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BCF MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING
19 June 1999
The influence of Howard Curtis as the new Director of Management Services was apparent on the agenda where suggested timings were given for each item. Stewart Reuben had given the following instructions:
     "Speakers will be expected to hold their speeches to five minutes or less. Only introducers of proposals may possibly be allowed to address a topic twice. Papers supplied on the day of the meeting will not be considered unless the chairman rules they are emergency matters. The Director of Management Services will be in charge of assuring these conditions are met."
     Despite sceptical predictions in certain quarters (and the occasional descent into the more traditional MB shambles, as when the meeting dates for 2000 were discussed) the plan to complete the agenda worked, and there was 15 minutes at the end for any other business to be considered. Some points emerging:
  1. The 1998/99 deficit which was forecast at £20,341 in April may prove to be worse by £3/4,000 if two adverse developments crystallise.
  2. The Finance Committee Chairman had provided an interim report on the Investigation into the finances surrounding the Witley Junior International Event. A response from Alec Webster, the Junior Squad Treasurer, to certain questions that had been raised with him was tabled at the meeting. Certain points need to be followed up before it will be appropriate for this to come into the public domain. The Board did, however, endorse the general principle that another organisation can only use the "BCF" name with the approval of the Board or Council.
  3. Chris Howell confirmed that the grading list would be published in July. It may omit some events (as previous lists have done) but that will be attributable to results not being submitted to the Office and not to problems with the central processing. The new disk for graders1 is a major improvement on the first, with which there were many problems. After the present list, non-electronic submission will only be accepted for an event where the results can be fitted onto one sheet of A4. It is not clear how the implied discrimination against graders without a computer fits into the equal opportunities policy discussed later in the meeting.
  4. It was agreed to proceed for 1999/2000 on the basis of the draft Game Fee Regulations which had been circulated with the April Finance Council papers. In respect of the issues where Council had been offered options, the Board decided to run with the status quo in respect of payments for Winter Leagues and discounts. Much to the disappointment of the Director, it also decided to retain a September rather than June date for the change in the Game Fee rate. This will prevent the planned invoicing system from being implemented during his term of office.
  5. The Finance Committee had produced an interim report on forecasting and budgeting controls, which give or take the odd comment along the lines of "what is proposed is far too tight – we will never get anything done if this goes through" was generally well received. Longer term matters being considered include the appropriateness of the 30 April accounting date. Urgent action is being taken to find two volunteers to act as assistants to the Finance Director.
  6. Howard Curtis had accomplished the far from straightforward task of compiling an up to date text of the Board standing orders. This will now serve as the starting point for development; many of the Finance Committee recommendations on forecasting and budgeting controls are likely to end up here.
  7. Howard Curtis was appointed to lead a team to co-ordinate the BCF's efforts in the Chess as a Sport campaign.
  8. The Counties Rapidplay will be held in Sheffield on October 9. The event is to be offered to the SCCU for 2000.
  9. The Home Chess Director reported that he had dismissed Adrian Dawson from his post as the Officer responsible for Chess in Prisons as he was not satisfied with his stewardship. Each Union will be asked to nominate a person to act as a local contact.
  10. In future the Board will elect somebody to chair its meetings who may or may not be the Chairman of the BCF. Stewart Reuben may miss the September Council meeting as he has been invited to be an arbiter at the World Junior Championships in Armenia. If Stewart is not available, David Sedgwick will chair the Board meeting that day and be recommended to Council as the chairman for the Council meeting.
  11. Sarah Hurst has resigned as editor of ChessMoves to take up a post in Azerbajan with the BCF. It was agreed that Stewart Reuben would act as temporary editor; prior to advertising for a permanent successor, the Board will consider the future role of the publication.
  12. Chris Howell and David Sedgwick will not be standing for re-election to their present directorships in September.
  13. The loss of the Onyx sponsorship of the Grand Prix is now in the public domain; a new sponsor is being sought.
  14. The British Championships in 2000 will be held at Millfield School
  15. Michael Adams had retained the Player of the Year title. There would be no Club of the Year Award; the criteria would be amended to take into account the coaching offered to members, the outreach into the community and the activities of the club during a calendar year.
  16. Howard Curtis will use his office facilities to get the BCF Website updated and running.
  17. The Hastings International Chess Centre project appears to be moribund until chess becomes a sport.
Proceedings concluded with Stan Goodall thanking Stewart and Howard for a decent meeting, and a round of applause. Not a bad note for your correspondent to conclude with at the end of his period as SCCU representative to the Board.
John Philpott
23 June 1999
1 rjh: CD arrived that day (19th June). Haven't looked at the improved programs yet, I'm still using my own. But there must be some grading traffic on the Office's mail server. Send anything now and you get their standard all-purpose acknowledgment.




