ECF Meeting 16/10/2010 - a personal view
Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:34 pm
ENGLISH CHESS FEDERATION ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING 16 OCTOBER 2010
I attended this meeting on behalf of the MCF as Mohammed Amin was unavailable – the MCF has 4 votes currently in the ECF and I also held 1 vote as proxy for Bolton Congress
Meeting commenced at 1:30 pm – the papers for the meeting are available on the ECF website here:
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=897
Chris Majer was appointed to chair the meeting as John Paines was absent through illness
It was interesting for me to meet some people I had only corresponded with electronically (CJ, Adam Raoof, Richard Haddrell), put faces to some names (John Wickham, Dave Thomas, Gareth Caller, Alex Holowczak, Chris Majer, Brian Smith, Mike Adams, Mike Gunn, Stewart Reuben) – I was surprised how many I had met before (Lawrence Cooper, Peter Purland, David Welch, David Anderton, Simon Gilmore, Robert Richmond, Andrew Leadbetter, Peter Sherlock, Robert Richmond, Rupert Jones, Andrew Farthing)
There was only 1 card vote allowing me to use the 5 votes, the rest on a show of hands
Following the numbering of the Agenda:
5. All three applications for membership were successful
6. The minutes of the 17 April 2010 Finance Council Meeting were approved with 1 word deleted
7. Matters arising – the online grading database would aim to be like the Yorkshire one (Chessnuts) and similar to FIDE – it would be free to all, not just ECF members
8.1. CJ gave a verbal report:
• Thanks to Chris Majer, Cynthia Gurney and all those who work for the ECF
• Staunton Memorial raised £7,500 for the 2011 British Championships in Sheffield and £500 for Women’s chess (which is likely to go to support Jovanka Houska in the Women's World Championship which is being held in Turkey in December 2010)
• Nigel Short is touring the UK with CJ in February 2011 (note there will be 1 or 2 days spent in Bolton with the MCF juniors), and hopes to repeat later in 2011 but CJ will be too busy with acting commitments (he hopes) to accompany Nigel on the second tour
• 2011 British Championships in Sheffield will feature the top 5 English players (paid for by CJ) plus at least 10 other GMs, with a first prize restored to £10,000
• CJ meeting potential sponsors for English Chess on 1 November
• CJ meeting potential sponsors for British Championships on 16 November, hoping to agree deal for 3 years plus
• CJ will be happy to continue as President, but will have less time
• CJ has spent c£5,000 of his own money so far on travelling etc, but will in future be charging the ECF expenses for petrol and reasonable hotel costs, likely to be c£300-400 p.m. (which seems a bargain for the profile he gives us – as I was writing up these notes on the train home, I got into a few discussions about what I was doing, by mentioning CJ I got a favourable response as everyone knows him from Eggheads on TV)
Report was accepted
8.2 Chris Majer expanded on his written report:
• Chess for Schools – ECF involvement ceases on Monday – message should have gone to all schools on ECF Chess for Schools database – Stewart Reuben is organising shortly a message to all schools who have not received sets offering 6 free credits in the Certificate of Merit – 5000 sets have been delivered – 400 more are ready and Holloid Plastics are looking for a LEA to do this – Holloid still believe they will produce the rest of the sets (c95,000 I think) and are looking for a distribution partner
• £20,000 loan from the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust has been spent on Chess for Schools and the Certificate of Merit – interest of 6% p.a. is being paid quarterly
Report was accepted
8.3 John Paines not present – his written Report was accepted
8.4.1 Gareth Caller expanded on the accounts:
• He apologised for personal circumstances delaying his answering auditor’s queries, but audit should be complete next month
• In future, the accounts will show separately the £20,000 loan from the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust (see above) and the £20,000 loan from the Chess Centre (interest free)
Report was accepted after a number of questions
8.4.3 was taken next and Mike Adams gave a verbal report:
• He thanked Gareth for doing an excellent job
• The loss of the DCMS grant was disappointing, of course
• ECF general reserves had halved over the last 4 years
• The budgeted surplus of £28,500 for the current year must go to boost reserves, not be spent
Report was accepted
8.4.2 Accounts accepted subject to audit
It appears to me that the ECF has been badly run financially for a number of years, but the new board, particularly the excellent future CEO Andrew Farthing, has got a grip at last. The financial position is confused due to funds held within the BCF and various trusts, but there may be benefits to the complicated structure of these.
