Attendance.Francis Best (Shrewsbury), Glyn Pugh (Priorslee), Jon Smith (Oswestry), Alf Evans (Oswestry), Gary White (Maddocks), Joe Watson (Ludlow), Matthew Clark (Telepost), Nick Holmes (Telepost), Nick Rutter (Newport), Chris Lewis (Newport), Nat Paul (Newport), Chris Paul (Newport), Ivor Salter (Shrewsbury), Steve Szwajkun (Telford), Graham Shepherd (Ch Stretton), Tom Williamson (Ch Stretton). Apologies for Absence: Toby Neal, Richard Bryant, Mark Smith, Dennis Bonner, Keith Tabner.1) The minutes of last year's meeting were accepted. 2) President's report. Francis paid tribute to the stalwarts we have lost this year; Colin Roberts and Windsor Peck. We held a one-minute silence. 3) League Controller's report. Nat talked about the uneven divisions in the league. The plan is to level them out if possible. Division 3 winners were Telford B, Oswestry B are also promoted. Division 2. Church Stretton won the division. However, they declined promotion and this has been accepted by the League controller. The Shrewsbury B team has been promoted to Division 1. Division 1. Newport A were League Champions and Oswestry A were runners up. 4) Treasurer's report Alf reported a small loss overall, many through depreciation, but it was a good year overall. The Congress is the bedrock of our income. It receives £1,000 sponsorship through the generosity of one member. Chris has done a good job keeping 4NCL costs down. The treasurer's accounts were approved. 5) Grading officer's report Nick reported that all results have been submitted and that grades should come through about 25th July. 6) County Individual. There were 16 entries which is in line with recent years and thus there was no negative effect from the minor individual. Nick Rutter has won first place, Nigel Ferrington was 2nd. Grading prizes: U120 Tony Preece, U140 Stuart Ross U160 still undecided. 7) Minor Individual. This new tournament has been a huge success. There were 16 entries. Tony Preece was the winner with Stefan Tennant in 2nd place. The trophy was presented to Gary on Tony's behalf. 8) Cox Trophy and Minor Knock Out. Francis read out Keith's report. Newport won the Cox Trophy with Shrewsbury as runners up. Shrewsbury B won the Minor Knockout after Church Stretton defaulted. 9) Rapid Play League Chris reported that Newport dominated Division 1 and were worthy winners. Shrewsbury were runners up. Telford and Priorslee B were relegated after a fierce relegation battle. Newport B won division 2 and Wellington were promoted ahead of Brewood on game points. 10) Summer Quick Play tournament Toby's report on the tournament was read out. 5 teams competed in this competition and Telepost beat Newport in the final on board count. 11) Website Editor Keith reported that we are changing our website provider. 12) Congress Organiser Francis reported that this had gone well and thanked Steve Rooney for his hard work. The extra section was a success. The finances were hit by extra prizes with a similar player entry. Francis thanked everyone who supported the competition. 13) 4NCL Team Nat reported how the 1st team came third in their division, narrowly missing out on promotion. The most successful player was Richard Bryant with 6.5/9. The 2nd team came 16th. Chris Lewis was the most successful player for this team. Next year the 2nd team will play in Division 4 South. 14) Election of New officials. Chris Lewis was elected as Treasurer to replace Alf. Matthew Clark was elected as General Secretary to replace Glyn. Francis announced that he would like to stand down at the end of this year. The Junior organiser role is still vacant. 15 GDPR Francis raised the issue of General Data Protection Regulations. We all agreed that we need to be aware of this issue. Francis advised that collective emails should be sent bcc. Matthew and Francis will propose some policies in consultation with the clubs. 16) Item 9 Nat proposed a number of changes to clarify the rules (see attachment). a) He proposed an amendment to rule 5. This was accepted 13-0 with 1 abstention. b) Nat next proposed amendments to rules 8 and 9. These were carried 14-0 c) His amendment to rule 12 was carried 14-0 d) His amendment to rule 14 was carried 13-0 e) His amendment to rule 20 was carried 14-0 f) His amendment to rule 22 was carried 14-0 17) Item 6. Chris Lewis' proposal was amended as follows: 1) A Club may register a team at the start of the season as a junior team. 2) A junior team can choose to play all their matches If a junior team plays another junior team then the away team will have to travel to the home team's venue. 3) A junior is anyone under the age of 18 on September 1st of the new season. 4) The team must field 3 or more juniors in every match subject to rule 5. If this rule is breached a 1 point match penalty will be incurred for each breach. 5) If on occasion a Junior team can only field 2 juniors then an eligible adult reserve player is permitted. This is only permitted 3 times in the season. If there is only one Junior present on a match night then the bottom board will be defaulted. If the match is already in progress and one junior player has failed to turn up, a higher board may be defaulted at the league controller's discretion. If no junior player is available on a match night then the junior team must default their match. A defaulting junior team will receive a one match point penalty in line with rule 15. 