BCF SEEKS FINANCIAL MANAGERS
20.6.99
OPPORTUNITIES TO USE YOUR FINANCIAL SKILLS TO BENEFIT CHESS!

Due to the growth in activities supported by the BCF and the increasing emphasis being placed on financial controls and reporting, 2 new voluntary Financial Officers are being sought to assist the BCF Finance Director. Both officers will be able to use their skills to help support the development of chess activities, nationally and internationally, gaining valuable insights into the way the BCF is managed and experience which may also assist personal careers.
     In addition to deputising for the Finance Director and providing general assistance, key responsibilities are:

Finance Manager
  • to approve expenditure payments requested by Directors and Officers
  • to provide quarterly claims of grant from the DCMS (which provides a grant to the BCF) and budgeted profiles of grant expenditure
  • with the support of the BCF Accountant, to prepare periodic Management Reports on actuals for the Management Board and Finance Committee, seeking explanations of variances from directors
  • to assist in the preparation of the Annual Report for the DCMS
  • to provide general advice on financial matters, financial systems, VAT and statutory accounts

Financial Planning Manager
  • to prepare the Annual Budget of income & expenditure
  • to prepare periodic Forecasts of income & expenditure and cashflows
  • to prepare financial analyses for the Corporate Plan and other strategic plans
  • liaison with BCF Directors, Management Board and Finance Committee

If you feel that you may have relevant experience or qualifications (eg qualified or part-qualified as an accountant) and may be interested in either or both of these positions, please call Ray Clark (Finance Director) 01753 883300 evenings for an initial chat. If you then wish to apply for either voluntary position you will need to send your CV to the BCF Office. There is no specific closing date, however, it would be desirable to have both of the above positions filled by the end of August.

The Finance Director's responsibilities are revised to become:
To prepare the annual statement of accounts of the Federation and to present them duly audited to the Annual Meeting of Council and the preceding meeting of the Management Board; to ensure that records are adequate for accounting purposes and the preparation of VAT returns; to take remedial action as may be required in consultation with the Management Board and Finance Committee; in general to supervise the work of the BCF Accountant and any assistant(s); to appoint such officers as may be required to prepare financial statements, analyses or reports and to oversee such work.



BCF MANAGEMENT BOARD 19.6.99
John Philpott writes:
The influence of Howard Curtis as the new Director of Management Services is already being seen. The agenda has turned up with a recommended time allocation for each item in an attempt to ensure that the whole agenda should be completed on the day. There are also instructions from Stewart that:
     "Speakers will be expected to hold their speeches to five minutes or less. Only introducers of proposals may possibly be allowed to address a topic twice. Papers supplied on the day of the meeting will not be considered unless the chairman rules they are emergency matters. The Director of Management Services will be in charge of assuring these conditions are met."

If that means the Director of Management Services is running the meeting, who knows it may work.



GRADING CHARGE: INTERNAL CLUB GAMES
Your Webmaster, with a County Grader's hat on, has lately informed some clubs of the new one-third charge for internal club games. A response, from a club secretary:
     "I thought the BCF were trying to encourage chess as a sport!! This will be a contentious issue and I feel is a backwards step as clubs/members will incur the additional cost and it may force players to give up their membership. This will no doubt provoke discussion throughout chess clubs up and down the country."
     Can't give his name or club because he wrote privately. But we know how he feels. This measure was first proposed in 1997. The Kent clubs had been canvassed, and knew it was coming up. Kent and rjh supported it then. The proposal, as it turned out, was roundly rejected at the time after full discussion in Council. So the Kent clubs were told it wasn't happening. Must say it seemed dubious when it was slipped in again by the back door in September 1998, and passed on the nod by a possibly punch-drunk Council. Someone now has to explain to the clubs that a proposal they thought defunct is no such thing, and it will be no surprise if they say rude things about the BCF.


