Meeting held in Burnie, 13th of June 2016 after the Tasmanian Championships
Opened
1249h
Present:
- Denis McMahon (President)
- Ian Little (Vice-president, Secretary, Webmaster)
- David Hughes (Treasurer)
- Kevin Bonham (Ratings officer)
- Dylan Kuzmic (BCC Delegate)
- Aidan Cox (Newsletter Editor)
- Carey Kuzmic (BCC observer)
Apologies:
Nil
Minutes:
The minutes of the previous TCA executive meeting (26th of July 2015) and the annual general meeting (13th of March 2016) were circulated via e-mail prior to the meeting. It was noted that the previous executive meeting minutes were accepted at the AGM, and as a matter of procedure the AGM minutes will be accepted at the 2017 AGM. Despite these procedural notes, no amendments were notified and the minutes were accepted as read and correct.
Matters arising:
A review of matters arising from the AGM included:
- TCA Webmaster to fix broken profile links on TCA web page.
- Ongoing – Webmaster to fix as soon as practicable.
- All club and TCA executive profiles to be updated and completed – club representatives to liaise with TCA Webmaster on this.
- Ongoing – David Hughes from DCC and Dylan Kuzmic from BCC to liaise with Ian Little re profiles from respective clubs.
- TCA Webmaster to create an appropriate link from the DCC home page to the DCC thread on Chess Chat.
- Ongoing – Webmaster to fix as soon as practicable, and to create links for BCC, HCC, and TCA in general.
- TCA Webmaster to contact the Burnie Chess Club, specifically Ian Rout and Dylan Kuzmic, regarding this issue.
- Ongoing – Webmaster to continue to liaise with BCC, BCC to consider giving Admin rights to Webmaster to allow him to post and share items to the appropriate BCC page.
- TCA Webmaster to contact the BCC regarding a webmaster contact.
- Ongoing – see above.
- Ian Little to approach Melissa Harvey to obtain consent, and follow up as appropriate.
- Closed.
Point of Order:
With the consent of the meeting the chair moved to defer discussion of point 5 until a later point in the meeting.
Invoicing TCA Affiliated Clubs:
TCA treasurer to invoice individual clubs on, or as soon as possible, after July 1 each year. Club treasurers to provide the TCA with a list (preferably a spreadsheet) of names, e-mails, and other relevant contact information when payments are made.
Any Other Business:
State Title Eligibility
Discussion on the current rules for state title eligibility led to the decision that they need to be reviewed. It was argued that the current rule requiring entrants to have been living in Tasmania for a period of 12 months before being considered eligible for state titles caused some problems which should be addressed. The chair expressed his unhappiness with the current rule and sighted its disincentive to tell the truth as a reason for review.
Clarification on the current ruling was given:
To be eligible for a Tasmanian state title you must have lived in Tasmania for one year during your life but it need not be consecutively, and it need not be the year in the lead up to the tournament.
In this way competitors may have lived in Tasmania for some time, moved away, and then moved back before competing. As long competitors are a Tasmanian resident at the time of winning the state title tournament, they need not have been living in the state for the preceding 12 months.
It was noted that the current TCA rule was designed to prevent non-Tasmanian residents from claiming titles when there was a clear intention to not stay in the state of Tasmania for a reasonable period of time. It was also noted that a clear point of contention that has arisen in the past is the case of overseas students whose clear intention is not to stay in Tasmania, who are not Australian citizens or permanent residents, but who will be living in Tasmania for several years.
Consideration of the Australian Chess Federation rules for the eligibility of ACF awarded titles directed discussion. ACF eligibility requires competitors to be either an Australian citizen or a permanent resident; there is no duration or timeframe attached to ACF eligibility.
Discussions led to the general consensus that the rule for state title eligibility should be broadened with qualifying criteria to somehow encompass: electoral roll status, residency status, employment status, and study status, with caveats put on contractual working and study arrangements to include a stay of not less than 12 months.