8.5 Achievement Report was accepted – Andrew Farthing agreed that future reports could be made more positive now the DCMS was unlikely to need to see them i.e. no need to emphasise the negative as per the existing report format
8.6.1 Adam Raoof expanded on his written report:
• New joint managers of women’s chess are Sabrina Chevannes and Jovanka Houska
• Howard Grist is now permanent as International Rating Officer
• Priority for coming year is support for weekend congresses
I asked Adam about the dispute between the ECF and e2e4 (Sean Hewitt) featured on the English Chess Forum – he advised he had found a resolution which he hoped would be acceptable to Sean and allow the e2e4 events to continue so Adam could finally play in one himself!
Report was accepted
8.6.1 (a) Dave Thomas written Report was accepted
8.6.1 (b) David Welch gave a verbal report on the British Championships
• Canterbury good apart from the usual problem with Sports Halls i.e. lack of side rooms – final entry numbers were excellent and a profit was made
• Sheffield 2011 is a better venue, although a non-seaside location is always a concern with entry numbers, although the city itself is excellent and had beautiful countryside nearby (excellent train links from Manchester, so the MCF should promote this strongly to our players)
Report was accepted
8.6.2 Peter Purland expanded on his written report:
• Sponsor has come forward which should allow the ECF Girls Championship to be resurrected
Report was accepted
8.6.3 Lawrence Cooper expanded on his written report:
• Hoping to secure sponsorship to allow non-ECF funding of top players
• This would allow ECF funds to be used to provide a stronger player to act as coach/manager (although it appears to me that Lawrence is doing an excellent job)
Report was accepted
8.6.4 Stewart Reuben expanded on his written report:
• Certificate of Merit – everyone encouraged to take the free online tests (MCF notes this and we should look at this, maybe link from MCF website)
• Market the scheme to juniors and adults
• Could provide source of funding for ECF
• Marketing material available from ECF office
Report was accepted
8.6.5 John Wickham written Report was accepted
8.7.1 CJ advised:
• Nigel Short (not present) had provided a long report from the recent FIDE congress
• Nigel has written to FIDE to make formal complaint about the recent appointment of 5 vice-presidents when the regulations only allow for 2
• Nigel not happy with farcical, illegal tactics and bullying (CJ concurred on this, as he was also in Siberia)
There followed some discussions on where the Karpov camp went wrong, and indeed their own dubious tactics, plus the downside of Kasparov’s support for Karpov which cost votes, Karpov’s lack of detail and wrong approach
Report was accepted
8.7.2 John Philpott was at Wolves watching West Ham – his written Report was accepted
8.7.3 David Sedgwick written Report was accepted
9. Chris Majer, Dave Thomas, Alan Martin, John Paines and Mike Adams were thanked
10. Noted – meeting adjourned at this point and resumed later after coffee break and then BCF meeting (which I report on separately)
11. Everyone elected on show of hands except:
• Malcolm Pein as non-executive director
• CJ advised that Malcolm had no time to read emails, and so CJ would forward him only vital emails, Malcolm would be unable to attend most meetings and intended appointing an alternate (a Mr Read employed by the Chess Centre I think) to do the work
• I felt that the role of non-executive director is crucial as it effectively helps the MCF hold the ECF board to account outside of Council meetings (which are only twice yearly)
• Accordingly, I used my judgement to vote against his appointment
• On a show of hands, he lost 12-11, the card vote was 62-49
• I agree with the sentiment expressed that Malcolm would be welcomed within the ECF but I don’t think this role is suitable for him
• Most of the ECF board supported him, but a couple appeared to be against him in this particular role