BCF GRADING CO-ORDINATORS
Chris Howell has asked us to publish details of the Grading Co-ordinators.
Juniors Neville Belinfante, 23 Hackney Close, Borehamwood, Herts WD6 2SL 0181 953 6342 NevilleBel@aol.com
Leagues Bruce Holland, 2a Bertie Rd, Kenilworth, Warwicks CV8 1JP 01926 853280 (from 10th July 1999: 01926 864684) bholland@bcf.org.uk
Congresses Ken Groce, 1 Nobel Villas, Stewardstone Rd, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 1NU. Phone number and email address when we have them. Not in Yearbook. Later note: he seems not to have an email address.
     Some more information 14.5.99 in the SCCU News page.


BCF FINANCE COUNCIL MEETING
24th April 1999
Fifty-ish attended, and one of them said he'd enjoyed it. Revisions were made to the figures in the previously circulated finance papers. rjh is not comfortable with instructions like "on page 10, fifth column, amend 'FIDE income' from £5000 to £4000". Not when they go on for five minutes he isn't, especially when you tell him the figures are changing all the time anyway. (So what was he doing at a Finance Meeting? You tell him.) At all events, we've still made a whopping loss for the year and for the details you must consult a competent authority. What got decided? Well:
     Game Fee. The median vote was for the 29p proposed by the Management Board. So 2p increase. You want the details? 35p, 1 vote. 32p, 1. 30p, 1. 29p, 90. 28p, 8. 27p, 72. 24p, 1. Council came pretty close, in other words, to voting "no change". There was a strong feeling that increasing the Game Fee would only accelerate the undoubted decline in (gradable) chess getting played. A proposal to add another penny towards centenary celebrations in 2004 was rejected. "Not the time."
     Discretionary expenditure by Chairman. The agenda included a proposal to allow the Chairman of the Federation to spend up to £1000 a year, in emergencies, and tell the Finance Director and the Chairman of the Finance Committee afterwards. Someone said, "Why bother? Directors exceed their budgets without asking anyway." But of that later. The proposal was not accepted, but he may do it with the prior agreement of one of them. The Chairman revealed, casually, that he had indeed spent £200 recently on his own initiative, to avert a libel action. No doubt most people had a fair idea what this would have been about, but someone asked anyway and the Chairman wouldn't say. (So why mention it?)
     Financial Control Procedures. Council requested the Management Board to investigate last year's junior overspend and come up with procedures that would prevent such a thing happening again. So how did the previous Junior Director manage to overspend to the tune of £8,000? With the Witley event, in a nutshell. It is still not entirely clear to rjh why the Director was expecting sponsorship that never materialised. The Management Board had been given to understand that Witley was being financed by the Junior Squad. The Junior Squad, apparently, had been given to understand that it was being financed by the BCF. Everyone agreed, and not for the first time, that while the Junior Squad does splendid work it's nonsensical to have them using the Federation's name without being in any way accountable to it.
     BCF Website. As a part of the economy measures, it had been decided to drop the £1000 provision for Website development. This provision was reinserted. Some doubted the financial benefits of a decent website, but it was pointed out that the first thing a potential sponsor is going to do is have a look at your website to see what sort of an organisation you are. The site as it is now was not felt to be doing the Federation any favours.
     Direct Membership Scheme. The proposals to increase subscriptions by an average of 25% or so were approved. There are no additional benefits, save an improved grading service. And free grading of internal club games, when the member's a Club. There are something like eight, or was it six, members that are. The proposal to drop the "Direct" in the Membership Scheme's name was rejected.
     Director of Management Services. Tony Suttill, the retiring Director, received a surprise presentation in recognition of his sterling services. Howard Curtis1, of the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship, was elected to succeed him. Howard has transformed the Coulsdon club and was well spoken of (while out of the room) by Surrey people, and he made a good impression on Council. One cautionary note, though. He sat through two or three hours of Budget debate before his election, and claimed to have enjoyed it. Yes, it was him. "He must be completely mad," someone said. It is rjh's private belief that he enjoyed it for reasons of his own and isn't mad at all.
     Counties Championship Rules. The GMCCA proposed that where a match captain's grade goes over the limit just before a season begins, he should remain eligible to play for the team. Not agreed. Or postponed to the next meeting. This proposal has no effect on the Union stage of the Championships; the Unions are not obliged to use grading limits anyway, and where they use them they are not obliged to do it the BCF's way.
     And what didn't get decided? The proposed changes to the Constitution, for a start. The meeting had voted for a six o'clock guillotine, and ran out of time. The changes were to take account of new developments in grading and Game Fee, and the Director said he couldn't proceed without them.
     Also crowded out: a paper on contracts, paid posts and bidding procedures; a paper on the Hastings International Chess Centre and its impact on the Business Plan; a paper on the aborted European Team Championships; and Chess as a Sport.
     Just remembered. We never gave you a report on the morning's Management Board meeting before the Council one. John Philpott was at it, and he says revisions were made to the figures in the previously circulated finance papers.

