Meeting: The Meeting was held in the Ryedale Room at the Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, 117 Ryedale Road, West Ryde commencing at 2.30pm.

Council Members: Bill Gletsos, Norman Greenwood, Peter Cassettari, Mal Murrell, Keith Farrell, Kerry Stead, Trent Parker and Tom Accola.

Other Members: Lloyd S Fell, Les Porter, Matthew Sweeney, Tom Tomas, Alfred Flatow, Bob Sewell, Vasil Tulevski, Paul Sike, Johnny Bolens, Lachlan Benson and Ivan Zirdum,

Bill Gletsos as President and Chairman opened the Meeting at 2.43pm and welcomed Members to the Meeting.

Apologies for non-attendance were received from Richard Gastineau-Hills, Steve Carratt, Lloyd R Fell, Brian Jones and Nick Kordahi.

The Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on 30 November 2003 had been circulated at the Meeting and had been available on the NSWCA website for almost twelve months.

Motion: That the Minutes of the 2003 Annual General Meeting be accepted as a true and correct record (Moved Kerry Stead, seconded Mal Murrell) Carried.

The President, Bill Gletsos gave a verbal Presidential Report. He highlighted that at the instigation of Ralph Seberry, the Tournaments Officer, new tournaments were introduced to the Calendar such as the NSW Masters and CJS Purdy Memorial in the City, the Teams Challenge and the Anzac Day Weekender and the format of the City of Sydney Championships and the Australia Day Weekender were changed from the previous year. The changes to the latter two tournaments resulted in lower entries, so for 2005 the City of Sydney Championships will revert to two divisions instead of a single division and will be held over five Sundays with two rounds per day. The Anzac Day Weekender was held at the NSWJCL venue at Auburn-Lidcombe RSL Youth Club. Unfortunately the expected increase in junior players did not eventuate and instead there was a decrease in adult competitors. It is intended that the NSW Masters will be held in 2005. It is also intended to increase the prize money for the NSW Open over the June Queen’s Birthday Weekend, so as to make it the premier weekend tournament for NSW.

Bill expressed thanks to all Council Members for their work during the year. He made special mention of the untimely death of Ralph Seberry, who as Tournaments Officer had instigated new ideas for more tournaments and which ideas will be carried forward to the 2005 Calendar being finalized shortly.

The Financial Report comprising the Statement of Financial Position at 31 July 2004 (Balance Sheet) and Statement of Financial Performance for the year ended 31 July 2004 (Statement of Income and Expenditure) and the Report by the independent Auditor thereon had been circulated to Members present. The Report showed that the Association had incurred a loss for the year of $509 as compared to a profit for the previous year of $17,739.

The Treasurer pointed out that an anonymous donation of $10,000 had been received in the 2003 year as compared to $1,300 for 2004. Also tournaments had operated at a loss and there was a reduction in subscriptions owing to fall in membership, mainly in the City. Interest earnings for the year were $2,821.

Motion: That the Treasurer’s Report be accepted (Moved Vasil Tulevski, seconded Lachlan Benson) Carried.

Mal reported that the number of people visiting the website was increasing and was currently averaging 90 hits per day. He was endeavoring to update the web as quickly as possible.

There were no other Office Bearers’ Reports.

Motion: That Bill Gletsos remain in the Chair (proposed Kerry Stead, seconded Keith Farrell) Carried.

President – Bill Gletsos (proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Trent Parker) Carried.

Vice President – No nominations – Office declared vacant.

Treasurer – Norman Greenwood (proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Mal Murrell) Carried.

Secretary – Tom Accola (proposed Norman Greenwood, seconded Keith Farrell) Carried.

Ratings Officer – Steve Carratt (proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Vasil Tulevski) Carried.

Registrar – Peter Cassettari (proposed Mal Murrell, seconded Kerry Stead) Carried.

Club Liaison Officer – Kerry Stead (proposed Mal Murrell, seconded Keith Farrell) Carried.

Webmaster – Mal Murrell (proposed Keith Farrell, seconded Peter Cassettari) Carried.

Communications Officer – No nominations – Office declared vacant.

Peter Cassettari advised that Lloyd R Fell, the Communications Officer for 2004 is willing to continue performing the function but owing to health problems he did not wish to be appointed to Council, as he would not be able to attend Meetings.

Keith Farrell proposed that the thanks and appreciation of the Meeting be passed to Lloyd.

Publicity Officer – Trent Parker (proposed Peter Cassettari, seconded Matthew Sweeney) Carried.

Tournaments Officer – No nominations – Office declared vacant.

