DEVON COUNTY CHESS ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the SPRING COUNCIL MEETING held at Newton Abbot Chess Club on Friday 20th March 2015 at 7 p.m.

Present: Paul Brooks (President/Newton Abbot), Trefor Thynne (General Secretary/Newton Abbot), Brian Hewson (Match Captain/Tiverton), Keith Atkins (Treasurer/Tiverton), Ray Chubb (Competitions’ Secretary/Teignmouth), Bob Jones (Publicity Officer/Exmouth), Alan Crickmore (Congress Secretary/Plymouth), Ivor Annetts (Tiverton)

(The meeting was quorate with eight members in atendance).

1. Apologies for absence:

Apologies for absence had been received from Sean Pope (Exeter/Grading Officer), Tony Tatam (Plymouth/ Grading Officer),David Beckwith (Archivist/Mallison Trust Secretary).

2. Autumn Council meeting 26.9.14:

The minutes of the Autumn Council meeting had been circulated before the meeting. There were no matters arising.

3. Officers’ reports: a. President

Paul Brooks thanked all the Association’s officers for the work over the current season. He spoke of the need to find new holders for the posts of Competitions’ Secretary and Treasurer for next season as the current incumbents Keith Atkins and Ray Chubb were intending to step down at the AGM. He suggested that the General Secretary circulate all clubs to make them aware of the need to identify successors.

b. General Secretary:

Trefor Thynne reported that the season had gone smoothly from an administrative point of view. Some further work had been done on updating the Association’s trophy record book, in particular in compiling revised lists of previous winners and identifying the current whereabouts of some individual trophies. The updated Directory of DCCA Clubs and officials had been sent to the ECF for publication in the 2015 ECF Yearbook (note: see pages 140-1 for the Directory and page 93 for results for the DCCA Competitions 2013-14).

The DCCA Inter-Area Jamboree had been successfully organised by the East region at the ISCA Centre, Exeter on Sunday 18th January. The event was enjoyed by all 48 players and won by the West region. It was good to have teams from all four corners of the county and undoubtedly was appreciated as a means of uniting players from far-flung outposts of the county. Thanks are due to Bob Jones and Brian Aldwin for their work in organising a good day.

Given the need for the Association to identify a new Competitions’ Secretary and a new Treasurer for next season, the General Secretary spoke of the difficulty of persuading many of the county’s strongest players to take up administrative roles within the county organisation. It would be necessary to maintain an open dialogue with such players in the hope of drawing them into the work of the DCCA. c. Treasurer:

Keith Atkins reported that last year’s accounts had been audited with one small amendment made: the deficit was £36.94 and not £21.18 as originally given.

Mr Atkins raised the issue of the ECF Insurance policy held by the Association and queried the need for it given that expensive trophies could not be insured as the premiums would be prohibitively costly. Any loss would only be covered to a small percentage of value. Mr Atkins also queried the point of the Public Liability insurance. After some discussion it was agreed that as the insurance policy only cost around £100 the Association would continue to purchase cover via the ECF.

Mr. Atkins asked officers to submit expenses claims to him for the current year as early as possible so that they can be incorporated into the accounts by the AGM in June. He regretted that, owing to his move to Somerset for work reasons, he would be standing down from the post at the AGM but said that he had enjoyed being DCCA Treasurer and would be happy to help the new treasurer in the transition period. In addition he looked forward to continuing to meet DCCA colleagues in the future even if he were to be part of an opposing Somerset team!

The President thanked Mr. Atkins for his hard work as Treasurer over the past few years.

d. Competitions’ Secretary:

Ray Chubb reported that the team competitions had proceeded smoothly with few problems arising.He summarized the current state of the various divisions and mentioned the matches that still remained to be played (Bremridge 2, Mamhead 3, Schofield 2, Moyle 5, Newman 1). The junior division had had five teams competing and all teams were well advanced with their matches except Exeter Juniors. The Knock- Out Cup (Peter Rooke) would decided by the final on April 25th between Exeter and Tiverton.

In the individual competitions, an issue had arisen in the County Championship in that one entrant (Stephen Homer) had withdrawn having been unable to play any games at all. The outcome of the Championship would be decided by the game between John Stephens (Plymouth) and Theo Slade (Barnstaple). The Intermediate, with three entrants (Wilf Taylor, Rob Wilby, Trefor Thynne), had finished in a three-way tie and the players were starting again. The Minor was currently led by the holder, Vignesh Ramesh (Newton Abbot) who still had one game to play. The Ladies’ Championship was currently led by the holder, Jacqueline Barber-Lafon (Newton Abbot) who still had to play Nandaja Narayanan.

