The Gap Chess Club Incorporated
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
Date: 7 December, 2007
Place: Room B6, The Gap State High School
The meeting commenced at 8:00pm.
Present
In person: Andrew Robinson, Nathan Shaw, Cameron De Vere, Garvin Gray, John Roper, Tony Howes, Mark Taylor, Greg Colwell
By proxy: Brian Thomas, Ray Adams, Phillip Kirkman, Peter Ford
Apologies
Brian Willcock
Previous Minutes
Brian Willcock requested that the fourth paragraph on page 8 of the 2006 minutes under the heading “Recognition of Stuart Wilson” be amended:
Proposed: Andrew Robinson. Seconded: Mark Taylor. Accepted with no objections.
Amended minutes of the previous annual general meeting were accepted.
Proposed: Andrew Robinson. Seconded: Mark Taylor. Accepted with no objections.
Voting
It was agreed that all present at the meeting were current financial members of the club and therefore eligible to vote on matters at this AGM. Four proxies were accepted, all made in favour of the chairman. Voting directions to the chairman were attached to some of the proxies.
Management committee reports
President's report
Andrew Robinson gave a verbal summary and presented the attached President’s report.
Proposed: Cameron De Vere. Seconded: Mark Taylor. Accepted.
Secretary/Treasurer's report
Mark Taylor gave a verbal summary and presented the financial statements. He said that 2007 was a financially successful year with a $300 increase in the cash balance. Current fees are sustainable provided there is no increase in expenditure, such as would occur if there was a rent increase by the school. Mark said collection of fees was done on an honours basis and he said most members complied so this system was able to work well. Mark asked that someone take responsibility on the night for collecting the fees should he not be there. Mark said he envisaged being treasurer for one more year after which time he would be hoping to hand over to a successor.
Cameron De Vere observed that there was an error in the totals of night fees and membership fees. It was agreed to defer the acceptance of the financial statements until corrected statements could be presented at a future general meeting.
Tournament Director/DOP Report
Andrew Robinson, gave verbal summary and presented the attached DOP’s Report.
Proposed: Greg Colwell. Seconded: Nathan Shaw. Accepted.
Publicity Officer
Tony Howes gave a verbal report. Tony said his main activity was writing the Western Echo column. Andrew pointed out that the column has been successful in attracting members, based on anecdotal evidence from new members. It was proposed that current publicity strategies be continued, although fresh ideas are also welcome. Tony said he aimed to make the column in the Western Echo was a consistent reflection of the club and what its aims and values are.
Proposed: Andrew Robinson. Seconded: Mark Taylor. Accepted
Election of office bearers for 2008
All positions were declared vacant and the following office bearers were elected.
President: Andrew Robinson
(nominated Mark Taylor, seconded Nathan Shaw). Elected unopposed.
Vice-President: Nathan Shaw
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Greg Colwell). Elected unopposed.
Secretary: Mark Taylor
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Greg Colwell). Elected unopposed.
Treasurer: Mark Taylor
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Greg Colwell). Elected unopposed.
Tournament Director / Arbiter: Andrew Robinson
(nominated Mark Taylor, seconded Nathan Shaw). Elected unopposed.
Public Relations Officer: Tony Howes
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Mark Taylor). Elected unopposed.
Equipment Officer: Peter Ford
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Greg Colwell). Elected unopposed.
Catering Officer: Greg Colwell
(nominated Andrew Robinson seconded Nathan Shaw). Elected unopposed.
CAQ Delegate: Andrew Robinson
(nominated Nathan Shaw, seconded Greg Colwell). Elected unopposed.
Appointment of Auditor
Greg Garvey (Chartered Accountant, GTM Solutions Pty Ltd, 66 Mungarie Street Keperra) was nominated as the club’s auditor.
(nominated Mark Taylor, seconded Andrew Robinson). Carried.
Appointment of Honorary Solicitor
Nathan Shaw accepted the nomination to be honorary solicitor for the club.
(nominated Andrew Robinson, seconded Greg Colwell). Carried.
Andrew called for any objections to the appointment of the management committee or the honorary positions. None were forthcoming.
Proposals to be put to the meeting
Motion 1 (Proposed by Brian Willcock; Seconded by Andrew Robinson)
“The Flood cup time controls be changed to: 90 minutes with Bronstein increments of one minute."