ACTION ITEM: Denis McMahon and Ian Little to consult on new state title eligibility rules, taking into consideration the thoughts and opinions of the executive. Ian Little to circulate such rule(s) to the executive. Discussion, and a motion to accept such rule(s), will be conducted via e-mail at that time.
Online Tournament Payments – Clarification
TCA Webmaster advised the executive that after online payments are made to the 3rd party company called STRIPE, these payments are deposited into the TCA bank account minus a small transaction fee. The individual clubs then need to seek reimbursement from the TCA for the full entry fees of all competitors who pay this way. In this way the TCA incurs a small cost for providing online payments, but at this stage the cost is small enough for the TCA to absorb. Individual clubs have access to Google sheets containing data on who selects the “pre-pay by credit card” option, and the TCA is provided with e-mail records whenever a transaction is made through the website.
Tasmanian Transfer-Chess Championship
The Tasmanian Transfer-Chess Championship tournament as a whole was given broad support as a fundraising event. However, the question of the Tasmanian Transfer-Chess Championship’s status as a Tasmanian titled event was discussed. Concerns were raised about the general misconception regarding Chess and Transfer-Chess.
Discussion led to the general consensus this is not a chess title, and that announcements are made during each event to ensure competitors, spectators, and members of the media, understand this is a transfer-chess title, not a standard chess title.
ACTION ITEM: TCA Webmaster to remove all instances of Chess from the Tasmanian Transfer-Chess Championship and henceforth refer to it as the Tasmanian Transfer Championship only.
Point of Order:
With the consent of the meeting the chair closed Any Other Business and returned to point 5.
FIDE Rating Tasmanian Tournaments
Discussion on the efficacy, desire, and requirements for FIDE rating Tasmanian tournaments was had. The discussion was guided by previous online comments hosted on the Chess Chat forum – link is:
From these online discussions the chair opened with the comment that the general consensus pointed to running a round robin event. However, he went on to note that the multiple positions discussed online included:
- is FIDE rating Tasmanian tournaments more trouble than it’s worth;
- if FIDE ratings are desired, should the initial round robin be a once off seeding tournament; or
- should the initial round robin be structured as either an annual or biannual Tasmanian Masters tournament.
Discussion clarified that FIDE ratings are the international system, recognised anywhere in the world.
Discussion clarified that extra costs for FIDE rating tournaments ≈ $50 would be covered by the TCA as per its previous pledge to cover all costs of rating all Tasmanian games.
Discussions considered the major differences between the idea of a seeding tournament, and the idea of a Tasmanian Masters event, those being that in the former instance the selection of players is based on activity, and in the latter it is based on playing strength. It was argued that depending on the desired outcome of the initial round robin, one model would be preferable over the other.
Discussion considered requests from mainland competitors asking if certain Tasmanian events, particularly the 2016 Tasmanian Open, were FIDE rated.
It was argued that there is no point to running any sort of FIDE rated seeding tournament, even if it is in the form of a Tasmanian Masters, if the TCA is not prepared or able to commit to FIDE rating subsequent eligible tournaments on a regular basis. It was then argued that any round robin event would require status for many of the current Tasmanian players with FIDE ratings to play, and that the Tasmanian Masters model would supply this.
Discussion led to the chair asking if the executive supported the idea of running a Tasmanian Masters tournament. The idea of such a tournament was accepted in principle, but untenable in the next 12 months. Ian Little advised his belief that a seeding tournament could be arranged before the next scheduled Tasmanian Championships. After this the chair asked if the executive were excited by the idea of running a north-south seeding tournament before March 2017. Further discussion revealed a lack of willingness to commit the TCA to FIDE rating future tournaments such as the Tasmanian Open and Tasmanian Championships on a regular basis. On this basis of a general lack of excitement, and other potential complicating factors introduced by FIDE rating rules, the decision to not pursue the FIDE rating of Tasmanian tournaments, in favour of directing energies elsewhere, was made.
Congratulations
The chair concluded the meeting by congratulating Ian Little on reviving the TCA newsletter in its current form, and welcoming Aidan Cox as the new TCA newsletter editor.
Meeting Closed
1359h