Minutes August 2023
2023-09-02
Minutes of the Chess Edinburgh Council Meeting held at the Edinburgh Chess Club, 1 Alva Street, Edinburgh on Thursday 31 August 2023 at 19.30.
Present: David Stewart (Chair), Calum McGillivray, Jim O’Neil, Martin Robinson, Peter Woollven, Jenny Wilson and Stewart Good.
1. Apologies for Absence: Dave Watson and Crawford Macnab,
2. Minutes of Last Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 25 May 2023, were approved: proposed by Martin Robinson and seconded by Peter Woollven
3. Matters Arising
Child Safety Policy after adopting the Chess Scotland policy it was suggested to arrange a Child's contact through Lothian Junior Chess and ideally the person should be from a professional background.
4. Edinburgh Chess League
The League Secretary, Calum McGillivray, reported that the leagues and play-off matches were completed. Calum is to make a list of the penalties for the new season due to each Club.
Martin Robinson has the Division 1 Trophy and the information regarding the past winners required to complete the engraving.
5. Edinburgh Allegro League
Peter Woollven is confident regarding what he requires to organise the league this season. Support has been offered by both David Stewart and Crawford Macnab.
6. Lothians Allegro Congress
Martin Robinson has made the booking of Bainfield Bowling Club for Sunday 14th January 2024, although as yet the dates have not been posted on the Chess Scotland Calendar.
7. Summer Cup/Plate
Calum McGillivray reported that the Final of the Summer Cup is between Wandering Dragons and Civil Service 2 which has been agreed to be played at the beginning of September 2023.
The Summer Plate Final is between Pentland Hills who are playing Corstorphine in which the date in September is yet to be arranged.
8. Edinburgh Congress
As yet we are unable to secure a suitable venue to host the Congress, likely in April. Martin Robinson is exploring venues including Broughton High School and St Georges School.
9. Chess in the Park
Chess in the Park restarted in July this year once agreement from the Scott family was obtained. Being that there is no Chess equipment on site, players that attend are requested to bring their own chess equipment. David Stewart is in continued negotiations regarding trying to secure a settlement payment for the loss of the Chess equipment.
10. Lothians Junior Chess
Stewart Good reported that Lothians Junior Chess had held several successful events including the UK Chess Challenge Giga Final at Broughton High School. This highly successful event was held on the 24 and 25 June 2023: the first time this has been held in Scotland in which the entry was 280 players.
11. Website
The Website continues to be updated by Bill Marshall.
12. Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer, Jim O’Neil, circulated the audited accounts.
Martin Robinson is to be trained regarding the online banking system so that he can provide backup if required.
13. President’s Report
David Stewart reported that Bank of Scotland and Civil Service had played a friendly graded match in July using increments, rather than a quick play finish. It was a useful exercise, however it did not resolve all the issues. It was suggested that for any future proposals using increments, it would be better to test them in graded friendly matches between Clubs.
14. AOCB
Martin Robinson reported that Jonathan and Keti Grant have set up a junior section at Edinburgh West in which the name of the team is yet to be decided.
The Council made a collective agreement to offer any Junior Teams the same conditions as the Tiger Cubs.
Crawford Macnab made a request by e mail that the league fees for this season should remain the same, which was the policy that Chess Scotland had adopted. The Council fully agreed with this proposal.
David Stewart stated that he was just about to send a Club Update to all the Clubs in which at the same time he would collect the League and the Allegro League entries.
This arrangement had worked out well last season in which Dave Watson dealt with organising the Chess Edinburgh and Lothians AGM.
Jim O Neil reported that one of Wandering Dragons former member had left a number of oil paintings which depict both Chess and a religious theme. It was agreed that photos of these paintings would be distributed to see if anyone was interested in them.
The date for the AGM was set as Thursday 21st September. David Stewart will book Slateford Bowling Club for this and the Allegro League over six evenings, being the second Thursday of each month from October.
Date of the next Council Meeting is Thursday 23 November 2023 at 7.30pm at the Edinburgh Chess Club. Calum McGillivray to book