Minutes September 2019

2019-09-10

Minutes of the Chess Edinburgh Council Meeting held at the Edinburgh Chess Club, 1 Alva Street, Edinburgh on Thursday 29 August 2019 at 20:00.

Present: David Stewart (Chairman), Dave Watson, Calum McGillivray. Eddie Gillespie, Stewart Good (Lothian Junior Chess), Chihon Ley and Jim O’Neil.

1. Apologies for Absence: Andrew Green, Martin Robinson, Maurice Kelly, Jenny Wilson and Jim Wallace.

2. Minutes of Last Meeting

The Minutes of the previous meeting, held on 25th April 2019, were approved: proposed by Jim O’Neil and seconded by David Stewart.

3. Matters Arising

16. The AGM was held on Thursday 23rd May at Slateford Bowling Club.

17.1 We will adopt the Chess Scotland Child Safety Policy and Jim O’Neil will action.

4. Edinburgh Chess League

1. David Stewart is still to get the records of the previous winners from Martin Robinson in order to complete the engraving of the Division 1 Trophy.

2. The Council’s proposals that (a) the rule for the defaulting of League matches be amended to read “If no member of a team has turned up after 30 minutes and that there has been no message from them regarding a delay the match should be considered a default.” and (b) the addition of a new rule that “If a team defaults on 25% of its matches in a season it will be relegated and its results removed from the League. Individual games played will still be put forward for grading.” were accepted by the AGM.

3. The outstanding play off matches have been completed:
Edinburgh 2 beat Bank of Scotland 1 and so remain in the Premier
Edinburgh 5 beat Edinburgh West 2 and so replace them in Division 2.

4. Jim O’Neill has made a braille clock for David Burns of Corstorphine and will develop it further.

5. Martin Robinson will liaise with Callum McGillivray and then send out an email to all clubs regarding entries to the Leagues.

6. The Fixtures Meeting will be held at Slateford Bowling Club on 30th September.

7. Jim O’Neill reported that Wandering Dragons are having difficulties in finding premises and with finances to the extent that the club could be disbanded. The Council agreed to his request that, if they choose, they can play all of their home matches before Christmas or play home matches every fortnight.

8. The AGM voted to reduce the fee for competing in the League to £30 per team.



5. Edinburgh Allegro Chess League

1. Matches will be played on the second Thursday of every month from October to March and Slateford Bowling Club has been booked.

2. Martin Robinson will circulate clubs for entries.

3. The AGM accepted the Council’s proposal that the deposit is raised from £10 to £20 and clubs will forfeit their deposit if they default on a total of four boards during the season.
The AGM also voted to reduce the entry fee to £15.

6. Lothians Allegro Congress

1. Martin Robinson is dealing with the repair of the trophy.

2. Organiser Martin Robinson is to write a report on the 2019 Congress.

3. This season’s event will take place on Sunday 12th January 2020 at Bainfield Bowling Club and Martin Robinson will be the Organiser.

4. The entry form has been posted on Chess Scotland.

7. Summer Cup/Plate

1. The Finals have still to be played:
Cup: Dragons v Musselburgh
Plate: Edinburgh West v Edinburgh

8. Edinburgh Congress

1. David Stewart has still to complete his report on the 2018 Congress for Chess Scotland.

2. The 2020 Congress will be held on the 3rd – 5th of April.

3. David Stewart is investigating possible venues.
Edinburgh University and Broughton High School have been ruled out but Stewarts/Melville College
is a possibility.

4. Dave Watson has had discussions with Alex McFarlane regarding making entries on the Chess Results site and will continue to work on it.

5. There is one prize-winner still to receive his award.

6. Dave Watson had the Evening News Cup engraved with the names of the 2018 and 2019
Winners and it was presented to Jake Sanger at the Scottish Championships..

7. The subcommittee to assist David Stewart in the running of the Congress will meet in January. In
the meantime he will contact people for assistance when required..

9. Lothians Championship

1. Christopher Wu is still to be given his cheque for winning the 2018 title.

2. Martin Robinson won the 2019 title and was presented with the trophy at the AGM


10. Lothian Schools

Stewart Good reported that:

1. There was a successful tournament for Primary and Secondary schools on 16th June. There were
22 teams in the Primary 5 and under tournament, 14 in the Primary 6/7 and 4 teams in the
Secondary with a total of 160 players.

2. The AGM has been held with Simon Shepherd elected the new Chair and most of the committee
continuing.
There was discussion of the drop off in Secondary level with several reasons put forward:
the large variety of other activities available at Secondary
the lack of chess clubs in Secondary schools
a loss of interest.

11. Balerno Chess Club Equipment and Trophy

1.The Balerno Trophy* handmade by George Anderson has been completed and the first winner is
Callum Robertson of Dunbar with an increase of 500 points.

2. A letter has been received from Towerbank Primary thanking us for the donation of some of the
Balerno equipment.

3.Dave Watson requested some of the remaining sets for the club at Roseburn Primary School and
David Stewart will arrange this.

*The Trophy is for the Junior with the highest grade increase in the season, provided he/she has played at least one match in the Edinburgh League.

12. 2019 Scottish Championships

David Stewart and Chihon Ley produced a successful programme of social events during the Championships.

13. Website

1. Jim O’Neil has discovered that a lot of the material on the website is out of date and Bill Marshall
has explained that this is because information is not being forwarded to him. Jim O’Neil will now
forward Bill’s request for information to Callum McGillivray and David Stewart, who will then send
the required information to Bill.

2. Provision for Jim O’Neil to be a back-up administrator is still to be made.

3. David Stewart will forward the logon for the website to Jim O’Neil and Chihon Ley.

4. Jim O’neill is looking into the renewal of the Domain name.

14 President’s Report

David Stewart reported that

1.Chess in the Park continues until October and is still attracting good numbers.

2.Gerry Brown has agreed to be the new Auditor.

3.Edinburgh Chess Club will be celebrating their bicentennial n 2020.

15. Treasurer’s Report

1.The accounts for 2018/2019 have been audited.

2.New Treasurer, Jim O’Neil, is having difficulties accessing our bank accounts.


16. AOCB
No matters were raised under AOCB.


17. Date of Next Meeting

Thursday 21st November at 7.30pm at the Edinburgh Chess Club.

Calum McGillivray to book.



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