English Chess Forum

Julie Johnson CEO of the MCCU has notified county secretaries and MCCU delegates that the annual meeting will be on Saturday 23 June at Syston. If you want an issue discussed, please forward it to your county secretary and ask for it to be sent from your county to Julie by Friday 25 May.

The agenda and all papers received so far are now published on the MCCU web site at:
http://www.mccu.org.uk/

Team captains should note the proposals in relation to the Midlands County Team Championships which are related to the new ECF rules for national stages in 2012/3 and the ECF Membership Scheme which starts in 2012/3.

Correspondence players should note the proposals to use electronic transmission for the Midlands Individual Correspondence Championship (PC Gibbs competition).

Midlands congress players should note the Events Director is suggesting additional Midlands Grand Prix.

Please make known your views to your county representatives. For contact details see:
http://www.mccu.org.uk/about/counties.htm.

raycollett wrote:Correspondence players should note the proposals to use electronic transmission for the Midlands Individual Correspondence Championship (PC Gibbs competition).

I read the report to mean that the e-mail competition would be an additional event, rather than replacing the postal format for the current event?

Alex Holowczak wrote:I read the report to mean that the e-mail competition would be an additional event?

That was not my impression from a telephone conversation with Cyril today. I understand that almost all current players don't want the expense and delay of postal play.

raycollett wrote:The agenda and all papers received so far are now published on the MCCU web site at:
http://www.mccu.org.uk/

Looks thrilling. One wonders how an organisation which does so little can have so many officers, and have so much to talk about.

raycollett wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:I read the report to mean that the e-mail competition would be an additional event?

That was not my impression from a telephone conversation with Cyril today. I understand that almost all current players don't want the expense and delay of postal play.

This is rather odd.

From Julie's report:
"Another proposed change that I would be unhappy to see replicated in the MCCU rules is to make reporting of results via email/internet compulsory. I do not feel we should discriminate against someone simply because they have not adopted this form of correspondence, for whatever reason. It has been suggested that a captain not using email should be able to find a team member who is and who could email results instead. In my view to put the captain at the mercy of whether someone else actually does this is in not an acceptable alternative."

I don't understand how the comment and proposal are consistent with their utopian anti-discriminatory vision. Which is why I thought the e-mail event would be an entirely new event.

Perhaps the suggestion is that an e-mail event would kill off the postal event. There's probably some truth to that.

Sean Hewitt wrote:

raycollett wrote:The agenda and all papers received so far are now published on the MCCU web site at:
http://www.mccu.org.uk/

Looks thrilling. One wonders how an organisation which does so little can have so many officers, and have so much to talk about.

From Cyril's report:
"Removing the Winter meeting did not cause the sky to fall in and pestilence to rage through the MCCU."

Note that the East Midlands Trains services from Leicester to Lincoln Central (along which you would find Syston) have been cancelled, according to National Rail Enquiries. This is due to industrial action, apparently.

Contrary to Cyril's report, pestilence is now raging through at least one MCCU Delegate...

OK, it turns out I've misunderstood. When it said: "CANCELLED: Proposed industrial action to affect East Midlands Trains services on Saturday 23 and Mon", what it actually meant was the industrial action had been cancelled, and not any trains.

So false alarm: The trains to Syston are running!

Just spoken to EMT, no disruptions expected tomorrow from strikes or weather

They have assured me that Manchester-Sheffield-Loughborough-Syston-Nottingham-Manchester will run smoothly

I'll be more than annoyed if they don't

I have arrived outside the venue. I would be inside the venue if I could work out how to get into it...

At least it hasn't just started to rain heavily.

Alex Holowczak wrote:I have arrived outside the venue. I would be inside the venue if I could work out how to get into it...

At least it hasn't just started to rain heavily.

From the post in the other thread, it looks like Alex found the entrance!

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:I have arrived outside the venue. I would be inside the venue if I could work out how to get into it...

At least it hasn't just started to rain heavily.

From the post in the other thread, it looks like Alex found the entrance!

I saw a guy walk through a door to leave the premises, and decided to try that one out. It was indeed the correct door.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:I have arrived outside the venue. I would be inside the venue if I could work out how to get into it...

At least it hasn't just started to rain heavily.

From the post in the other thread, it looks like Alex found the entrance!

It wasn't easy, and unlike me he went the quick way there from the train station

It was wet at Loughborough briefly, and again when I got back to Bolton

7 trains, all pretty much on time, and less than 13 hours out of the house

I thought the main points from today's well-attended MCCU annual general meeting in relation to MCCU competitions were:

• 1. Revised rules about tie-breaks in the County Team competitions and the Events Director and Controller have been asked to draft a guide for team captains based on proposals originally tabled in 2011.
  2. More prize money for Grand Prix competitions and details to be developed by the Events Director.
  3. Senior officers have been asked to develop proposals for an MCCU individual congress in association with other chess organisations.
  4. A new individual correspondence tournament with moves transmitted electronically.

I'll publish unconfirmed minutes on the website after they have been prepared.