Minutes of the League Management Committee Meeting at Syston on Monday 9 November 2009

Present: Jim Bingham, Iain Dodds, Brian Foreman, Julie Johnson, Jim Miller, John Pattinson, David Reynolds, Mike Salisbury, Mike Thornton.

1. Apologies, etc.

Apologies had been received from Walter Dehnen, Sean Hewitt and Alan Jex.  Brian Foreman was welcomed to his first meeting, and Jim Miller took the Chair.

2. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 April were accepted.  There were no matters arising - all been dealt with over the summer months.

3. League Fixtures 2009-2010

MT summarised the difficulties involved in avoiding clashes involving adjacent teams in the same club.  These were mainly caused by the preponderance of Thursday fixtures: exacerbating features were the appearance of two teams from one club in one division, and the situation in which most teams in one Division played on the same night.  JM reported that he had offered an amnesty up to 2 November, during which fixtures could be changed by mutual agreement; about 6 fixtures had been altered as a result.

4. League Cup Fixtures

JM reported that the Cup-only weeks were proving useful in terms of altering League fixtures; but that one or two clubs seemed not to have realised until the last moment the dates of their first round League Cup matches, so he had clarified the fixture dates for the second round matches.

5. FIDE Ratings

JM reported that the response of clubs to a suggestion that players might register for an FIDE rating had been mostly negative or at best neutral.  This idea had thus been abandoned at least for the present season.

6. Fischer Time Limits

The great majority of LMC members agreed that it would be a good idea to introduce the option for Fischer-style time limits in the Chapman/Birstall Cups in 2010, and then possibly in the League for 2010-2011.  It was also agreed that it might be a good idea to use the same system as the one used in the county championship (35 moves in 75 minutes with a 10 s bonus per move from move 1); and that, since the system would be experimental, it would be possible for individual pairs of players to agree to use the system, i.e. all the boards in a given cup match would not necessarily have to have the same time limits.  Details of this and other Summer Cup arrangements would be finalised at the March LMC meeting.  JM agreed to investigate further the possibility of financial support for clubs wishing to obtain [more] digital clocks.

7. LMC Membership and Officers, 2010 onwards

JM pointed out that he would certainly resign as League Secretary at the next AGM, and he understood that Alan Jex would also resign as the Chairman.  He noted that the Secretary's job had grown greatly in recent years, as it now involved running all the Summer Cups and the League Cups, and he felt that there might be merit in dividing the job into two.  Several possible candidates, some of them current LMC members, were discussed and members agreed to approach individuals informally: the importance of taking on younger members in the role[s] was agreed.

8. Summer Cup Formats, 2010

The disappointing numbers of teams in the 2009 Chapman and Birstall Cups was discussed.  There was a general feeling that many clubs had a lower or even zero level of activity during the summer months, and that the extension of the League fixtures into May 2009 might have deterred some entrants for fear of League/Cup fixture clashes.  (This would not occur in 2010).  Some individual players disliked the use of a handicap system, though the actual algorithm used had not been criticised.  It was suggested that, if numbers did not increase in 2010, consideration should be given to abandoning the Birstall Cup, and running the Chapman Cup as a 5-round Swiss event, even though that would make it very similar to the League Cups.  JM agreed to consult the clubs, and again details would be finalised at the March meeting.  Most LMC members felt that the Rapid Play cups should continue in their present format.

9. Any Other Business

9.1 JM reported that he had circulated all clubs with advice about the action to be taken when a player played an illegal move.

9.2 Cyril Johnson had suggested that, for the Chapman Cup 2010, the League Rule (an old FIDE Law) covering the situation where neither player in a given game was present at the start of a match should be altered.  The proposal is that in such cases White's clock should be started and allowed to run until one of the players appears.  At that point White's clock should be stopped and the time that has elapsed should be shared equally between the two players before White's clock is re-started.  If White appears first he will then move and press his clock.  If Black appears first, White's clock will continue to run, which is also satisfactory.  It was agreed that this system should be used in the Chapman/Birstall Cups next year, with a view to its introduction into the League Rules for 2010-2011.

9.3 BF questioned the extent to which either or both teams were reporting match results to the Webmaster, and asked about the system used by the Webmaster to verify the results and put them on the Web site.  JM undertook to enquire about this and other aspects of the Web site.

10. Date of Next Meeting

March 2010 TBA, but probably on a Monday.  It was agreed that the meeting should be held further south in the county, perhaps at the Braunstone venue.  The LRCA Ltd Treasurer indicated that there would be no problem if a modest fee was required to secure a suitable meeting room!

JNM – 10 November 2009