Members may be aware that the ECF has had its Government grant withdrawn from this financial year & as a result needs to cover the shortfall in funding. As a consequence it is proposing a new membership scheme details of which can be found in the 2 attached pdf files. Can club secretaries download these files & discuss with their members as this will be one of the main topics for discussion at this years  AGM.

FILE 1 – - FILE 2

Officer Vacancies

The following positions will be coming vacant for the new season. Could members please consider putting themselves up to volunteer for these vacancies.

1.    Vice Chairman (Chairman elect). This position was agreed at last years AGM in order to give the holder an easing in to the Management Committee. The person elected will automatically take over as Chairman for the 13/14 season

2.    Match Organiser    This position becomes vacant as the present incumbent Steve Cole will be working away from the area most days of the week & hence will not be able to devote the time needed to carry out the duties required. My thanks go to Steve for the excellent way that the leagues & cup competitions have been run during his tenure.

3    Webmaster     Although not officially holding the title of Webmaster Steve Henderson had continued to help out the Executive by publishing updates & generally maintaining the site. As from the end of this season Steve has indicated that he will no longer be available to continue in this role. My thanks also go to Steve for the work he has done on the site since its inception.

4    Individual Competition Organiser     This position has been carried out out by Peter Ridsdale as a temporary measure for the last 2 seasons. However Peter is now finding it difficult to combine it with his Treasurers role due to his work commitments.

Ron Stather
Chairman

Sincere condolences to all of his family, friends and clubmates at Guisborough Chess Club

Cleveland Chess Association

Info

The Round 7 draw is now online although the top 2 ties may be interchanged depending on the outstanding result from Round 6. If Steve Dauber wins or draws the outstanding game he will be black against Nicholas Tavoularis in Round 7. If Dave Edmunds wins the game then he will be black against Nicholas Tavoularis. The other tie will be against Ron Stather (who will be black)

Peter Ridsdale
Individual Organiser

The Appeal Committee have considered the Appeal of Guisborough concerning the match between Guisborough and Peterlee scheduled for Monday 20th February.

The captains agreed that the match would be defaulted in Guisborough’s favour following problems with Peterlee raising a team.

The Association have overruled the decision to default the match and have imposed a decision under rule 6.1.2 (late application for postponement) that requires the match to be rescheduled and have penalised Peterlee one match point as stipulated.

Guisborough have appealed against this decision on the grounds that the matter should have been dealt with under rule 6.6 (unilateral failure to fulfil a fixture).

The Appeal Committee find that the rules do not permit captains to offer or accept default of matches.  Both captains were at fault and the matter would properly have been dealt with under rule 6.7 (joint failure to fulfil fixture).

The Appeal Committee find that the matter should not have been dealt with under rule 6.1.2 which concerns late applications for postponement.  As far as the Committee is aware, no such application was made.

The Appeal Committee do not agree that the matter should be dealt with under rule 6.6.  Clearly this rule cannot apply where there is agreement between the captains.

Since the Appeal Committee cannot replace one misapplication of the rules with another, the appeal fails.  The Committee add the following comments.

1. The rules regarding postponement of matches are clear and coherent.
2. No application was made under rule 6.2 (exceptional circumstances).  Had such an application been made, it might well have been accepted.
3. The members of the Association are free to revisit the rules and to alter the powers and penalties available to its elected officers.

The Chairman of CCA has issued the following statement to clarify the actions to be taken from the appeal. This statement has been issued in agreement with the Chairman of the Appeals Committee.

The Appeal Committee which was set up to consider an appeal made by Guisborough Chess Club to claim an unfulfilled fixture from Monday 20th February against Peterlee Chess Club as a 5-0 win for Guisborough under rule 6-6 is defeated.
The obsevations made by the appeal committee that the events surounding the unfilfilled fixture were more appropriately dealt with under rule 6.7 are noted, however imposing a 2 point penalty on Guisborough Chess Club, who although partly to blame for the failure to fulfil the fixture (by coercing with Peterlee Chess Club to unilaterally agree a match result) would be extremely harsh, particularly when the main perpetrator for cancelling the match was Peterlee Chess Club.
The observations made by the appeal committee, although welcome, do not form the core objective of the appeal, which was to consider Guisborough Chess Club’s appeal.
It is therefore decided that in the interests of fairness that the league organisers original decision will stand.

Ron Stather