Shropshire Chess EGM Minutes and agreed protocols

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Shropshire Chess EGM – Wednesday 6th October 2021 7.30pm – Zoom Meeting

Present: Matthew Clark, Tony Preece, Dennis Bonner, Munroe Morrison, Chris Lewis, Malcolm Price, Nick Holmes, Francis Best, Mark Smith, Daniel Lockett, Jonathon Smith, Charles Higgie, Gary White, John Westhead, John Casewell, Phil Love, Tom Williamson, Toby Neal

Agenda: To debate the protocols to reduce our risk against Covid 19 which were drafted following our meeting on Wednesday 22nd September.

The following protocols were discussed one at a time and a consensus of opinion sought by voting for or against.

  1. We strongly recommend that all players should be double-vaccinated. Proposal to make this mandatory was voted against in the ratio 8:9. Proposal remains as is.
  2. We recommend that players should take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) within the 24 hours before a match. Proposal to add ‘and we recommend an LFT is routinely taken every 3-4 days’ was accepted unanimously.
  3. Hand sanitiser should be provided for all players. Proposal for individuals to provide their own hand sanitiser was rejected with 6:4 in favour of original proposal for host clubs to provide hand sanitiser for all players.
  4. Rooms should be ventilated as much as possible. Proposal accepted unanimously without further debate.
  5. There should be as much distance as possible between playing tables. Proposal accepted unanimously without further debate.
  6. Any player playing a match in the Shropshire League must wear a mask, unless their opponent agrees to play without masks. Rule 13 (playing order) is suspended for one season to allow those wishing to play in masks to pair with each other and those wishing to play without to also pair. If after teams are paired against each other, one team has one or more players wishing to wear masks and the other team doesn’t, masks must be worn by both players. If a player doesn’t wear a mask without the consent of their opponent their board will be defaulted. Players with specific medical exemptions are exempt from this rule, but captains should inform their opposite number of any players who are exempt. Firstly, the proposal to simplify the protocol by removing the Rule 13 element was voted on with 7 for and 8 against. The original proposal was then voted on with 10 for and 2 against therefore the proposal was accepted in its original form.

A 7th protocol was proposed and accepted as follows:

  1. If a player has tested positive for Covid 19 in the 10 days prior to the match they must not attend the match. Non-compliance will lead to the relevant board being defaulted. 

It was agreed that all protocols would be subject to review in January 2022 in order to be able to take into account any changes regarding the response to Covid 19.

In conclusion, the protocols were adopted as below:

Accepted Covid Protocols for Shropshire Chess – to be reviewed in January 2022

  1. We strongly recommend that all players should be double-vaccinated. 
  2. We recommend that players should take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) within the 24 hours before a match and we recommend an LFT is routinely taken every 3-4 days.
  3. Hand sanitiser should be provided by the host club for all players. 
  4. Rooms should be ventilated as much as possible. 
  5. There should be as much distance as possible between playing tables. 
  6. Any player playing a match in the Shropshire League must wear a mask, unless their opponent agrees to play without masks. Rule 13 (playing order) is suspended for one season to allow those wishing to play in masks to pair with each other and those wishing to play without to also pair. If after teams are paired against each other, one team has one or more players wishing to wear masks and the other team doesn’t, masks must be worn by both players. If a player doesn’t wear a mask without the consent of their opponent their board will be defaulted. Players with specific medical exemptions are exempt from this rule, but captains should inform their opposite number of any players who are exempt. 
  7. If a player has tested positive for Covid 19 in the 10 days prior to the match they must not attend the match. Non-compliance will lead to the relevant board being defaulted.