Blah: - the Bulletin Editors Page.
I will use this page to give
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each update.
Honours 2025-26
BDCL
League Champions South
Birmingham-1A, tenth League Champions Title
Division ❷ Champions Tamworth,
fifth time have won this
Division ❸ Champions University
of Birmingham, nineth time have won this
Division ❹ Champions Kynoch
after a Play-off, second time have won this
Division ❺ Champions Redditch-6A second time have won this
Division Minor Champions
Solihull-A, fourth time have won this
Terrill Trophy Winners Tamworth-2, first time have
won this
Townshend
Trophy Winners South
Birmingham-4A, seventh time have won this
Homer Trophy Winners Olton-2,
third time have won this
Barrington Trophy Winners Solihull-5A,
third time have won this
Individual Open Winner
John Edge, 
A Record tenth
time
Individual 1900 Winner
Individual 1750 Winner
Individual 1600 Winner
Individual 1450 Winner
Individual 1300 Winner
Summer League Open
Summer League 7400max Winners
Summer League 6600max Winners
Summer League 5800max Winners
Summer League 26
Fixtures
will start w/c 11th May and finished by the end of July (possibly
but unlikely 12 weeks depending on entries)
All entries
should be returned to me before the 4th May 26
As in previous seasons the delegated Captains should Report/ Verify Match
results on the LMS web A.S.A.P. Please.
As last year we are using May Blue Rapid grades as default throughout the
competition.
Best Regards
Alan
24th April
26
Minutes of the Meeting of the
Management Committee
The meeting was held on Wednesday 22
April 2026 at Ward End CC with the following in attendance: Dan Lambourne
(President), Tim Lane (Hon. Gen. Sec.), Richard Collett (Hon. Treasurer), Bruce
Baer, Terence Benson, Mike Biddle, Mike Cash, Gordon Christie, Stewart
Fishburne, Robert Glass, Des Green, David Howles, Phil Maddocks, John Moore,
Richard Reynolds (RCR), Dave Thomas (DRT): 16 members.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from
Matt Allen, Chris Evans, Alex Holowczak, Reg Jones, Chris Lewis, Julian
Summerfield and Alan Woollaston.
2. Minutes of the Management
Committee meeting of 26 January 2026
The minutes of this Meeting had been
circulated by email on 30 January. A motion accepting them as a true record of
the Meeting was proposed by MB and seconded by DG. A copy of the Minutes was
signed by the President.
3. Matters Arising
None.
4. Report of the Hon. Gen.
Sec.
TL reminded clubs that the closing date
for the submission of entries for the 2026-27 season was 31 May.
5. Consideration of request
from Rushall CC to rejoin the BDCL
It was proposed by TL and seconded by MC
that Rushall’s application be accepted, and the meeting approved this Nem con.
6. Report of the Hon.
Treasurer
RC reported that the financial year had
ended with the League showing a surplus of around £1000. The rapid-play events
traditionally generated large surpluses but recently these amounts had been
smaller due to a reduction in the number of entries. DRT pointed out that the
events were continuing to overdeliver against their planned breakeven outcome.
In recent events the top two sections had been undersubscribed, suggesting
there might be a requirement to adjust the rating bands to rebalance the
sections. Outstanding web site fees (covering the past two years) had been
paid.
7. Report of the Records
Secretary
Alan Woollaston had sent apologies. It
was noted that Kynoch and Solihull would play off at Ward End to decide the
Division 4 championship. 6th May and that there would be a
relegation play-off in Division 2 at South Birmingham 7th May
between Shirley, Sutton & Stourbridge.
8. Reports of sub-Committees
a) F&GP – hadn’t met
b) Match – hadn’t met
c) Rules – Proposals for rule changes would be considered under
a later item.
d) Eligibility – hadn’t met
9. Reports of Tournament
sub-Committees
a) Individual – RG reported that the semi-finals had been completed
on schedule, though there had been one default due to illness. The max-1600
final had taken place on the previous evening with Rory Lynas retaining his
title. The Open final would take place at Warley Quinborne on Thursday 30
April, the max-1900 final was being arranged by the players involved, and the
other finals would take place at Olton on Tuesday 5 May.
b) Lightning – RCR reported the team lightning event took place at
Olton on Tuesday 10 March. Five teams contested the single-round “A” section,
won by South Birmingham A with 13/16. Warley Quinborne finished second with 8½.
