BCF President's Report

To our members and all who support the Boylston Chess Foundation

On October 4, 2011 the BCF held its annual membership meeting to elect a new board of directors. They are as follows:

Directors:

President Jason Rihel called the meeting to order at 7:45PM. Discussion and election of the new Board of Directors, to serve between October 2011 and approximately October 2012, took place immediately.

Jason Rihel was nominated President. Jason accepted, but informed the club that at one point in time he would in all probability be leaving for England. When that would happen was not certain, but Jason felt it would happen around the late Spring. A discussion was held of what would happen when that occured. It was brought up that our By-Laws do not support a direct move of the Vice President to President, and it was determined that when Jason had to leave the Board would then choose another President.

By the mechanics of our not-for-profit status, the old Board then approved the new Board. Jason Rihel moved to approve. Seconded. Passed. The old Board congratulated the new Board, while the new Board thanked the old Board for its service and work to the Club.

With the new Board now in power the meeting smoothly transitioned to its business phase.

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President's Message

As the new President of the Boylston Chess Foundation, I first want to thank the members for putting their faith in me to lead our chess club in the coming year. Second, to recap the past year—whew! Without help from the members, we would have survived neither the recent economic financial disaster that crippled so many other non-profits nor the spring floods that threatened our space in Somerville. Thanks to the members, we have withstood both.

I would like to outline my vision for the club. I have three major goals. The first two goals are straightforward and I hope will be accomplished in the coming year. The last goal is more challenging, and I expect it will take a five year plan and a lot of work.

My first goal for the club is to expand the scope of the chess club beyond playing tournaments. We have already added several activities in this vein. Tuesday Night casual/beginner night, led by Sean Ingham, and hosting the US Chess League New England Nor’easters represent two of our non-tournament events. I would like to see more of this activity. Some ideas include non-standard chess events, like Chess-960 (Fischer-random), more GM/IM lectures, and Internet matches with other clubs. With just a few volunteers, we can radically expand the events, both tournaments and non-tournaments for members.

My second goal, related to the first, is to expand the scholastic chess opportunities through the Boylston Chess Foundation. In particular, I would like to emphasize young players within our regular tournaments, scholastic events, lessons, grants, scholarships, and lectures. I want more publicity and support for our young members who shine in both championships and development. I am happy to work hard with any parents, coaches, and players who want to expand our scholastic chess outreach.

Finally, my long term goal for the club is to acquire a permanent space. The flood of the past spring has highlighted how precarious our situation in Somerville, or any rental space, is. I would like to see our club have a permanent home for years and years into the future. This past year, we have examined some long term options for our club, and we believe that with a concerted fund-raising effort over the next five years, we would be in the position to acquire a permanent home. It will not be easy, but with more help from the members, I think we can achieve this. Imagine—a permanent home for the club.

Chess in the Boston area is as strong as ever. I see the Boylston Chess Foundation playing its integral part this coming year and many years into the future.

Best,
Jason Rihel
President, Boylston Chess Foundation

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BCF MEETING 10/04/11

Present:

Jason Rihel, Natasha Christiansen, Charles Riordan, Bob Oresick, Alex Cherniack, Mike Griffin, Carey Theil, Bernardo Iglesias

Treasurer's Report (Bob Oresick)

Tournament Report (Bernardo Iglesias)

Other Business

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Board will take place on Wednesday, December 7th, at 7:00 pm.

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BCF MEETING 12/07/11
Notes by Doc Kinne

Present:

Jason Rihel, Natasha Christiansen, Charles Riordan, Bernardo Iglesias, Doc Kinne, Mike Griffin, Nathan Smolensky, Ted Gorczyca

Meeting called to order by the President at 7:10PM.

Rihel moves to approve the October Minutes. Seconded. Approved by acclamation.

Tournament Committee

Iglesias reports that we now have a schedule from January to June. Moved January Quads to 14th because of a conflict with the CCA's Boston Continental Amateur. Herb Healy Tournament is on Sunday. We need to talk to the Landlord again about the doors being locked too early. The 2012 Grand Prix is now in six month lengths. The Tournament Schedule is now on the MACA site and on our site.

We need a 2.5m table for the Herb Healy. Riordan can bring a low one. Can we rent? The trouble is getting it here. Grifin thinks that Riordan's table with the addition of one of the card tables we already have should be sufficient. We also have extra tables in the TD room to use if we need. Kinne will call the FWBO down the hall about the room availability should we need it.

Iglesias will be here for Herb Healy. Oresick, Smolensky, and Kinne will be here for needed TD duties as needed. Griffin will do tournament announcements.

2011 Grand Prix notes: We did not specify a tie break method. We didn't anticipate ties. Rihel wants to give ties equal prizes this year. Possible tie breakers for next year? Most played? Strength of opposition? Riordan moves that we give out equal prizes to anyone who wins their section. Seconded. Passed unanimously.

South Station Simul Report

The October event was very successful. We still have folks coming to the South Station Kiosk on Fridays and Saturdays and then some other scattered times. We have a small but regular presence in South Station.

Next Simul: On New Year's Eve, First Night. Rihel, Larry Christiansen, & Natasha Christiansen will contact Ted Fuerst, our South Station contact, about the First Night Simul. For setup we can basically take the older bagged sets to South Station. Kinne found out that the USCF don't sell the thick “mouse pad” boards anymore. Griffin has a possible source he'll look into quickly.

Rihel moves for the Board to pre-approve $200 funds in order to get thick “mouse pad” boards. Seconded. Passed unanimously.