6) If circumstances change the team may revert back to a non-junior team with permission from the league controller. Fixtures will then be revised so that the team plays a balance of home and away games. A team can't revert to a non-junior team in the last 3 games of the season. 7) If a club has both an adult team and a junior team in the same division, the higher team will be the team which has the highest average grade of nominated players. After vigorous discussion of the number of times that an adult reserve player could be permitted and the appropriate match penalty, the amended proposal was eventually passed unanimously. 18) Item 7: Matthew and Nick's proposal on junior teams was withdrawn in the light of the previous change. 19) Item 8: Keith's proposal that promotion and relegation within the Shropshire Chess League should be one up and one down was discussed, but rejected 9-0. 20) Item 10: Nick proposed the following time control proposal change: When a digital clock is available, the time control shall be all moves in 1 hour and 25 minutes plus an increment of 10 seconds per move from move 1. If a digital clock is not available, then the time control shall be 1 hour and 35 minutes for the whole game in accordance with the ECF rules for quickplay finishes. Nick defended his proposal as broadly equivalent to current time controls and said that he aimed to prevent the problem of a player running too short on time to complete a game. Chris defended the current system, saying that he enjoyed time scrambles and that felt our current system was a positive and distinctive feature of the Shropshire League. Nick's proposal was passed 6 votes to 5. Francis then declared the meeting closed. |
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ATTACHMENT 2018 Shropshire Chess AGM Proposals - Changes to the current rules - Rule 5: 5. When registering its players with the league Controller at the start of each season, each club must nominate 4 players to each team other than in Division 3 where only 3 players need to be nominated. Players nominated to a higher team cannot play for a lower team. Penalties for breaches of the rule are stipulated at rule 28. Nominated players must play for their team at least three times in a season. If this proves impossible on account of unforeseen circumstances (e.g. the player moving away from the area), the League Controller has discretion to accept an alternative nominated player for the remainder of the season. Normally, the alternative nominated player will be expected to play for the balance of the four games not played by the original nominated player. Any appearances of the new nominated player for a lower team prior to acceptance by the league Controller shall be disregarded from the point of view of rule breaches specified in rule 28. A penalty of one Match point per player per game to encourage registered players being a true member of the team. The highlighted text in the above rule 5 needs to be amended from four games to ‘three games' as it is mentioned earlier (see text in red) that nominated players must play just three games. Rules 8&9: 8. A member of a club may only be nominated for one team for that club.If a player is a member of more than one club, he/she may only play for one club within a division. If a team in the second or third division uses a player who normally plays for another Shropshire club in a higher division during that season, then it is permitted only on condition that the player has a current summer grade of below 125 for Div 2 and below 105 for Div 3. A reserve may be drawn from a lower team, as follows: 9. Subject to Rule 8, (reserves may be drawn) any players regardless of whether they are nominated or tied to one team may be used as reserves for a higher team as follows (rules 9a to 9e). Players who are not nominated to a team may also play for a lower team. a) Players graded below 100 can play for any of their club's teams in Division 3 without restriction. b) Players graded below 120 can play up into any of their club's teams in Divisions 1 and 2 without restriction, providing that the lower team, for which the player normally appears, and the higher team for which the player wishes to appear as a reserve, are not both in the same Division, in which case the restriction in sub-paragraph d will apply. c) Players graded below 135 can play up into any of their club's teams in Division 1 without restriction, providing that the lower team, for which the player normally appears, and the higher team for which the player wishes to appear as a reserve, are not both in Division 1, in which case the restriction in sub-paragraph d will apply. d) Where a player is used more than three times for a higher team, then (unless sub-paragraphs a, b or c apply) he / she becomes a member of the senior team on the fouth occasion for the remainder of