1 Contact at Coulsdon Chess Fellowship, 82 Chipstead Valley Rd, Coulsdon, Surrey CR5 3BA 0181 645 9586: fax 0181 645 0412: email chess@ccfs.freeserve.co.uk



PRIME MINISTER'S QUESTION TIME
Wednesday 28th April 1999 (downloaded from Hansard)
Charlotte Atkins (Staffordshire, Moorlands)
Will the Prime Minister congratulate our young United Kingdom chess players, who have won so many world titles and records recently? Does he agree that the best way of making the United Kingdom the top chess nation in the world is to recognise chess as a sport, and to end the discrimination of United Kingdom chess players, who suffer from lack of training facilities, lack of finance and very little organisation of chess games in schools? Is it not time that we joined the 100-plus nations of the world that already recognise chess as a sport and fund it accordingly?
The Prime Minister
It is at a moment like this that I look along the Front Bench in search of inspiration, but do not find any. [Interruption.] Yes, I have just located the inspiration, but, unfortunately, she is rather far away from me. My hon. Friend's comments sound thoroughly persuasive. Perhaps the safest thing for me to say is that I shall make further inquiries and write to her.
(Blair was looking for Angela Eagle and appeared thrown by the question.)
With acknowledgments to Bruce Birchall


29.5.99
Extract from Hansard (House of Lords) earlier this week
Lord Hardinge of Penshurst [President of the Mind Sports Olympiad] asked Her Majesty's Government:
When they propose to introduce legislation implementing their intention to recognise chess (along with other mind games) as a sport, as announced in the House of Commons on 15 March (HC Deb., col. 862)[HL2508]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: A date for this has yet to be decided. We will seek to introduce a Bill when parliamentary time allows.


COMMONS MEDIA EVENT
25.3.99
from Peter Turner via Neville Belinfante
Kasparov was the star of the show, his speech was absolutely excellent and he presented all the players with a signed copy of his new book. Tony Banks turned up towards the end of the event and Kasparov was able to make a good impression on him as well.
     Details of the match Prodigies v Parliamentarians are not entirely clear but the Prodigies won 6-0, or it may have been 5-0, in the first leg and to save further blushes the second leg got put on ice. The juniors were Jessie Gilbert, David Howell, Murugan Thiruchelvam, Selina Khoo and George O'Toole; plus, by some accounts, Jovanka Houska. Ruth Sheldon was unable to attend because she is playing a tournament in Hungary. Jessie was presented with a cheque for £4,000 from the Brain Trust, which is sponsored by the Swedish conglomerate BURE. This will enable her to go to New York for a week's coaching with Edmar Mednis.


PRESS RELEASE BY LIB DEMS
16.3.99
In a surprise move by the President of FIDE, President Kirsan Nikolaevich Iljumzhinov visited Liberal Democrat MP and parliamentary chess advocate Dr Evan Harris at the House of Commons today to welcome the Government's announcement to recognise chess as a sport.
     Chess is yet to be recognised as a sport by the Olympic movement. The British Olympic Association does not have the national chess body as a member.
     "The tide is turning, and we can soon look forward to chess having its deserved status as a sport in the UK, and a sport at which we excel," said Dr Harris, who leads the House of Commons Chess Team and was a former Liverpool Schools Champion. [rjh: Describes self as average club player. Not found in master list]


SAITEK/BRITISH CHESS FEDERATION: COMMONS MEDIA EVENT
from Peter Turner, BCF Junior Director
Event highlights - Thursday, March 25th 1999
Nicky Campbell, presenter of ITV's Thursday Night Live, is host for the event. Friendly matches between members of the Saitek England Junior Chess Squad and schools champions: Parliamentarians v prodigies.
     Evan Harris MP on the soon-to-be-launched 'Parliamentary Friends of Chess'. Special guests include World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. Devotees of chess from both Houses expected to attend are Lords Hardinge and Winston and Maria Eagle MP.
     'Chess in Education' research highlights presentation.
Announcement of Saitek's 1999 sponsorship plans - which include the England Junior Team, the UK schools challenge and various sports initiatives.