• Like the other vacant posts, the ECF board will seek to fill the position
12. Future funding options for the ECF - During the discussion, David Anderton departed for Villa Park!
• I was astonished to learn that the SCCU were no longer in favour of Game Fee as opposed to Membership (Mike Gunn, the SCCU representative expressed his surprise)
• Game Fee only was voted unacceptable, as was the status quo
• Andrew Farthing will thus work on the 2 other options i.e. Membership only, or a simplification of the current mix of Game Fee and Membership
• Personally, I think a mix of Game Fee and Membership is a nightmare, and hope that Membership only is the outcome, although we must keep an open mind on this
• I was surprised to learn a membership fee of only c£12, if paid by all players, would be sufficient for the ECF even after loss of the DCMS grant
• Would chess players reject paying £1 p.m. and if so, is there any future for English chess?
13. FIDE rating of the ECF County Championships – discussion deferred to April in light of 12 above
14. Agreement was to proceed to twice yearly standard play grading lists (alongside the existing Rapidplay twice yearly lists) from January 2012
• Preparation needed now
• New players would get a grade much sooner, which would be a better incentive for them and more useful for league and congress organisers
• Manchester League could simply state that July/August grades would be used for the whole season for the purposes of order of players in Team registration lists, although later season board orders might change
15. Andrew Farthing advised that no changes were needed to the Long Term Strategic Plan despite the loss of the DCMS grant and this was accepted
16. Noted
17. and 18. Accepted
19.1 and 19.2 Accepted
20. Finance Council Meeting in Birmingham will be 16 April 2011 (as West Ham are scheduled to be at home that day, it would appear that John Philpott will be unlikely to attend the ECF meeting although it appears that West Ham are playing nearly every Saturday and Sunday meetings were rejected due to train timetable problems)
21. No other business, so meeting closed at 5:40 p.m.
I agree that every MCF President should attend an ECF meeting, but am happy to have Amin attending in future – it was a long day for me, given my domestic circumstances
Mick Norris
MCF President
I attended this meeting on behalf of the MCF as Mohammed Amin was unavailable – the MCF has 4 votes currently in the ECF and I also held 1 vote as proxy for Bolton Congress
Meeting commenced at 1:30 pm – the papers for the meeting are available on the ECF website here:
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=897
Chris Majer was appointed to chair the meeting as John Paines was absent through illness
It was interesting for me to meet some people I had only corresponded with electronically (CJ, Adam Raoof, Richard Haddrell), put faces to some names (John Wickham, Dave Thomas, Gareth Caller, Alex Holowczak, Chris Majer, Brian Smith, Mike Adams, Mike Gunn, Stewart Reuben) – I was surprised how many I had met before (Lawrence Cooper, Peter Purland, David Welch, David Anderton, Simon Gilmore, Robert Richmond, Andrew Leadbetter, Peter Sherlock, Robert Richmond, Rupert Jones, Andrew Farthing)
There was only 1 card vote allowing me to use the 5 votes, the rest on a show of hands
Following the numbering of the Agenda:
5. All three applications for membership were successful
6. The minutes of the 17 April 2010 Finance Council Meeting were approved with 1 word deleted
7. Matters arising – the online grading database would aim to be like the Yorkshire one (Chessnuts) and similar to FIDE – it would be free to all, not just ECF members
8.1. CJ gave a verbal report:
• Thanks to Chris Majer, Cynthia Gurney and all those who work for the ECF