Mr.Chubb stated that results were being posted on the ChessDevon website courtesy of Bill Frost and games played in the Bremridge and Mamhead divisions could be accessed in ChessBase format. Match results from the the Schofield and Moyle divisions now appeared with players names and individual results to generate interest.

e. Match Captain:

Brian Hewson reported on the county teams’ season: in the Harold Meek Cup, the first team had started well with wins against Gloucestershire (12-4) and Hampshire (12 ½- 3 ½) but had then suffered an unexpected and embarrassing reverse against a stronger than usual Cornwall team by 7 ½- 8 ½ despite outgrading them. The Somerset match became a must-win scenario but a very strong Somerset team came out on top by 10-6. Therefore Devon finished third behind Somerset and Cornwall.

In the Wayling Cup, Devon retained the trophy for the 17th consecutive year with 7-5 victories over Cornwall and Somerset. Mr. Hewson had been able to field three juniors in the Cornwall match, their results justifying their inclusion. Dorset and Hampshire had not entered second teams.

In the National Stages, Devon would face Nottinghamshire in the Under 180 sectionon 16th May at Frampton-on-Severn. As Mr. Hewson was intending to be away in Greece at a chess tournament between 28th April and 8th May it was important to have the team in place before his departure. The final of the National Stages is to be held on 4th July at Warwick. Mr.Hewson’s suggestion that Devon should enter the Minor Counties section and the under 160 section had been dropped as several of the county’s stronger players failed to respond to his e-mail enquiry.

Mr. Hewson commented on the number of strong players resident in the county who had either stopped playing or expressed a wish not to be selected for county chess. He mentioned Adrian Archer-Lock, Andrew Boyne, Kevin Hurst, Neil Crickmore,Graham Bolt and Ken Derrick in this category.

Mr. Hewson thanked those players who had helped in setting up and putting away equipment at county matches and also those who had collected match fees (John Stephens and Paul Brooks). He commented on the continued slow response to invitations to play from the usual players. All Devon players this season had been ECF members.

Finally, Mr Hewson stated that he would continue in post until 2017 when he would be 65.

f. Grading Officers:

Ray Chubb, the only one of the county’s grading officers present, reported that more and more of the grading work was being done by Tony Tatam who used the Tournament Director software.

g. Congress Secretary:

Alan Crickmore reported on a very successful 2014 congress held at the Livermead House Hotel, Torquay. There had been 175 entries and a small profit of £21 had been recorded. The British Championship qualifying place would be allocated to either Alan Brusey or J.McKenna.

Mr. Crickmore reported that financial support from the “Friends of Paignton Congress” was somewhat in decline. Dates for the 2015 Congress (13-19.9.15) and 2016 had been agreed though the 2016 event was faced with the unavailability of the Kingsley Suite at the hotel. The hire charge for the room would be £750.

A good bookstall had been run by Bob Jones. Mr. Crickmore stated that he (with the invaluable support of his wife Linda) would continue in post for one more year. Ray Chubb was stepping down as an arbiter. In 2015 there would be three rather than four arbiters, thus freeing up funds to enable one arbiter (Tony Tatam) to stay overnight where appropriate to avoid a late return to Plymouth followed by an early start the next day.

The Congress was budgeting for an entry of 175 this year.

The President thanked Mr. Crickmore and his wife Linda for their hard work on behalf of the Congress which was known to be one of the highlights of the English chess calendar.

h. Junior Chess:

In the continued absence of an appointed Junior Chess Secretary, the General Secretary gave an overview of current junior chess activity in the county (though stressing that there may well be activity of which he was unaware, particularly at primary school level).

He mentioned:

- The Devon Junior championships staged at Teign School, Kingsteignton in December. The under 15 champion was Reece Whittington of Exeter.

- A new tournament for secondary schools under the aegis of the UK Team Challenge promoted by Neill Cooper, the ECF’s Secondary Schools’ Manager. A tournament, representing the South West egion, had been held at Torquay Boys’ Grammar School on 11th February and had attracted 11 teams, including, gratifyingly, several schools where chess activity had previously been minimal The winners of the event (for teams of four players under 18) were Torquay Boys’ Grammar School who would represent Devon at the National Final at Imperial College , London on 22nd April. The philosophy of this competition is to promote chess much more widely in secondary schools nationwide. Regional Finals had been held all over the country. For the record Devon schools participating were: Torquay Boys’ Grammar School, Clyst Vale Community College, Dawlish Community College, St. Cuthbert Mayne School, Torquay, Devonport High School, St. Boniface’s Catholic College, Plymouth, Great Torrington School , Coombeshead College, Newton Abbot and Shebbear College (independent). Two teams from Millfield School in Somerset had also taken part.