BCF MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING
13 February 1999
With 23 items on the agenda, it was not to be expected that everything scheduled was going to be addressed, and this indeed proved to be the case, with the motion to lift the 6.00 guillotine failing by a larger margin than at the previous meeting. However, nothing more was said about the extra Board meeting that the chairman suggested might be necessary before September.
(1) Money. Finance always represents a significant feature of the February meeting, and in a welcome development Ray Clark had produced a policy paper. It had long struck your author as strange that the Finance Director was the only Director not to provide such an annual paper. From discussion on the paper it emerged that the Ron Banwell legacy of £15,000, which the Federation had received some time ago, remained subject to a legal dispute and would remain fully provided against in the accounts until this was resolved.
     Coming into the meeting, the forecast for 1998/99 was significantly worse than the budget and would leave reserves at 30 April 1999 below the target of £51,000 directed by Council. The 1999/2000 budget indicated a further fall in reserves of £10,088 on the basis of a 29p Game Fee for standard play games (i.e. up 2p). Relatively little progress was made on either forecast or budget during the meeting; the budget situation was particularly disappointing considering the financial framework that had been provided to Directors by Ray Clark at the November meeting. In the end, it was decided that the main spending Directors should have a meeting with the Chairman, Finance Director and Chairman of the Finance Committee to agree a series of cuts to produce a more balanced budget. This is of course a short-term approach, which is likely to leave the Board facing exactly the same issues in 12 months time. Bryan Fewell produced statistics indicating that Management Services, which had accounted for 62% of the BCF's freely disposable income in 1994/5 would have risen to 71% on the 1999/2000 budget as it stood. Extrapolation of this trend highlights the fundamental issue of the need to increase the Federation's income base if in the long run there is going to be anything left to spend on activities such as Coaching, Junior and International. However, the Board did not discuss this although a number of individuals made isolated remarks about the lack of a strategy. Indeed, the Board spent all of ten seconds at the end of the meeting deciding not to do anything about reconstituting the Policy Unit prior to September.
     Stewart Reuben had a proposal to set aside £2,000 in each financial year leading up to the BCF's Centenary in 2004 in order to fund centenary celebrations. It was agreed that this proposal would be presented to the Finance Council meeting as an option; it would mean an extra penny on Game Fee.
     A proposal that the Chairman be permitted to spend up to £1,000 each financial year on BCF activity without further consultation will also be put to Council as the Board was evenly divided on this issue.
(2) BCF Office. It was agreed that the Personnel Committee should make arrangements for staff pension provisions, based on contributions into personal pension schemes administered entirely outside the BCF.
     A written report by Tony Suttill, who will be standing down as Management Services Director in April, confirmed inter alia that the Federation's computer systems are Year 2000 compliant.
(3) Direct Membership. John Poole presented recommendations on the future of the Direct Membership Scheme, which the Board approved. A more successful scheme would, of course, be one way in which the Federation's disposable income could be increased. There is a proposed increase in subscription rates, which is of itself unlikely to assist in promoting the scheme in the absence of increased benefits. There were some extra benefits proposed for Corporate Vice Presidents, including exemption from Game Fee on internal club championships assuming that Council does not reverse itself on this issue, but for individuals the only prospective item appears to be a fully itemised print-out of the grading calculation. It will become possible to take out a three-year subscription at a discounted rate. A Membership Committee is proposed with one active member from each Union who should actively help to promote membership of the BCF. Anybody from the SCCU interested in fulfilling such a role should contact the President.
(4) BCF Chairman. The Board agreed to recommend Gerry Walsh as the successor to Stewart Reuben as BCF Chairman. Stewart is likely to miss the September Council meeting as a result of acting as an arbiter at the World Junior Championship.
(5) Coaching. Gary Kenworthy tabled a report on coaching, which reported a number of positive developments and included one rather sobering thought. "Travelling around the Country it is difficult to plug the BCF when I encounter County Secretary and Treasurer level officials who have not heard of the BCF".
(6) Juniors. Brian Jones had tendered his resignation as Junior Director on 4 February on an issue of principle, in connection with a ruling made by Ray Keene on the "Croydon Girls" dispute1. He advised the Board through Ron Drury that his resignation was only because of this issue. The Board voted to appoint Peter Turner2 as Junior Director until the September Council meeting. Peter plans to hold one or more open meetings to discuss policy between now and September. One of the junior selectors, who was present as a proxy, indicated that the last selection meeting had been extremely positive, with substantial progress being made on selection policies, and that a short list for selection had been drawn up covering all age groups of both sexes.
(7) British Championship. Proposals by Neil Graham for the operation of a "reserve list" for the British Championships were nodded through. Players who have exemption into the Championship by virtue of their rating/grading will not be affected by the cut off rule for entries envisaged, but even GMs will in future be expected to pay a late fee if they do not enter by the prescribed date.
(8) BCF Arbiters. The award of the BCF Arbiter title to Sean Marsh and Lara Barnes was approved.
(9) Grading. It was agreed that in the light of the delays to the interim grading list that was supposed to appear in January, this list would not be published in 1999. The processing of the information will, however, proceed with the summer list in mind.
(10) Game Fee Review Committee was still lacking nominees from a couple of the Unions (the SCCU President has appointed himself as the SCCU representative). The Committee will clearly need to move quickly from here on in order to have the revised Game Fee Regulations ready for consideration by the April Council meeting.
(11) BCF Website. Two papers touched on the BCF's website, which was felt to show up poorly in comparison with others (yes, the SCCU site was mentioned). The problem was recognised, but nothing is likely to improve until an appropriate individual has taken on responsibility for running the site on a day to day basis.
John Philpott
14 February 1999