Two players scored 4/4, Luke Boynton (Central Birmingham Bd. 2) and Adithya
Vaidyanathan (South Birmingham A Bd. 1). The individual prize was awarded to
Adithya as he had played on board 1. Four teams from Olton and South Birmingham
contested the double-round “B” section, won by South Birmingham C with 17/24.
Olton B were second with 16. Fawad Akbar, guesting for Olton B, scored 6/6 and
was awarded the Individual prize. Thanks were due to Mike Biddle for
on-the-night support.
c) Rapidplay – Alex Holowczak had sent apologies. Discussion of a
proposed two-day rapidplay meeting the requirements for
ECF top-level events was deferred as such an event would not take place before
June 2027.
d) Online – CE had sent apologies. JM noted that a number of
matches were in progress against other online clubs with more anticipated over
the summer.
e) Morry-Wood Memorial – PM reported that he expected to be able to announce
the winners of the prizes in the first week of May. Morry-Wood award records
back to 2001 had been added to the BDCL web site. Paul Sharratt had suggested
some safeguarding-related changes to the published information on the awards
and these changes would be incorporated in the 2026-27 Handbook and updated on
the BDCL web site.
f) Summer – Alan Woollaston had sent apologies. Entry forms had
to be returned before 4 May.
10. Report of Webmaster
RCR reported that details of the team
lightning tournaments back to 2001 had been added to the BDCL web site. Also newly available on the web site were tables of Morry
and Wood winners, and best games where available, including those published in
the final ten years of paper bulletins. DRT noted that earlier bulletins were
available from the Hon. Records Secretary who had taken custodianship of them
when DRT moved. There was a brief discussion of whether there was a role for an
archivist.
11. Report of the Rating
Officer
DRT reminded the meeting that members of
the BDCL who had played four or more League games had to be members of the ECF
on 30 June 2026 to avoid game fee liability being incurred by the League (and
passed on to the clubs in question). The ECF office had some discretion in the
case of year-end non-members who had been members throughout the period in
which their games were played. The Hon. Gen. Sec. was asked to send a reminder
to all clubs about game fee and the LMS report showing potential game fee liability.
12. Reports of the various
Delegates
a) ECF – Chris Lewis had sent
apologies and a note that he had nothing to report.
b) Warwickshire CA – TL had nothing to report.
c) Worcestershire CA – DL reported that an emergency meeting had been
convened to fill the roles held by Paul Sharratt, with all roles being
successfully reassigned. In the Counties Championship, Worcs
would play Devon in the quarter-final of the Minor event and Kent in the
quarter-final of the under-1650 event.
d) Staffordshire CA – It was noted that Staffs would play Surry in the
quarter-final of the under-1650 event and Norfolk in the quarter-final of the
under-1450 event.
13. Proposals for changed to
the Competition Rules
Items (a) to (g) below were proposed by
the Rules sub-Committee.
(a) Rule 12.3 The Rules Committee had been asked to draft a proposal
to replace the existing rule with a points penalty. DRT noted that it was only
possible to enforce the existing rule in about 50% of cases, and that in some
cases a change to a team’s personnel meant that the people being penalized
weren’t the original offenders. RCR felt that it was unfair to penalize a
defaulting team that was able to notify opponents several days in advance of a
default. SF suggested that a default should also cover cases where the number
of players attending a fixture was insufficient to draw the match (e.g. where
two players attended a five-board fixture). DH felt that there were situations
where the penalty was unfair; for example, where a car broke down en route to a match. The proposal was seconded by RCR and
passed with twelve votes in favour and one against.
(b) Rule 8.1 The Rules Committee
had been asked to draft a proposal covering the number of boards for matches in
the Townshend Trophy. GC noted that the proposed new rule removed the Match
Committee's right to determine the number of teams in the lowest division. DRT
confirmed that this was intentional. The proposal was seconded by JM and passed
with eleven votes in favour and none against.