Matthew Sweeney asked the question that without a Tournaments Officer, how do tournaments proceed. Bill Gletsos responded that the Members of Council perform the work.

Matthew Sweeney raised the matter of support for the Tournaments Officer, claiming that Ralph Seberry received no co-operation. The claim was denied by Bill Gletsos, who advised that Council supported every new tournament and virtually all the changes, which was evidenced by the fact that the proposed events were held. The NSW Masters tournament proposed by Ralph was not supported in the first instance by reason of clashes with Country events, but the dates and clashes were worked on and eventually the event was supported by Council and held. Peter Cassettari advised that he had voted against the Tournament, but had been over ruled by Council on the matter.

Country Representative – Keith Farrell (proposed Mal Murrell, seconded Trent Parker) Carried.

Member Without Portfolio – No nominations – Office declared vacant.

Bill Gletsos advised that the Council had not recommended any nomination for Life Membership.

It was proposed that all fees remain the same as the previous year.

Matthew Sweeney raised the matter of a State Rating Fee, the cost of which could be offset by reduced subscriptions for Members, but it would raise revenue from non-members who played in Club tournaments and had their games rated. Bill Gletsos responded by advising that the Council had no intention of imposing a State Rating Fee

Motion: That the Annual membership and Club Affiliation Fees remain the same as the previous year (proposed Keith Farrell, seconded Peter Cassettari) Carried with 15 in favour, 1 against and 1 abstention.

Motion: That Ross A Hamilton be appointed Auditor for the ensuing year (proposed Trent Parker, seconded Kerry Stead) Carried.

The following persons were nominated and accepted for the Appeals Board.

Bill Gletsos, Richard Gastineau-Hills and Kerry Stead (proposed Paul Sike, seconded Bob Sewell) Carried.

Alfred Flatow and Peter Cassettari (proposed Paul Sike, seconded Lachlan Benson) Carried.

1. State Rating Fee

Fred Flatow requested that the Meeting discuss the matter of a State Rating Fee.

Bill Gletsos advised that NSWCA rates all events submitted to them, which includes non NSWCA competitions such as Club Championship events in which NSWCA members participate and accordingly non NSWCA members are being provided with rating services free of charge. The ACF rates all tournaments submitted to them, but Clubs and the NSWCA pay an ACF Administration Fee. It would seem fair to charge a rating fee to non NSWCA members, but some Clubs may then not wish to have their tournaments rated, which would be unfair to NSWCA Members competing in Club competitions.

It was pointed out that it would be an arduous task and an administrative time consuming job to sort out players who are and who are not NSWCA members in all tournaments submitted for rating. The Council was against charging a State Rating Fee.

Norman Greenwood pointed out that there are influxes of members at various times throughout the year and gave the example of a player who participated in his Club Championship in February, but joined the NSWCA in June to play in the Grade Match competition, which are further complications to the recording and collection of such fees.

Keith Farrell commented that small Clubs may only submit four games per member in a year.

Bill Gletsos commented that Clubs usually do not charge entry fees to members to play in Club Championship events and therefore a State Rating fee would be an additional cost. There was also the practical matter of chasing up Clubs and people to calculate and collect the fees

 

2. Bi-Monthly Newsletter

Paul Sike raised the matter of him producing a newsletter every two months of six pages which would contain an editorial, articles, profiles, club news, advertising club tournaments, forthcoming events and would be designed to compliment other publications. It could be emailed to members with email addresses and posted to members who do not have email and copies could be supplied to Clubs for distribution to members.

Mal Murrell commented that Charles Zworestine produce nine issues in 1998 after the Australian Chess Magazine ceased publication and Australian Chess Forum commenced.

Bill Gletsos advised that the NSWCA Council would have to look at it before distribution and suggested it be published quarterly rather than bi-monthly and it be distributed with other NSWCA flyers and entry forms etc.

Bob Sewell suggested that one newsletter be produced and seek members support for continuation.

Motion: That Paul Sike produce a newsletter in March 2005 and it be distributed with a questionnaire to members for opinions on continuation of publication. Moved Bob Sewell, seconded Matthew Sweeney) Carried.

 

3. Withdrawals from Tournaments

Bob Sewell raised the matter of competitors withdrawing from tournaments, as was the case in the recent NSW Championships.

Bill Gletsos responded that the Arbiter’s Report to Council draws Council’s attention to unauthorized withdrawals and as a result the Secretary writes to the persons concerned and asks them to show cause as why the Council should not move against them in accordance with the Constitution. Depending upon the reply, the Council will take disciplinary action or issue a letter of warning.