1 (item 6) rjh: - Comes up briefly below. But since Croydon Girls have been mentioned by name. Some parents and pupils of a school in Surrey entered an "unofficial" Times team which had not the sanction of the head teacher. All players were to be pupils of the school. But they called themselves "Croydon Girls", which is not the name of the school, and proposed to play their home matches at a venue other than the school. Brian Jones threw them out on the ground that the competition is for school teams, and you can't represent a school if the head teacher says you don't. This decision has been overturned by Raymond Keene, claiming the newspaper's authority. Rule 23 of the competition gives final say in disputes to the BCF Junior Director.
     We have no idea why the head teacher would not sanction a school entry.

2 Also item 6. This is Peter R Turner, 8 Endcliffe Avenue, Bottesford, Scunthorpe, N Lincs DN17 2RD 01724 866433 prtchess@aol.com. His details (without email address) are correct in the 1999 Yearbook on page 99 under Lincolnshire: Bottesford. His phone number is wrong under NYCA on page 62. He's told us he's keen to hear from anyone (by post/telephone/email) who has anything at all to say about Junior chess.



BRIAN JONES RESIGNS
6.2.99. Brian Jones, BCF Junior Director, has resigned with immediate effect. He gives as his reason unacceptable intervention in the Times Schools Championship by Raymond Keene, who overturned a ruling he had made on a dispute in a local Zone. It appears that Mr Keene had the newspaper's authority to do this.
     He had not the authority of the rules. Mr Jones has resigned on an issue in which he was in the right. He will also be resigning as a trustee of the Youth Chess Trust.



BCF GRADING SYSTEM : delay with software
You will know that the BCF have been working on new software which, among other things, will take us onto a half-year cycle with proper half-year grading lists. The half-year list for 1999 was to have appeared in late January or early February. However, there have been delays with the software. The new deadline for game-input is provisionally the 19th February (with a new list, no doubt, some time in March).



BCF MANAGEMENT BOARD 14th November 1998

The Management Board met at the Birmingham Grand Moat House Hotel where the 4NCL weekend matches were taking place. The SCCU’s representative was late as a result of a combination of the efforts of Virgin Trains and the wholly inadequate map supplied. While readers might not feel too deprived at missing out on a report on the welcome to new members, apologies for absence and the minutes, one or two directors might have been relieved at being spared matters arising that would otherwise have been raised. On arrival, the Board appeared to be in the course of resolving that 50% of future meetings other than those preceding Council meetings will be held in Birmingham.

