.

MIDLAND COUNTIES CHESS UNION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014

Held at Syston and District Social Club, 36 High Street, Syston, Leicester LE7 1GP, Saturday 14th June 2014, 2.00pm

MINUTES (unconfirmed)

Attending: Andrew Leadbetter, Ray Dolan, John Pattinson (Leics), Andrew Farthing (Worcs), Glyn Pugh (Shrops), Robert Richmond, Drag Sudar, David Levens (Notts), John Grasham, Peter Sherlock (Lincs) and John Packenham (Staffs)

1) APOLOGIES FOR ABSCENCE

Mick Norris (Manchester), Cyril Johnson, Julie Johnson, Peter Gibbs (Leics), Ray Collett (Worcs), Alex Holowczak (Warks), Robert Milner and Matthew Carr (Staffs)

2) MINUTES OF THE 2013 AGM

2.1) Accuracy

The minutes were agreed without amendment

2.2) Matters Arising.

There were no matters arising

3) REPORTS

3.1) President (Peter Gibbs)

PG emailed JG to send his apologies. He said “By the way I wish to be considered for the position of MCCU President again.  I suspect I have not been as involved this year as in the time of the Johnsons but I deduce from this that under Ray Dolan's guidance the affairs of the MCCU are being dealt with more efficiently than ever.” JG relayed this to the meeting.

Report accepted

3.2) Chairman (Andrew Farthing)

AF told the meeting he had nothing to report.

3.3) ECF Delegate (Andrew Farthing)

AF provided an in depth report on the ECF Council Meetings that had taken place in the last year. The main talking point at these meeting was the resignation of the ECF President Andrew Paulson. His tenure as president proved very unpopular and he was asked to resign. At the finance meeting it was decided to keep the price of ECF membership the same for the next financial year. JP said thanks to AF for sorting out the finances of the ECF. AL asked if it was possible to for an ECF President to be appointed to do a ceremonial role. This was not popular.

Report accepted

The CEO had provided a written report before the meeting and had not arrived when it was read out by the secretary. In it he thanked Peter Sherlock for all his hard work as the Controller of Inter Counties Teams’ Competitions and expressed his disappointment at an MCCU congress not happening this year but is hopeful an event will take place next year.
Report accepted

3.5) Secretary (John Grasham)

The secretary provided a very short report.

Report accepted.

The finance director provided the accounts in advance of the meeting and reported that there were very few transactions this year. There may be more expenditure in the coming financial year if the proposed MCCU congress happens as the MCCU will be responsible for funding it even

Report accepted

DL circulated his report before the meeting. He explained that in order for an individual county to be successful in under 11 chess there needed to be a group of about six organisers willing to share responsibility for running events. He compared Nottinghamshire with the neighbouring county of Lincolnshire. Nottinghamshire have a core group of six organisers whereas Lincolnshire only has one organiser (Keith Palmer) and the obtaining and retaining of organisers is a key element of success in under 11 chess.

Report accepted

PS provided a detailed report on matches in the MCCU stages of the County Championships that he sent off for grading.

Report accepted

PS provided a report to delegates before the meeting. He said that all in all the MCCU stages of the county championships were successful this year despite the reduction in the number of teams that entered. The most contentious issue was the merging of the open and minor section of the MCCU qualifying competition. This was due to 1 team entering the Open and 7 teams entering the Minor. PS found a compromise solution for this encompassing east and west zones but there was not a perfect solution to this conundrum.

Report accepted

RC was not able to attend the meeting as he was in France but provided a combined report for Public Relations Director and Webmaster.

Report accepted

3.11) Webmaster (Ray Collett)

Report accepted

3.12) Non Executive Directors (John Pakenham and Drag Sudar)

Both Non Executive Directors told the meeting they had nothing to report.

3.13) Events Director (Vacant)

There was no report as this post is vacant.

There was no report as this post is vacant.