(c) Rule 6.3 This was to codify existing practice in the scheduling
of fixtures in double-round divisions. The proposal was seconded by JM and
passed with eleven votes in favour and none against.
(d) Rule 6.4(b) This was to provide
extra flexibility in the scheduling of the trophy and plate competitions. The
proposal was seconded by MC and passed with twelve votes in favour and none
against.
(e) Rule 9.6 This was an amendment to the mobile phone rule. After
a brief discussion, the proposal was seconded by BB and passed with eleven
votes in favour and none against,
(f) Rules 17.1 and 17.3 This was to remove the mention of (non-existent) “E”
and “X” ratings from the eligibility criteria for the Minor Division, to remove
some redundant verbiage and to correct a typographical error. The proposal was
seconded by DG and passed with twelve votes in favour and none against.
(g) Rule 4.3 (and
consequential changes) This was to improve the
handling of players who have never had an ECF rating and player with inactive
ratings. The proposal was seconded by MC and passed with twelve votes in favour
and none against.
(h) Rule 18.3 This item was proposed by the Individual Tournament
sub-Committee in order to codify existing practice. The proposal was seconded
by DG and passed with twelve votes in favour and none against.
14. AOB
Team Lightning event
Chris Evans had circulated an email with
options to replace and/or augment the Team Lightning event with a blitz event.
In response to a query from the floor, it was clarified that members have to be
registered in the BDCL to play in the lightning team event, but (as there are
no ratings for lightning events) don't have to be ECF members. RCR said that
there was no appetite at Olton CC for a blitz event and that he expected they
wouldn’t enter. Additionally, Olton CC would be unable to host a blitz event due
to the unavailability of sufficient clocks. However
the League has its own pool of digital clocks for blitz (etc.) events. BB felt
that the level of sharp practice (moving after the buzzer) was unacceptably
high in the lightning event, which made it an unattractive event to enter. SK
said that members of Halesowen CC would support a blitz event in addition to
the lightning event, but the Olton venue was inconvenient for them. The
President reported that there was support from Redditch CC for blitz events with
some members favouring faster time limits and others preferring slower ones.
DRT suggested that the league should seek a volunteer to organise a league
blitz tourney (team or individual) at some point in the 2026-27 season, and
that the team lightning event should continue in its regular slot, and this was
approved by general acclamation.
Captains’ contact details
DH sought views on options for contacting
team captains for forewarning about defaults of individual boards in cases
where clubs couldn’t raise a full side. There was a general feeling that
captains might be resistant to having their phone numbers published on the BDCL
web site where they could be scooped up by bots. The Hon. Gen. Sec. Reminded
the meeting that clubs were free to provide multiple sets of contact details
for inclusion in the Handbook, which would in turn be available as a PDF on the
web site. It was agreed that the entry form for 2027-28 and beyond should make
it explicit that providing information for the Handbook constituted agreement
that this information could additionally by published (via a PDF) on the web
site.
The meeting closed at 21:50.
26th January 26
Minutes of the Meeting of the
Management Committee
The meeting was held on Monday 26 January
2026 at Central Birmingham CC with the following in attendance: Dan Lambourne
(President), Tim Lane (Hon. Gen. Sec.), Richard Collett
(Hon. Treasurer), Alan Woollaston (Hon. Rec. Sec.), Terry Benson,
Mike Biddle, Mike Cash, Chris Evans, Robert
Glass, Des Green, David Howles (DHo),
David Hulme (DHu), Richard Reynolds (RCR),
Robert Reynolds (RR), Dave Thomas: 15 members.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Gordon
Christie, Stewart Fishburne, Alex Holowczak, Chris Lewis, John Moore, Phil
Maddocks, Peter Nixon and Ken Wise.
2. Minutes of the Management
Committee meeting of 18 August 2025
The minutes of this Meeting had been
circulated by email on 22 August. A
motion accepting them as a true record of the Meeting was proposed by DG and
seconded by DT. A copy of the Minutes
was signed by the President.
3. Matters Arising
None.