Scholastics Committee Report

We have some challenges to discuss. We have some Sunday tournaments already scheduled that would have to be scheduled around for scholastics. We continue to have the front doors being locked early by the Landlord, especially on Sundays. Finally the subway is not running on the weekends through winter. It is felt that our best way of getting around the locked door is by putting a sign at the front door with the club's phone number.

Smolensky discussed his outreach efforts. Its a bit quiet. Administrators and secretaries don't tend to know much, and Smolensky gets redirected to someone who may or may not know a lot with respect to the chess clubs. Smolensky is thinking of starting the tournaments and then writing the relevant chess coaches involved. In talking with parents Smolensky thinks that the tournaments need to be targeted to beginners. Rihel thinks that that would change if the prizes were good enough. Smolensky responded saying he sees an advantage of the cheaper entry fee low prizes would enable. The kids don't seem to see the value of the prizes, per se. Rihel said that the preliminary tournaments might have low prizes that would feed into large tournaments, perhaps during the summer, which would have larger (but not necessarily cash) prizes. Smolensky also thought that frequent lectures might be an advantage.

It was thought we should compile a parents and coaches email list.

Finances Committee

Riordan reported that the annual mailing is done. We need to wait until Theil gets back to get good feedback as to how successful the mailing was. The Finance Committee is thinking of a bi-annual drive, and are now discussing how that might be done in terms of themes, etc. Rihel mentioned that "thank you letters" need to be written, and Christiansen mentioned that the amount donated needs to be put into the "thank you letter" for tax purposes. Riordan will try to spearhead that.

Rihel reviewed the other "revenue streams" we have. These are going good.

Ethics Committee

The Committee produced and shared the guidelines document it produced last month. Some feedback has been received already. Riordan wanted some changes made to the last section's “C” clause regarding suspensions. This was readily agreed to because it was felt that it was originally in the draft and didn't quite get written down.

Griffin moved to combine Clause 1 and 4 of the "Guide for TDs Enforcement of the Ethical Guidelines." Seconded. Approved. Riordan will modify the document.

Griffin moves to accept the Ethics Committee's Guidelines with the changes as noted by Riordan above. Seconded. Passed unanimously.

We need to make sure that the Tournament Directing Staff - Walter Driscoll, Chris Chase, Nathan Smolensky, Bernardo Iglesias, Doc Kinne, and Jason Rihel – get copies of these guidelines. Rihel will write a blog post about the Ethical Guidelines.

Bylaws Committee Report

Christiansen reports that she found that State Law specifies that votes taken by directors of corporations outside of meetings need to be unanimous for motions to pass. Thus it is not possible to change our ByLaws for email voting to pass other than unanimously. On the other hand, unanimous voting is not required for passing motions durintg meetings held in person or by telephone conference.

New Business

Kinne moved that:

WHEREAS Bernardo Iglesias has been Club Chief Arbiter for several years, and
WHEREAS Bernardo Iglesias, after review of the appropriate documentation, has more than enough experience, and
WHEREAS Bernardo Iglesias is now heading up a small but increasing staff of new Club Tournament Directors, be it
RESOLVED that the BCC Board of Directors desires and encourages Bernardo Iglesias to take his USCF Senior Tournament Directors exam with the full confidence that he will pass it marvelously and thus gain the title he's deserved for years.

Motion seconded and unanimously approved.

Kinne moved that:

WHEREAS on Sunday, 27 November 2011 the Club Pairing Computer died, and
WHEREAS FM Chris Chase spent several hours on short notice building, tuning, and installing needed software on a replacement computer so that only a single tournament had to be paired manually, be it
RESOLVED that the BCC Board of Directors expresses its deep gratitude to FM Chris Chase for the important and fast work he did in restoring a critical piece of Club functionality.

Motion seconded and unanimously approved.

Next Meeting

Rihel is leaving in January. He wants a transitional board meeting to take place on 11 January 2012 at 7:00PM.

Meeting adjourned 8:32PM.

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BCF MEETING 01/11/12
Notes by Doc Kinne

Present: Jason Rihel, Mike Griffin, Natasha Christiansen, Bernardo Iglesias, Doc Kinne, Ted Gorczyca, Charles Riordan, Bob Oresick, Nathan Smolensky.
Missing: Carey Theil (on business).

Meeting called to order 7:06PM by Rihel.

Christiansen nominates Riordan for President. Griffin seconds. Riordan accepts. Question called. Unanimous.

Kinne (in proxy for Theil) nominates Theil as Vice President. Riordan seconds. Question called. Smolensky abstains. Motion carries 8-0.

Dan Schmidt is appointed to take Jason's place on the Board.

Rihel sent the Board an email with a packet of information that was also placed on the Club computer. This was information that Jason found necessary or useful during his time as President, things like contact information for various people, procedures he'd developed, etc. We went through the packet of information that he sent to the board so we know what he sent.

A general discussion was held on these topics just to make sure we were all in the same page.

A tiebreak procedure for the upcoming Grand Prix was discussed and decided by consensus. They are, in decending order of use:
  1. Winning percentage
  2. Head to head scores
  3. Performance rating

Bob Oresick reported that the Appeal just sent out, and donations up to this point, total about $8,000.

Meeting adjourned 8:13PM.

(Immediately upon adjournment the Board schemed for ways to force Jason to stay! The Board and the Club will miss him very much. We wish him and his family the very best in England, and look forward to hearing of his chess exploits in the country of Staunton and Short!
- Richard "Doc" Kinne)

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