The meeting was generally good humoured until mid-afternoon when junior issues were discussed, and there was one unnecessarily unpleasant exchange towards the end of the meeting when the Hastings International Chess Centre was discussed. Some matters of interest.

Nigel Johnson has ceased to provide the Ceefax pages (578/9 on BBC 1 and 2) and nobody else has volunteered. The Board regarded favourably the idea of the BCF seeking to take this on itself and spending some money to achieve this. The Federation’s own website, meanwhile, is not as comprehensive and up to date as it might be as a result of a combination of time constraints and material being supplied in the wrong format.

An early day motion has been put down in Parliament on the reclassification of chess as a sport. Currently there are more than 90 signatures, but this needs to be increased to something in the region of 100 to 150 if the Government is to take notice. Board members were asked to lobby their local MPs to sign; it was noted that only two of the present signatories were from the Conservative party.

Chris Howell confirmed that the Game Fee payment arrangements for winter leagues would be unchanged for 1998/99. For the mid-season list all games played by 25 December would need to be submitted to the BCF Office by 15 January.

Neil Graham presented a written policy paper on Congress Chess. This proposed some further modification and tightening of qualification rules for the British Championships. Much of the debate centred upon the availability of free places at the Congress for Management Board members and their families. It was eventually agreed that the Director’s proposal to replace this for the 1999 Congress with a 50% discount would be accepted, and that the issue would be raised at the September 1999 Council meeting.

The County Championship finals on 26/27 June will be held at Uppingham School, with no charge to the BCF for hire of the venue, but a £2.20 per capita charge to teams for refreshments. The SCCU will get a third place in the Minor Counties (so there will be a total of six nominations from our Open Division). The 1999 Counties Rapidplay will be held in Sheffield.

There was an extended discussion on junior issues, which have given rise to much external comment, with further letters from Messrs Basman and Barden awaiting members of the Board on arrival. The Junior selection committee was eventually re-elected, and it was agreed that minutes of selection meetings indicating who was present and the decisions reached would be maintained. A paper on the Junior Squad would be presented to the February Board meeting, when the relationship between the BCF and an autonomous body allowed to use "BCF" as part of its name could be fully debated. Peter Turner was elected as an additional trustee of the British Youth Trust. In answer to comments about the difficulty in obtaining responses from the Junior Director to communications, it was pointed out that other directors could also be slow in responding. So that is clearly all right then!

David Anderton and Arthur Kent were appointed as the team to carry out the evaluation of the impact on the BCF of the Hastings International Chess Centre. A project brief was approved. However, the meeting was advised that as a result of the revisions to the Heritage Lottery Fund criteria, the Centre no longer fell within its remit. It did, however, appear to fit the criteria of the New Opportunities Fund, and a revised version of the application for lottery funding would need to be submitted, probably in January 1999.

Despite a lack of input from most Directors, the Finance Director had managed to compile a financial summary with initial estimates for the next three years. Although the estimated impact of the Marketing Director’s efforts inevitably has little objective basis at this stage, the summary should provide a useful framework that has previously been absent from the budgetary process. A first draft of the 1999/2002 corporate plan settings out the assumptions and initiatives underpinning the figures would have been even more helpful, but the summary certainly represents a step in the right direction.

The Board agreed to fund the purchase of two trophies for the winners of the 4NCL, Divisions 1 and 2 to be named after Fred Appleton and Ron Banwell.

The meeting closed at 6.00, with the motion to waive the guillotine only being narrowly lost. Most of the agenda was covered, although the Policy Unit did not get discussed, and we therefore still do not have one.

John Philpott 23 November 1998




NATIONAL CLUB

The BCF Home Director has sought views, not sure how formally, on the desirability of continuing with Finals Day. Would clubs prefer to make their own arrangements? And if they want a Finals Day, do they mind whether or not it shares a venue and a weekend with the Counties Championships? Don't think there's any suggestion of abandoning Finals Day for the Counties Championships. (Now if you proposed that, there's the odd county would take you up on it.)

What do clubs think? Or players, for that matter. Let us know. An awful lot of SCCU teams play in the National Club.

(The Director, perhaps with a different hat on, has also remarked on the large number of defaulted games in SCCU county matches. It's our problem.)

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