4. Report of the Hon.Gen.Sec.
TL reported that Storm Goretti had
prompted a number of fixture postponements, but these had been managed by the
Clubs involved and there had been no applications to him under Rule 7.2.
5. Report of the Hon.
Treasurer
RC reported that, with no more major
expenditure to come in the current year, there was presently a surplus of
around £640. The first two rapidplay events of the
season (not including the 25 January event) had raised about £1000. The League had received £428 following the
closure of the BDJCL’s bank account.
This was covered in more detail in the rapidplay
report.
6. Report of the Records
Secretary
AW reported that there had been no
breaches of the “100-point rule” in the season to date. The Barrington and Homer finalists were
already known and the finals would be held at Ward End CC on Wednesday 25
February. The draws were made for the
semi-finals of the Terrill Trophy (Tamworth 2 vs Shirley & Wythall 2;
Walsall Kipping 2 vs Mercia 3) and the Townshend Trophy (South Birmingham 4A vs
Coleshill 4; Central Birmingham 4 vs Shirley & Wythall 5).
7. Reports of sub-Committees
a) F&GP – hadn’t met
b) Match – hadn’t met
c) Rules – MB mentioned an incident at St. George’s CC where an
illegal move had been made but nobody from the home club knew how to add two
minutes to the clock. This incident was eventually resolved by the intervention
of a third party. The meeting determined
that the Hon. Gen. Sec. should write to all Clubs requesting them to produce a
crib sheet explaining, for each type of clock in use at the club, how to set up
the clock for BDCL time controls and how to add two minutes to a player’s time
in the event of an opponent making an illegal move.
d) Eligibility – hadn’t met
8. Reports of Tournament
sub-Committees
a) Individual – RG reported that 58 members, representing 16 of the
League’s 22 clubs, had entered the individual events. Four players had
subsequently withdrawn. All first round ties (and some
second round ties) had been completed, and five of the
six sections were at the semi-final stage.
The first round of the max-1600 event had overrun but one semi-finalist
was now known, with three quarter-finals remaining to be played. The finals of all events would be held in
April or early May.
b) Lightning – RCR noted that the lightning event was scheduled for
10 March. The sub-Committee currently
had no chairman and it was likely that some additional support would be needed
at the event. The Hon. Gen. Sec. was
asked to send out a reminder about the event.
c) Rapid-play – The report had been sent out prior to the meeting
and is re-attached to these Minutes. The
Hon. Gen. Sec. was asked to encourage Clubs to bring to the April meeting of
the Management Committee opinions on the matters raised in the final paragraph.
d) Online – CE reported that the club was
continuing to play matches against other online clubs at the rate of three days
per move. A new “vote chess” event was in progress.
e) Morry-Wood Memorial – Phil Maddocks had sent apologies and a note that he
had nothing to report.
f) Summer – AW had nothing to report.
9. Report of Webmaster
RCR reported that there had been no
recent updates and that the flow of incoming material was very low.
10. Report of the Rating Officer
DT had nothing to report.
11. Report of the Safeguarding Officer
No report.
12. Arrangement of fixtures
TL and DT had circulated a discussion
document covering arrangement of fixtures.
The meeting considered the pros and cons of (a) continuing to
concentrate fixture arrangement into a single evening; or (b) arranging them
over an extended (but short) period.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that fixtures arranged prior to the evening
of the fixtures meeting were no more likely to be rearranged than those
arranged at the meeting itself. A number
of speakers felt that the fixtures meeting was the preferred method for Clubs
with multiple teams, Clubs competing in multiple Leagues, and members who
enjoyed the old-fashioned business of meeting friends and opponents
face-to-face. It was concluded that the
League would continue with the fixtures meeting but that, in order to simplify
the processing of dates returned by Clubs who preferred to avoid the
face-to-face meeting, DT would in future circulate the fixtures grids as Excel
spreadsheets rather that PDFs.