Andrew explained the system of Bronstein time increments to the meeting.
Cameron said he thought everyone would use a full one minute for each move, as there was no advantage in moving faster.
Andrew said that he thought that the Flood Cup should have a more “mainstream” time control due to it being the club’s most prestigious tournament. Garvin pointed out that in the United States, Bronstein increments are generally used. He didn’t advocate this as a reason for using them, and Andrew said his statement held, as Bronstein is not a mainstream time control in Australia.
Nathan asked if it was possible to see the seconds ticking down. Andrew said that the club’s DGTs display the seconds when time left is 20 minutes or less.
Andrew Robinson called for amendments. There were no amendments. Voting then proceeded.
(Voting: none in favour)
The motion was soundly defeated.
Motion 2 (Proposed by Brian Willcock; Seconded by Andrew Robinson)
“The Flood cup time controls be changed to: 80 minutes with Fischer increments of 30 secs.”
Andrew explained the proposed time control and how it differs from the existing time control. He said that Brian’s reason for proposing the new time control was to stop games finishing too late into the night. An 80 move game must finish before midnight with the proposed time control. However it could go until 1:20am under current time controls.
Greg said he thought the proposed time control was appropriate.
Garvin said the present time controls were good because few games are decided by time pressure.
Cameron supported the current time controls and said 30 seconds was too short a time to think about your move and record it also.
Andrew said he supported the idea of earlier finishing times on the one hand, but was loathe to change tournament time controls on a regular basis.
Andrew Robinson called for amendments. There were no amendments. Voting then proceeded.
(Voting: 3 in favour; 5 against, 4 abstained)
The motion was defeated.
Motion 3 (Proposed by Cameron De Vere, to be heard if seconded at the meeting)
"That the One Hour Tournament time controls change from 60+10 to 60+30”
Greg Colwell seconded Cameron’s proposal.
Cameron explained the reasons for his proposal. He stated that he wants games recorded to the end. With the ten second increment games do not need to be recorded by players whose time slips below five minutes. Cameron said that recording moves enables players to claim a draw on three-fold repetition.
Andrew said that the proposed time control would result in an extra 13 minutes 20 seconds per player over a 40 move game. He said that this tournament was originally one hour guillotine and the ten second increment had been added after 2004 when a farcical situation saw a player lose when one move away from checkmate. He said that a larger increment would take the tournament further away from its original intended spirit, which was to have a classically rated tournament with the shortest possible time controls.
Greg said that he liked the idea of a time pressure as a further element in this tournament.
Garvin gave a summary of time controls used at other clubs and tournaments. He said that the ten second increment was usually only favoured by weekend tournaments where up to four games were played in a day. Club tournaments rarely used ten second increments.
Nathan thought that having to record every move could cause problems.
Andrew Robinson called for amendments. There were no amendments. Voting then proceeded.
(Voting: 4 in favour; 6 against, 2 abstained)
The motion was defeated.
Motion 4 (Proposed by Cameron De Vere, to be heard if seconded at the meeting)
"That the 45 minute tournament be replaced by a 60+10 tournament with the name, structure, date and duration to be decided by committee. This tournament will be sent to the CAQ for national rating.”
Before discussion occurred, a series of amendments were proposed.
Amendment One (Proposed Cameron De Vere; Seconded Garvin Gray)
The words “60+10” be replaced by “60+30”.
Cameron stated that he does not want two 60+10 tournaments.
Garvin said he would prefer a more structured tournament than the current 45 Minute tournament, so that he would know that if he comes to the club that he will get a tournament game.
Nathan said he was against the amendment because it substantially alters the original, and therefore club members have not had time to fully consider it.
(Voting on the amendment: 4 in favour; 4 against, 4 abstained, defeated on the chairman’s vote)
The amendment was unsuccessful.
Amendment Two (Proposed Greg Colwell; Seconded Mark Taylor)
The words “60+10” be replaced by “60 minute guillotine”.
Greg said that he would like the tournament to be social in atmosphere, but also subject to ACF rating.
Nathan said he like the idea of the tournament not be rated, because it allowed players to experiment with their play without fear of losing ratings points.
(Voting on the amendment: 6 in favour; 2 against, 4 abstained)
The amendment was successful.
