Home Office and Justice Chess Club AGM
11 May 2009
Agenda
Minutes
Annual Blitz Tournament
••Agenda
1. Minutes of 2008 AGM and matters arising
2. Secretary’s report
3. Match captains’ reports
4. Treasurer’s report
5. HOSSA annual subscription
6. Report on Grand Prix
7. Civil Service League AGM
8. Election of Officers
9. League entries for 2009/10
10. Any other business
••Minutes
Present: Tony Ashby, Matthew Baker, Peter Biggs, Keith Dunmore, Richard Fries, Maria Sant, James Toon.
1. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
1.1 The minutes of the 2008 AGM were approved.
1.2 (Paragraph 10.1) The club had taken possession of a library of about 250 chess books from Eric Davies. This was currently being held by Tim Pelling and Richard Fries at their homes. It was uncertain whether any storage space could be found in a Home Office or Ministry of Justice building. However, James Toon said he would try to make space for some of the books at his home.
1.3 It was agreed that the next steps were to catalogue the books and to estimate how much shelf space the library would take up. James Toon undertook to contact Tim Pelling about these points. Tony Ashby offered to visit Tim and do some cataloguing himself.
Action: James Toon, Tony Ashby
2. Secretary’s report
2.1 Three social events had taken place, in the summer of 2008 at the Jugged Hare, in September (Variants Evening) and in December (Christmas Party). It was agreed to repeat these events in 2009. The meal at the Jugged Hare would take place on Thursday 25 June.
2.2 Membership was stable in numbers at just over 20 but there had been some turnover. It was noted that the club had not sought any publicity recently. James Toon undertook to contact the MoJ Sports and Social Association to see if anything could be done.
Action: James Toon
2.3 The club would need a new venue from next season as all members currently in 2 Marsham Street were being moved out. The AGM discussed a number of options. The preferred option was to seek a permanent venue in the MoJ headquarters at 102 Petty France: this was what the MoJ Sports and Social Association were suggesting, and it was convenient for travel. If that failed, other options should be explored; there was no preference between them. James Toon undertook to pursue this.
Action: James Toon
3. Match captains’ reports
3.1 James Toon and Peter Biggs reported on the performance of the 1st and 2nd teams in the Civil Service League and the London Commercial League. The 1st team had done well to finish second in Division 1, reach the semi-final of the cup, and win the team of four blitz event. 14 players had been called upon (slightly fewer than in recent years).
3.2 The 2nd team had also had a good season, finishing equal second in Division 3 but just missing out on promotion. Peter Biggs thought the team could well be promoted next season.
3.3 In contrast, the London Commercial League team had suffered from a number of defaults and had only just avoided relegation from Division 1. Peter Biggs noted that very few 1st team players had been able to turn out for this team.
4. Treasurer’s report
4.1 The club’s accounts for 2008/09 had not yet been audited but this would take place shortly after the AGM. It was thought that the auditor should be someone who was active in the club, and on this basis Tony Ashby was appointed.
Action: Richard Fries and Tony Ashby to arrange auditing
4.2 The Treasurer's report showed a surplus for the season of £150.60 and a healthy closing balance of £202.19. Most of the surplus had come from book sales. The AGM noted that income from subscriptions had been sufficient to cover all expenditure. It was therefore agreed that the subscription should remain unchanged at £12.
4.3 The Treasurer confirmed that subscriptions were in practice only charged to regular players.
5. HOSSA subscription
5.1 The AGM noted that the main (in fact, the only) benefit of affiliation to HOSSA was the prospect of occasional financial support. However, the club did not need any new equipment. Accepting the annual subscription would, if it was set at £12, entail doubling the club subscription for not very much. Also it was unclear whether HOSSA would charge club members directly or charge the club and expect it to recover the money from the members. In the latter case the club could well end up out of pocket. Finally, the club would not be based in any Home Office building from next season.
5.2 Given that the annual HOSSA subscription would not be implemented until 2010, it was not necessary to take action now. However, the AGM was reluctant in principle to accept the idea of a HOSSA subscription.