13. Reports of the various Delegates
a) ECF – Chris Lewis had sent
apologies. A report on the AGM of the
ECF was already available on the BDCL website.
b) Warwickshire CA – TL reported that the AGM of the Warwickshire CA had
taken place on 15 December but that he had been unable to attend having been
incapacitated with ‘flu. DT had attended
the meeting and said that no matters arose that were relevant to the BDCL.
c) Worcestershire CA
– DL reported as follows:
Katarzyna Toma (previously South Birmingham) won the
Worcestershire Closed Championship back in August. Other BDCL winners include
women’s champion Julie Wilson (Stourbridge) as each player can only win one
trophy, so Katarzyna couldn’t claim both. Matt Gillings (Redditch) won Senior
Champion and Most Enterprising Game, Jon Wrench (Stourbridge) won Veteran
Champion, and Muhammed Mehmood (Solihull) won Best New Player.
Also back in August, Redditch won both the U1650 and
Open Worcestershire Summer Cups over Longbridge, although the Open was a close
affair with Redditch only winning on tiebreak over Longbridge A, partially
thanks to Longbridge B knocking half a point off Longbridge A.
In County matches, Worcestershire U1650 lost to
Warwickshire but beat Derbyshire, and still have Staffordshire and Lincolnshire
to play. In the Minor Counties, Worcestershire lost to Lincolnshire and play
Derbyshire at the end of February.
Worcestershire have entered a team in Division 4 of the
4NCL this year, and have started off well, but are still looking for more
players to fill their squad for the rest of the season. They have also entered
four teams in the current rounds of the 4NCL online.
d) Staffordshire CA
– no report.
14. AOB
DHo, the newly-elected chair of Sutton Coldfield CC,
sought views on how other Clubs dealt with safeguarding requirements, public
liability insurance, and the costs of travel to away fixtures.
There was a further brief discussion
about players bringing their own refreshments to venues. The previous meeting had decided to close
this matter on the basis that it’s sufficiently covered by the Guidelines for Captains
and Players document (“Where there is a bar players should be asked not to
bring in their own refreshments. If a player is asked to leave the premises for
doing so, the rules committee would be inclined to support a default of the
offending player on the grounds they were unable to continue.”).
The meeting closed at 20:45.
18th August 25
Minutes of the Meeting of the
Management Committee
The meeting was held on Monday 18 August
2025 at Shirley & Wythall CC with the following in attendance: Dan Lambourne
(President & Red), Tim Lane (Hon. Gen. Sec. & SB), Richard
Collett (Hon Treasurer), Alan Woollaston (Hon. Records
Secretary), Matt Allen (Sol), Bruce Baer (CB), Terence
Benson (WEs), Mike Biddle, (Rules & Osc), Gordon
Christie (SW), Stewart Fishburne (Hal), Des Green
(Eligibility & Col), Reg Jones (Ky), Christopher Lewis
(ECF), Phil Maddocks (MW), John Moore (WEs), Peter
Nixon (Wsk), Barry Smith (Mer), Julian
Summerfield (Sol), Dave R Thomas, (Fixtures &
Grades), Terry Walker (Match Committee) – 20 members.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Golam Ali,
Daniel Billington, Chris Evans, Robert Glass, Peter Oliver, Richard Reynolds
and Paul Sharratt.
2. Minutes of Previous
Meetings
The minutes of the Meetings of 7 April 2025
and 9 June 2025 had previously been circulated.
A motion accepting them as a true record of those Meetings was proposed
by TB and seconded by DG. Copies were
signed by the President.
3. Matters Arising
As requested, the Hon. Gen. Sec. had sent
a reminder to clubs about the facility
in LMS for listing players who could attract game fee payments on 30 June by
not having a current ECF membership.
4. Report of the Hon. Gen.
Sec.
TL reported that production of Handbooks
for the 2025-26 season had been completed in a timely fashion. He had implemented his previously-notified
intention to remove travel directions and club secretaries’ home addresses from
the club directory published in the Handbook.
The entry form had been updated to allow clubs to provide detailed
information on the availability of refreshments and on venue-specific
restrictions, and all such information had been published in the Handbook. Sutton Coldfield had requested a late entry
of a team into the Minor Division, and Solihull had requested to withdraw their
division 1B team. Discussion of both
these requests was deferred.