the season. Where a reserve wins by default the result will count as an appearance for the senior team, e) Penalties for breaches of rule 9d are stipulated at rule 25. I propose the following changes to rules 8&9 of the Shropshire league rules. I have rewritten the rules slightly in an effort to make them clearer. They are very much different rules for different matters; hence I have removed the link between them both that was originally there as at times that caused significant confusion. Concerning rule 8, I propose that the current grading restrictions for players playing for different clubs should be brought in line with the inter-club grading restrictions highlighted in rule 9. Therefore, I suggest raising the current restrictions of U125 for Div 2 & U105 to Div 3 by ten points, resulting in U135 and U115. 8. A member of a club may only be nominated for one team for that club. If a player is a member of more than one club, he/she may only play for one club within a division. If a team in the second or third division uses a player who normally plays for another Shropshire club in a higher division during that season, then it is permitted only on condition that the player has a current July grade of below 135 for Division 2 and below 115 for Division 3. 9. A reserve may be drawn from a lower team, as follows: Any players regardless of whether they are nominated or tied to one team may be used as reserves for a higher team as follows (rules 9a to 9e). Players who are not nominated to a team may also play for a lower team. a) Players graded below 135 can play up into any of their club's teams in Division 1 without restriction, providing that the lower team, for which the player normally appears, and the higher team for which the player wishes to appear as a reserve, are not both in Division 1, in which case the restriction in sub-paragraph d will apply. b) Players graded below 120 can play up into any of their club's teams in Divisions 1 and 2 without restriction, providing that the lower team, for which the player normally appears, and the higher team for which the player wishes to appear as a reserve, are not both in the same Division, in which case the restriction in sub-paragraph d will apply. c) Players graded below 100 can play for any of their club's teams in Division 3 without restriction. d) Where a player is used more than three times for a higher team, then (unless sub- paragraphs a, b or c apply) he / she becomes a member of the senior team on the fourth occasion for the remainder of the season. Where a reserve wins by default the result will count as an appearance for the senior team, e) Penalties for breaches of rule 9d are stipulated at rule 25. Rule 12: 12. Players must be arranged in order of playing strength according to the latest E.C.F. grading list; except that players on adjacent boards whose grading differs by no more than 10 points shall be regarded as interchangeable for the purposes of this rule. Penalties for breaches of this rule are specified at rule 26. Summer grades will be used for substitution purposes through the year. Ungraded players -if they have past history, the last know grade is to be used provisionally. If not, the player has the maximum flexibility subject to league controllers approval and a provisional grading will not be given if the last historic grade is older than five years. It was brought to my attention this past season that the highlighted text in the above rule 12, ‘on adjacent boards', has the ability to cause confusion as it can be misconstrued that only players playing on adjacent boards have to be within 10 grading points. However, it is clear the rule means, that lower graded players, on all boards, can only play above a higher graded player if both players' grades are within 10 points of each other. Therefore I have suggested removing the above highlighted text to remove any doubt of what rule 12 is stating, hence I propose it is changed to the following: Players must be arranged in order of playing strength according to the latest E.C.F. grading list; except players whose grading differs by no more than 10 points shall be regarded as interchangeable for the purposes of this rule. Penalties for breaches of this rule are specified at rule 26. Summer grades will be used for substitution purposes through the year. Ungraded players -if they have past history, the last know grade is to be used provisionally. If not, the player has the maximum flexibility subject to league controller's approval and a provisional grading will not be given if the last historic grade is older than five years. Rule 14: 14. Matches must be played on the appointed date unless another date is previously agreed by the League Controller. All matches (including postponed matches) must be played by 30 April. I propose that the above rule 14 should now read: Matches must be played on the appointed date unless another date is previously agreed by the League Controller. The second sentence of this rule is unnecessary as it is already clear all league matches will be completed by either the original match date, or a date agreed due to a