6. Grand Prix report
6.1 The Grand Prix had been won this year by Tony Ashby, who had finished only 0.02 points ahead of Keith Dunmore. Tony was presented with the prize of £20.
7. Civil Service League AGM
7.1 The Civil Service League AGM would take place on Thursday 14 May. James Toon, Peter Biggs and Tony Ashby would all attend to return trophies won the previous season and receive the Barford Trophy. The AGM then discussed a number of proposals from clubs and the Executive Committee.
7.2 Metropolitan Police proposals
(a) move default time to 7.30pm – agreed. It would make a difference in some cases and there was no real argument against.
(b) introduce optional Fischer time control – not agreed. Opinions on time control issues were divided and views were strongly held. However, combining a Fischer time control with a fixed three hour session was not the way forward.
7.3 Executive Committee proposals
(a) increase player fixture fee to £0.60 – agreed. This reflected an increase in the national game fee charged by the ECF for grading.
(b) increase cup entry fee to £10.00 – agreed. This was consequential on (a).
(c) remove a reference to the Civil Service Chess Association – agreed. This was necessary because the CSCA had ceased to exist.
(d) make it clear that wins on default counted as match appearances – agreed. This merely made explicit what was existing policy anyway.
(e) reduce number of boards in Division 3 to five – agreed. This would benefit the League in general rather than the club.
(f) remove the possibility of a play-off match being required between two teams in mid-table – agreed. This was clearly sensible.
(g) amend the cup rules regarding defaults counting as match appearances – agreed. This was consequential on (d).
7.4 Review of the League
The AGM discussed the proposals in this paper but decided not to offer a club view. Individual members were free to respond if they wished. It was, however, agreed that it was now sensible to review the League, given the long-term context of decline. Ideally the Executive Committee should carry out a review and present proposals for restructuring to the League AGM in 2010 (for example reducing the number of boards in a team so as to create more divisions).
7.5 The AGM briefly discussed the London Commercial League (no date had yet been set for its AGM). This was smaller than the Civil Service League and was closer to failure. It should be encouraged to carry out a similar review and to reconsider the idea of a merger with the Civil Service League. Richard Fries undertook to raise these ideas with the London Commercial League AGM and Committee.
Action: Richard Fries
8. Election of officers
8.1 The following were elected to serve as officers of the Home Office and Justice Chess Club until the next AGM:
| Chairman: | Tony Ashby |
| Vice-Chairman | Matthew Baker |
| Secretary: | James Toon |
| Treasurer: | Richard Fries |
| Webmaster: | James Toon |
| CSCL 1st team captain: | James Toon |
| CSCL 2nd team captain: | Peter Biggs |
| LCCL captain: | Peter Biggs |
| Committee members: | Keith Dunmore, Michael Keane |
8.2 James Toon would send details to Ian Pheby and John McAllister for inclusion in the Civil Service League and London Commercial League handbooks.
Action: James Toon
8.3 Tony Ashby offered to consider bringing back the paper magazine Across the Board.
Action: Tony Ashby
8.4 It was suggested that the posts of Webmaster (and, potentially, Magazine Editor) should be subject to appointment rather than election. However, this would require an amendment to the constitution and so could not be taken forward at the current AGM.
8.5 Richard Fries agreed to continue as unofficial deputy captain of the London Commercial League team.
9. League entries for 2009/10
9.1 The AGM agreed to enter two teams in the Civil Service League and one team in the London Commercial League. The teams would play in league and cup competitions in both leagues.
9.2 It was suggested that the club should enter the National Club Championship at a suitable level. James Toon undertook to look into this and find out the deadline for entries for 2009/10.
Action: James Toon
10. Any other business
10.1 It was suggested that an award should be introduced for the most improved player over the previous season. This had just been implemented in the Civil Service League as a whole. The AGM agreed that this should be left to a future committee meeting to consider.
••Annual Blitz Tournament
The Annual Blitz Tournament took place after the AGM.As only 5 club members took part, this was played as a double-header. Tony Ashby won the event and Richard Fries was second. The scores are below (out of 8).
| Tony Ashby | 8 |
| Richard Fries | 5 |
| James Toon | 4 |
| Matthew Baker | 3 |
| Peter Biggs | 0 |