4. Record of Members’ Clubs on Entry Forms and ACF File.

Matthew Sweeney asked as to whether the tournament entry forms could show the Member’s Club and if the Club could be shown on the ACF Club field. It was pointed out that the Clubs are shown on the Membership forms and it was queried as to the benefit gained from recording Clubs on entry forms. Also, there were some instances where players are members of a number of Clubs. Bill Gletsos (responding as the ACF Ratings Officer) advised that the club field is mainly there to help differentiate players with the same name. In some cases it may be their club, in the case of juniors it may be their school.

5. Club Delegates Meeting

Paul Sike drew attention to declining membership of chess clubs and felt that the NSWCA should focus more on Club chess and to that end he proposed that NSWCA call a Club Delegates Meeting to encourage membership of Clubs.

Bill Gletsos responded that NSWCA is not responsible for Clubs and in prior years Club Delegate Meetings had been called to discuss club participation in the Grade Match competition and it was found that the only Clubs to attend were those represented by a NSWCA Council Member, so the Delegates Meetings were abandoned through lack of interest.

Vasil Tuleski pointed out that in his experience stronger players preferred to play in weekend tournaments rather than Club competitions. Les Porter commented that Clubs were losing members to internet chess.

Matthew Sweeney requested that the Council place a date for the Club Delegates Meeting on the 2005 Calendar. Bill Gletsos advised that the Council would do so and schedule it for February or March 2005, but that prior to the Meeting the NSWCA would canvass the clubs to have them commit to attending and if there was insufficient interest then the Meeting would not go ahead.

6. Tournaments

Johnny Bolens suggested that, as Mt Buller was interstate, a tournament should be held in Sydney during the period when the Australian Championships are being held. Bill Gletsos responded that NSWCA would not detract from the Australian Championships, but there was nothing stopping a Club holding a competition, but in late December/early January most Clubs are in holiday mode.

Matthew Sweeney raised the matter of the State Championships, that instead of

the event being held over nine Sundays, it be held over three or four weekends

with rounds being played on Saturdays and Sundays. Bill Gletsos responded that

there was no support for the idea in the Members’ Survey conducted earlier in

the year and there was approximately a 50/50 split for either one round or two

rounds per day for a 9 round event. Based on the 50/50 split the Council decided

to run the City of Sydney at two rounds per day but maintain the one round per

day for the State Championship.

Motion: That the NSW Championships be held over four weekends comprising

one round per day on Saturdays and Sundays (proposed Matthew Sweeney,

seconded Paul Sike) Defeated – 4 in favour, 10 against and 2 abstentions.

Bill Gletsos reported that it is the intention of the NSWCA to bolster the prize

money for the NSW Open to just under $7,000 as compared to $5,000 for the

2004 year.

7. Tournament Entry Fees

Johnny Bolens raised the matter of entry fees and suggested that minimum fees be set at $5 or $10 and that Members be permitted to pay whatever they felt was reasonable. Paul Sike raised the issue of discounted fees for pensioners and unemployed members. Bill Gletsos responded that Council had set the current entry fees to be tailored towards pensioners and unemployed and were essentially the concessional rate. Vasil Tulevski commented that entry fees should be set by the organizers.

Motion: That Tournament Entry Fees for pensioners and unemployed should be lower than for the full time employed workers (proposed Paul Sike, seconded Matthew Sweeney) Defeated – 5 in favour, 11 against and 2 abstentions.

Matthew Sweeney raised the matter that in order to encourage junior players to the NSWCA, those aged 14 to 20 year should be given free entry to the adults’ events, but that they be not eligible for rating prizes.

Motion: That junior players aged 14 to 20 years be given free entry to NSWCA events (proposed Matthew Sweeney, seconded Paul Sike) Defeated – 2 in favour, 13 against and 4 abstentions.

8. Juniors’ Low Ratings

i) Tournament Entry Forms

10. Survey Results

Matthew Sweeney requested a copy of the Survey Results. Bill Gletsos responded that the Survey Results were for the Council’s benefit to run tournaments and Council had decided not to publish the results on the Website. Matthew Sweeney protested that the survey was from Members about Members’ information and should be available to Members. Bill Gletsos advised that information would be released to individual members who requested it on the understanding they did not republish it.

 

11. Sydney Chess Centre

Motion: There being no further business, the Meeting be closed (proposed Tom Accola, seconded Mal Murrell) Carried.

The Meeting closed at 6.05pm

Confirmed as a correct record.

……………………………….. Dated……………………………………..

Chairman

Please note that these Minutes are yet to be accepted at the next Annual General Meeting scheduled for 27 November 2005.