• Staunton Memorial raised £7,500 for the 2011 British Championships in Sheffield and £500 for Women’s chess (which is likely to go to support Jovanka Houska in the Women's World Championship which is being held in Turkey in December 2010)
• Nigel Short is touring the UK with CJ in February 2011 (note there will be 1 or 2 days spent in Bolton with the MCF juniors), and hopes to repeat later in 2011 but CJ will be too busy with acting commitments (he hopes) to accompany Nigel on the second tour
• 2011 British Championships in Sheffield will feature the top 5 English players (paid for by CJ) plus at least 10 other GMs, with a first prize restored to £10,000
• CJ meeting potential sponsors for English Chess on 1 November
• CJ meeting potential sponsors for British Championships on 16 November, hoping to agree deal for 3 years plus
• CJ will be happy to continue as President, but will have less time
• CJ has spent c£5,000 of his own money so far on travelling etc, but will in future be charging the ECF expenses for petrol and reasonable hotel costs, likely to be c£300-400 p.m. (which seems a bargain for the profile he gives us – as I was writing up these notes on the train home, I got into a few discussions about what I was doing, by mentioning CJ I got a favourable response as everyone knows him from Eggheads on TV)
Report was accepted
8.2 Chris Majer expanded on his written report:
• Chess for Schools – ECF involvement ceases on Monday – message should have gone to all schools on ECF Chess for Schools database – Stewart Reuben is organising shortly a message to all schools who have not received sets offering 6 free credits in the Certificate of Merit – 5000 sets have been delivered – 400 more are ready and Holloid Plastics are looking for a LEA to do this – Holloid still believe they will produce the rest of the sets (c95,000 I think) and are looking for a distribution partner
• £20,000 loan from the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust has been spent on Chess for Schools and the Certificate of Merit – interest of 6% p.a. is being paid quarterly
Report was accepted
8.3 John Paines not present – his written Report was accepted
8.4.1 Gareth Caller expanded on the accounts:
• He apologised for personal circumstances delaying his answering auditor’s queries, but audit should be complete next month
• In future, the accounts will show separately the £20,000 loan from the John Robinson Youth Chess Trust (see above) and the £20,000 loan from the Chess Centre (interest free)
Report was accepted after a number of questions
8.4.3 was taken next and Mike Adams gave a verbal report:
• He thanked Gareth for doing an excellent job
• The loss of the DCMS grant was disappointing, of course
• ECF general reserves had halved over the last 4 years
• The budgeted surplus of £28,500 for the current year must go to boost reserves, not be spent
Report was accepted
8.4.2 Accounts accepted subject to audit
It appears to me that the ECF has been badly run financially for a number of years, but the new board, particularly the excellent future CEO Andrew Farthing, has got a grip at last. The financial position is confused due to funds held within the BCF and various trusts, but there may be benefits to the complicated structure of these.
8.5 Achievement Report was accepted – Andrew Farthing agreed that future reports could be made more positive now the DCMS was unlikely to need to see them i.e. no need to emphasise the negative as per the existing report format
8.6.1 Adam Raoof expanded on his written report:
• New joint managers of women’s chess are Sabrina Chevannes and Jovanka Houska
• Howard Grist is now permanent as International Rating Officer
• Priority for coming year is support for weekend congresses
I asked Adam about the dispute between the ECF and e2e4 (Sean Hewitt) featured on the English Chess Forum – he advised he had found a resolution which he hoped would be acceptable to Sean and allow the e2e4 events to continue so Adam could finally play in one himself!