4) ELECTIONS

4.1)  President                      Peter  Gibbs         Re-elected unopposed

4.2)  Chairman                       Andrew Farthing      Re-elected unopposed

4.3)  Chief Executive Officer        Ray Dolan            Re-elected unopposed

4.4)  Secretary                      John Grasham         Re-elected unopposed

4.5)  Finance Director               Andrew Leadbetter    Re-elected unopposed

4.6)  Director for Junior Chess      David Levens         Re-elected unopposed

4.7)  Grading Director               Peter  Sherlock      Re-elected unopposed

4.8)  Events Director                Vacant              

4.9)  Public Relations Director      Ray  Collett         Re-elected unopposed

4.10) Webmaster                      Ray Collett          Re-elected unopposed

4.11) ECF Delegate                   Andrew Farthing      Re-elected unopposed

4.12) Non Executives (Max. 2)        John Pakenham        Re-elected unopposed
                                     Drag Sudar           Re-elected unopposed

5) APPOINTMENT OF THE AUDITOR

R. A. Butters was re-appointed.

6) LEVY FOR 2014-2015 (ANDREW LEADBETTER)

The levy was kept at £7 per point for the following year. This was accepted without the need for further discussion from delegates.

7) COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STAGES

This item was mistakenly left on the agenda from the previous year.

8) PROPOSALS AND RULE AMENDMENTS

8.1) Worcestershire Chess Association Proposal about Mobile Phones in MCCU Matches

It was decided at the meeting that the proposal by Worcestershire CA to have a warning for a first offence when a mobile phone of a player makes a sound was defeated by 7 votes to 2. However the rule was changed by 9 votes to 1 to include that match captains must remind players of this rule before matches.  PS would adapt the results form used at these matches to make this very clear. Rule 11(b) now reads:

Mobile phones and other electronic devices may be brought into the playing area, but must be switched off or set to silent, and may not be used in the playing area whilst any games are in progress. If a player’s electronic device makes a sound during his/her game that player shall lose the game. However, if the opponent cannot win the game by any series of legal moves, it will be declared a draw. Match captains must remind players that electronic devices must be switched off or set to silent.

8.2) Alan Ruffle Proposal on a closed MCCU Team Tournament

The proposal from Alan Ruffle was gone over in great detail and it was discussed at the meeting that when a new event starts it cannot be guaranteed that it will be a success. For this reason the meeting decided that the proposal be put on the back burner and the MCCU would focus it’s efforts on starting an MCCU congress which would take place on 7th and 8th March 2015. It was decided that the CEO would appoint a congress secretary and give them free reign to make this event happen.

8.3) Vote on which congresses should be Grand Prix linked

It was clarified at the meeting that the CEO has the final decision on which congresses are GP linked. RD would decide this and RC would publish this information on the website.

8.4) Amendment on the MCCU qualifying criteria for the Open/Minor Section

PS’s proposal to change the rules was passed unanimously and the relevant part of Rule 13 now reads:

In any of the Championship/grading sections the number of teams qualifying for the ECF National stages is determined by ECF rules. Currently these are – if there are 5 or more teams in the section then 3 shall be nominated for the ECF stages, if there are less than 5 teams in the section then a maximum of 2 teams shall be nominated.

The Championship section can be arranged in 2 sections upper (Open) and lower (Minor). County teams may apply to enter either section. The winners of the Open section shall be awarded the title of MCCU Champions and the winners of the Minor section shall be awarded the title of MCCU Minor Champions.

If the participating counties agree the Championship section can be played as one combined Open/Minor section. If there are 8 or more teams in the combined section then this shall be in 2 zones as described above. The winner of this combined section shall be declared the MCCU Champions. The title of MCCU Minor Champion shall be awarded to the highest placed team that has applied to be in the Minor section.

Nominations for the ECF stages will be as per the applications made by the counties at the start of the season. ie teams applying to be in the Open section shall be eligible for nomination to the ECF Open competition and teams applying to be in the Minor section shall be eligible for nomination to the ECF Minor competition, in either section the number of teams receiving nominations shall be determined by the number of teams applying to enter that section as per the ECF rules described above.

9) ANY OTHER BUSINESS

A minor counties MCCU winners trophy was brought to the meeting. It was decided that RD would get the trophy engraved up to date. Also RD told the meeting he had located the Forrest Cup and had it in his possession.

10) DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

The next MCCU AGM would take place on Saturday 20th June 2015 at 2pm at Cannock Chess Club. RD to book venue.

Meeting closed at 4.38pm by RD.