postponement. As people will notice from this season, the league did not abide by this rule because it officially concluded on 10th May rather than the given date currently shown in rule 14. Rule 20: 20. Where games are played as in Article 10, a player may claim a draw when he has less than two minutes left on his clock and before his flag falls. This concludes the game. He may claim on the basis a) that his opponent cannot win by normal means, and/or b) that his opponent has been making no effort to win by normal means. In (a) the player must write down the final position and his opponent verify it. In (b) the player must write down the final position and submit an up-to-date scoresheet, which must be completed before play has ceased. The opponent shall verify both the scoresheet and the final position. The claim shall be referred to an arbiter whose decision shall be the final one. There is nothing mentioned in this rule about incremental time controls so I would like to amend the above rule 20 to the following: 20. Where games are played as in Article 10, a player may claim a draw when he has less than two minutes left on his clock and before his flag falls. This concludes the game. He may claim on the basis: a) that his opponent cannot win by normal means, and/or b) that his opponent has been making no effort to win by normal means In (a) the player must write down the final position and his opponent verify it. In (b) the player must write down the final position and submit an up-to-date scoresheet, which must be completed before play has ceased. The opponent shall verify both the scoresheet and the final position. The claim shall be referred to an arbiter whose decision shall be the final one. A player cannot claim a draw if incremental time controls are being used. Rule 22: 22. For each match win, two points will be awarded; for a drawn match, one point. If, at the end of the season, two or more teams are tied, then the team with the higher number of game points will be adjudged the higher team. If there is still a tie,then the team with the higher head to head board count will be adjudged the higher team. If there is still tie a play-off match, or matches, will be organised by the league controller. I propose the above rule 22 should be amended to the following as it should be clear what happens if a play-off match ends in a draw: 22. For each match win, two points will be awarded; for a drawn match, one point. If, at the end of the season, two or more teams are tied, then the team with the higher number of game points will be adjudged the higher team. If there is still a tie, then the team with the higher head to head board count will be adjudged the higher team. If the match is still tied a play-off match, or matches, will be organised by the league controller. If the play-off ends in a drawn match then board count will be used to decide the winner. If all five of the games end in draws then the team with black on board 1 will be named the winner. To decide colours the two team captains will conduct a coin toss on the night of the match and in the presence of a neutral party i.e. the league controller. Proposal for New Rule: It has been announced recently that Church Stretton A have refused promotion to Division 1 due to exceptional circumstances; a sudden loss of player availability for the upcoming 2018/19 season. This has caused quite a lot of discussion with some players in agreement and others that believe Church Stretton A should have been forced to take promotion into Division 1. As this scenario is not covered in the current Shropshire league rules I think it best to add something clarifying our league's position on matters like this. According to rule 23, at the end of each season two teams will be promoted and two will be relegated. In accordance with this I propose that third place in Div 2&3 will take their place if one of the four promoted teams in either of those divisions states they wish to reject promotion. This specific matter is also covered in the below suggested rule, as is the scenario if a team/club asks to be relegated into Div 3 due to a significant loss of player availability. I propose the following rule is inserted into the ‘results' section of the rules as Rule 24: a) All promoted teams are required to accept promotion into a higher division if they finish in the top two places of the division in which they played. A team may reject promotion only if exceptional circumstances arise and with permission of the league controller. The team in third place will be given first option in replacing the team who has rejected promotion. The second option will be given to one of the relegated teams in the higher division, starting with the team that finished second from bottom, if the third placed team rejects the choice of promotion. b) If exceptional circumstances occur that cause a club to ask for an enforced relegation into Division 3 because of a sudden loss of players, discretion is given to the league controller to decide if relegating a team to Division 3 should be accepted or not. This decision is subject to the agreement of the council. |