Report was accepted
8.6.1 (a) Dave Thomas written Report was accepted
8.6.1 (b) David Welch gave a verbal report on the British Championships
• Canterbury good apart from the usual problem with Sports Halls i.e. lack of side rooms – final entry numbers were excellent and a profit was made
• Sheffield 2011 is a better venue, although a non-seaside location is always a concern with entry numbers, although the city itself is excellent and had beautiful countryside nearby (excellent train links from Manchester, so the MCF should promote this strongly to our players)
Report was accepted
8.6.2 Peter Purland expanded on his written report:
• Sponsor has come forward which should allow the ECF Girls Championship to be resurrected
Report was accepted
8.6.3 Lawrence Cooper expanded on his written report:
• Hoping to secure sponsorship to allow non-ECF funding of top players
• This would allow ECF funds to be used to provide a stronger player to act as coach/manager (although it appears to me that Lawrence is doing an excellent job)
Report was accepted
8.6.4 Stewart Reuben expanded on his written report:
• Certificate of Merit – everyone encouraged to take the free online tests (MCF notes this and we should look at this, maybe link from MCF website)
• Market the scheme to juniors and adults
• Could provide source of funding for ECF
• Marketing material available from ECF office
Report was accepted
8.6.5 John Wickham written Report was accepted
8.7.1 CJ advised:
• Nigel Short (not present) had provided a long report from the recent FIDE congress
• Nigel has written to FIDE to make formal complaint about the recent appointment of 5 vice-presidents when the regulations only allow for 2
• Nigel not happy with farcical, illegal tactics and bullying (CJ concurred on this, as he was also in Siberia)
There followed some discussions on where the Karpov camp went wrong, and indeed their own dubious tactics, plus the downside of Kasparov’s support for Karpov which cost votes, Karpov’s lack of detail and wrong approach
Report was accepted
8.7.2 John Philpott was at Wolves watching West Ham – his written Report was accepted
8.7.3 David Sedgwick written Report was accepted
9. Chris Majer, Dave Thomas, Alan Martin, John Paines and Mike Adams were thanked
10. Noted – meeting adjourned at this point and resumed later after coffee break and then BCF meeting (which I report on separately)
11. Everyone elected on show of hands except:
• Malcolm Pein as non-executive director
• CJ advised that Malcolm had no time to read emails, and so CJ would forward him only vital emails, Malcolm would be unable to attend most meetings and intended appointing an alternate (a Mr Read employed by the Chess Centre I think) to do the work
• I felt that the role of non-executive director is crucial as it effectively helps the MCF hold the ECF board to account outside of Council meetings (which are only twice yearly)
• Accordingly, I used my judgement to vote against his appointment
• On a show of hands, he lost 12-11, the card vote was 62-49
• I agree with the sentiment expressed that Malcolm would be welcomed within the ECF but I don’t think this role is suitable for him
• Most of the ECF board supported him, but a couple appeared to be against him in this particular role
• Like the other vacant posts, the ECF board will seek to fill the position
12. Future funding options for the ECF - During the discussion, David Anderton departed for Villa Park!
• I was astonished to learn that the SCCU were no longer in favour of Game Fee as opposed to Membership (Mike Gunn, the SCCU representative expressed his surprise)
• Game Fee only was voted unacceptable, as was the status quo
• Andrew Farthing will thus work on the 2 other options i.e. Membership only, or a simplification of the current mix of Game Fee and Membership
• Personally, I think a mix of Game Fee and Membership is a nightmare, and hope that Membership only is the outcome, although we must keep an open mind on this
• I was surprised to learn a membership fee of only c£12, if paid by all players, would be sufficient for the ECF even after loss of the DCMS grant
• Would chess players reject paying £1 p.m. and if so, is there any future for English chess?
13. FIDE rating of the ECF County Championships – discussion deferred to April in light of 12 above
14. Agreement was to proceed to twice yearly standard play grading lists (alongside the existing Rapidplay twice yearly lists) from January 2012
• Preparation needed now
• New players would get a grade much sooner, which would be a better incentive for them and more useful for league and congress organisers
• Manchester League could simply state that July/August grades would be used for the whole season for the purposes of order of players in Team registration lists, although later season board orders might change
15. Andrew Farthing advised that no changes were needed to the Long Term Strategic Plan despite the loss of the DCMS grant and this was accepted
16. Noted
17. and 18. Accepted
19.1 and 19.2 Accepted
20. Finance Council Meeting in Birmingham will be 16 April 2011 (as West Ham are scheduled to be at home that day, it would appear that John Philpott will be unlikely to attend the ECF meeting although it appears that West Ham are playing nearly every Saturday and Sunday meetings were rejected due to train timetable problems)
21. No other business, so meeting closed at 5:40 p.m.
I agree that every MCF President should attend an ECF meeting, but am happy to have Amin attending in future – it was a long day for me, given my domestic circumstances
Mick Norris
MCF President