- The Devon Under 14 team had taken part successfully in the annual South-West and Wales team tournament organised by Tim Onions at Cullompton in late February Devon’s team had been placed second. A debt is owed to Dave Regis for managing the team and for his invaluable feedback and help to team members. The current crop of under 14 juniors in the county is highly promising. - The DCCA Junior division (the Bloodworth Shield) had attracted five entries this year: Exeter Juniors, Newton Abbot Juniors, Broadclyst Primary School, Torquay Boys’ Grammar School and Exeter School. The competition was nearing completion.

- In view of the current strength of Devon juniors the General Secretary hoped that a way would be found to enter a Devon team for the ECF Counties’ Under 18 Championship to be held in Grantham, Lincolnshire on June 21st though he recognised the practical difficulties involved.

- The selection by the county Match Captain of three juniors for the county second team (Vignesh Ramesh, Nicky Bacon, Nicholas Hodge) was a encouraging sign.

- Several clubs (Newton Abbot, Exeter, Teignmouth, Tiverton, Plymouth, Sidmouth) reported new recruitment of junior players. Sidmouth Juniors won the Graded Trophy at October’s County Team Quick-Play event.

- Much good coaching work was being done by Dave Regis in Exeter.

i. Archivist:

David Beckwith had apologised for his absence from the meeting. He had hoped, on retirement, to be able to resume the task of dealing with the Association’s archives, currently residing at his house in Exeter. Unfortunately he had suffered the sad loss of his wife which had, understandably, affected all his plans. He still hopes to resume chess activity in the future, both in connection with the archives and alosothe Mallison Chess Trust (Junior Coaching).

j. Publicity:

Bob Jones reported that he had recently represented the Association at the funeral of Peter Clarke, former English Master, author and columnist. He had compiled an archive of material relating to the life and career of Peter Clarke which he intended to publish in due course. The Clarke family intends to organise two tournaments in memory of Mr Clarke, one of which would be online.

Mr. Jones reported on the saga of the Western Morning News chess column which had been abruptly cancelled in November and then (following considerable protest from chess players in the Westcountry) re-instated in the New Year in an enlarged and improved format with a slight improvement in remuneration for the columnist included. Mr Jones thanked all those who had written to the newspaper on behalf of the column. Mr. Jones reminded members of the forthcoming WECU Congress at Exmouth over Easter 2015. Entries currently stood at 75.

k. WECU Delegates:

Brian Hewson and Keith Atkins currently represent the DCCA at WECU meetings though Mr. Hewson is shortly to become the new WECU Pesident. This will create a vacancy for a new delegate. Currently Devon is also represented at WECU by two holders of WECU posts: Oliver Wensley and Meyrick Shaw (both of Exmouth). In June 2015 the current WECU Secretary (Bob Jones) will step down after 30 years in the post.

Mr. Hewson reported on concerns in WECU about Hampshire’s future participation in WECU competitions (given their poor organisational record in county matches with numerous defaults).

l. ECF Delegate:

Ben Edgell not being present at the meeting, no report was made.

4. Proposal from Ivor Annetts(Tiverton) re Devon Individual Championship:

Mr. Annetts wished to put forward to the Association’s AGM the following proposal;

“DCCA members, irrespective of grade, shall be eligible to apply for entry to the Association’s Individual Championship for the Winter-Wood Championship Trophy. Should the Individual Championship be over-subscribed, priority shall be given to the higher-graded applicants.”

A brief discussion about the implication of the proposal was held and the General Secretary committed to placing the proposal on the agenda for the AGM in June.

5. Update on Junior chess in Devon:

As this had been already covered under 3h above, no further discussion was deemed necessary.

6. A.O.B. 1. Ray Chubb had brought to the meeting the Winter-Wood Champion of Club Champions Trophy which had been won by Jack Rudd of Barnstaple. Bob Jones agreed to take the trophy and have it presented to Jack at the forthcoming WECU Congress.

2. The General Secretary informed the meeting that two Devon clubs had entered the ECF’s National club Championship to be held in Birmingham on 11th-12th April: Newton Abbot in the Major (under 175 average) and Intermediate (under 150 average) sections and Barnstaple in the Major.

There being no further business, the President thanked members for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 21.30.

Minutes compiled by DCCA General Secretary (Trefor Thynne) 1.4.15