The meeting took place at WB’s venue on Monday 20 May.
There were 9 proposals; 7 passed and 2 didn’t.
Four proposals that passed were either administrative or simple clarification of the rules.
Three proposals were passed (by comfortable margins) with practical implications.
All matches have to be played with increments. This passed without any votes against, possibly because 3 of the 4 clubs who did not use increments this season had no representative at the meeting.
Only boards 1 & 2 will count as ‘high up’ for player eligibility purposes, rather than the bottom two boards played or won by default. It simplifies the check for tied players but does have a subtle implication. Previously, in a 4 board team, if board 4 was defaulted, the bottom two boards played or won by default were 2 & 3, so only board 1 counted as ‘high up’. Now, if board 4 is defaulted, boards 1 & 2 count as ‘high up’. It also means that board 3 in division 1 (5 boards) is no longer ‘high up’.
After 31 Dec (previously eof FEB) clubs will not be able to introduce new members who live outside the county if they do not work or study in Nottinghamshire and have never played in the league.
Two proposals were not passed.
Increase the number of boards in division 2 to 5, just as before our enforced break 4 years ago.
It would have increased the opportunity for players to play more league games. The main argument against was potential problems with transport. The proposal was defeated 11 – 7.
To assign a minimum rating of 1300 in the LMS for players rated < 1300. This season two clubs had players who had to play almost every game as black due to differences in ratings being > 150 points and young juniors only able to play at home. This change would have given captains greater flexibility in terms of board order. The main argument against was that it would allow captains to manipulate board orders to gain an advantage. After a close vote the chairman asked for a re-show of hands. 11 – 11. The chairman used his 2nd and casting vote to maintain the status quo.