Amendment Three (Proposed Garvin Gray; Seconded Nathan Shaw)
The words “structure” to be removed. Add the clause “and to be in the format of a Swiss or Round-Robin depending on the number of entries” at the end of the second sentence.
Cameron said he preferred the wording of his original motion as he wanted to give the committee a free hand with respect to the tournament’s format.
(Voting on the amendment: 2 in favour; 3 against, 7 abstained)
The amendment was unsuccessful.
Motion after amendments: "That the 45 minute tournament be replaced by a 60 minute guillotine tournament with the name, structure, date and duration to be decided by committee. This tournament will be sent to the CAQ for national rating.”
Cameron spoke in support in the motion saying that once the classically rated tournaments are finished attendance drops off. This opinion was contested by several at the meeting.
Greg spoke against the motion saying the current 45 Minute tournament offers a format to new players.
Nathan said he enjoyed the atmosphere of the current 45 Minute tournament and said he regarded it as a stepping stone to his participation in the Flood Cup next year.
Andrew called for a vote.
(Voting: 3 in favour; 4 against, 5 abstained)
The motion was defeated.
Ordinary Business
Motion 5 (Proposed by Garvin Gray, seconded by Greg Colwell)
"That the lightning tournament be run over two consecutive Fridays”
Andrew called for a vote on whether this motion which was raised from the floor should be heard. The meeting voted in favour of hearing the proposal.
Garvin said that a quick lightning tournament would probably attract more entries than the current format.
Nathan asked how many games would be played on a night. Garvin suggested that a 12 player tournament would see 11 games for each player on the first night, and a further 11 games with colours reversed on the second night.
Andrew pointed out that the downside of a quick tournament would be that if a player can’t make it to the club on one of the nights then this player will not be able to compete in the tournament and will be at a sever disadvantage in the Best All-Rounder Trophy. Andrew said that a two Friday format would mean that the tournament would most likely be played in February.
Andrew called for a vote.
(Voting: 5 in favour; 0 against, 7 abstained)
The motion was successful.
Informal discussion on compacting the tournaments
Garvin raised as a discussion topic the idea of playing one tournament on consecutive Fridays. He suggested the One Hour tournament would be well suited to playing as a 7 round Swiss over 7 consecutive Fridays. He said players not able to attend on a particular night could request a bye. He said this format would attract more players to the club, and allow for more tournaments to be played during the year.
Andrew said that other clubs in Brisbane offered such tournaments, in particular the Brisbane Chess Club. Many of our members have commitments and cannot make it to the club every Friday. Therefore, with member support, the Flood Cup and One Hour tournaments have been run with a format of “one round every two weeks” or “two rounds every three weeks” for many years.
No official motion was tables, however a straw poll was taken of those present at the meeting. This indicated there was a strong preference for maintaining the “week-on, week-off” format of the club’s classically rated tournaments.
Motion 6 (Proposed by Garvin Gray, seconded by Nathan Shaw)
"That the Odd Knights tournament be removed from the calendar for 2008 and future years”
Andrew called for a vote on whether this motion which was raised from the floor should be heard. The meeting voted in favour of hearing the proposal.
Andrew said that the tournament had not been supported by club members. As stated in the DOP Report, only three games were played after February 16.
Cameron said that he would not feel inclined to play a weaker player due to the risk of losing rating points for little gain, and cited the example that he would not play Greg in an Odd Knights game.
Andrew called for a vote.
(Voting: 4 in favour; 2 against, 6 abstained)
The motion was successful.
Informal discussion on re-introducing a ladder tournament
Andrew advised that a ladder tournament was held at the club during the 1980s and early 1990s. The original ladder was located in the cupboard with player details from 1994 still inscribed. This club relic was displayed to those present at the meeting.
A general discussion ensued. The mood of the discussion was that ladder games should be re-introduced to the club in 2008 and be unrated.
Motion 7 (Proposed by Garvin Gray, seconded by Greg Colwell)
"That the Allegro tournament be rated with the ACF from 2008 onwards”
Andrew called for a vote on whether this motion which was raised from the floor should be heard. The meeting voted in favour of hearing the proposal.
This motion reflected the motion passed at last year’s AGM that had a sunset clause. All discussion was in favour of the motion.
(Voting: 7 in favour; 0 against, 5 abstained)
The motion was successful.
Meeting closed at 9:43pm.