5. Report of the Hon.
Treasurer
RC reported that the June rapidplay had generated a profit in the region of
£800. The main expenses for the year –
insurance, engraving and handbooks – had all been paid. League fees were due at the end of October.
6. Report of the Records
Secretary
AW had nothing to report.
7. Distribution of Handbooks
Handbooks were distributed to Clubs in
attendance.
8. Discussion on match defaults
The chair of the Rules sub-Committee had
asked for this matter to be placed on the agenda. He enumerated the number of matches that had
been defaulted in the 2024-25 season and drew attention, in particular, to a case
where a club had defaulted a match in a higher division to avoid lower-division
players (who could have played as reserves) being reregistered into the higher
team and therefore becoming unavailable for an expected play-off in the lower
division. This had gifted two match
points to another club in the higher division which had, in turn, brought about
another play-off that otherwise might not have happened.
He had additionally reviewed the possible
effect of a two-point penalty for match defaults. The only team who would have been affected in
the 2024-25 season was Kynoch’s Division 4 side, who would have been relegated.
DRT said that the existing rule 12.3 was
an inefficient deterrent – in the previous season it had been possible to apply
it to fewer than 50% of away-team defaults.
BB suggested that the rules could be modified to allow teams contesting
play-offs to use their start-of-season registrations (i.e. Rule 5.12 wouldn’t
apply to play-offs). There was a brief
discussion about levying a monetary fine on defaulting teams, but this attracted
no support.
The Rules sub-Committee was asked to draft
an amendment to replace the current Rule 12.3 with a points penalty.
The meeting agreed that the matter of
refreshments in bars was closed.
9. Reports of sub-Committees
a) F&GP – hadn’t met
b) Match – TW reported that Solihull had asked to withdraw
their 1B side. The only precedent for a
withdrawal from Division 1 was a case in which a club had suffered from an
entire team leaving the area between seasons.
JS summarised the reasons for the request, noting that Solihull felt
they had insufficient regular core players of Division 1 standard (as opposed
to people who play only one or two games).
SF reminded the meeting that custom and practice was for clubs to
withdraw their lowest teams. DRT noted that the Solihull 1B side that
comfortably avoided relegation was made up primarily of people registered in
D2. After a lengthy debate, it was proposed by DRT and seconded by GC that “The
Management Committee does not accept Solihull’s request to drop their 1B team
and mandates that, if they are going to drop a team, it should be the lowest
team in the promotion-and-relegation divisions.
This was passed with fourteen in favour, one against and a number of abstentions.
Sutton Coldfield had requested a late
entry of a team into the Minor Division.
This was approved by general acclamation. It was additionally agreed that Solihull
should have some latitude with the arrangement of the additional fixtures due
to the complexity of their existing fixture list.
c) Rules
– MB had nothing to report.
d) Eligibility – DG had nothing to report.
10. Reports of Tournament
sub-Committees
a) Individual – RG had sent apologies and
noted that the event would consist, as usual, of six rating-limited
sections. Entries should be sent to him,
individually by members or in bulk by clubs, by 1 October. Members were permitted to enter only a single
section of the event.
b) Lightning – No report. The sub-Committee currently has no chairman.
c) Rapid-play – No report.
d) Online – CE had sent apologies and a report that three
online “daily” matches were in progress on chess.com involving about fourteen
BDCL members.
e) Morry-Wood Memorial – PM had nothing to report.
f) Summer – AW reported that the 2025 Summer League had been
completed.
11. Report of Webmaster
The webmaster
had sent apologies and a note that he had nothing to report.
12. Report of the Rating Officer
DRT had nothing
to report.
13. Report of the Safeguarding Officer
The Safeguarding
Officer had sent apologies and a note that he had nothing to report.
14. Reports of the various Delegates
a) ECF – CL reported that the ECF’s
AGM would be held on 25 October. Alex
Holowczak had been awarded the ECF’s Certificate of Appreciation.
b) Warwickshire CA – TL had nothing to report.
c) Worcestershire CA
– DL reported as follows:
Worcestershire Closed Congress is [23 & 24 August].
Worcestershire Summer Cups are ongoing. Longbridge face
Redditch in the final of the U1650, whilst Longbridge A and B and Redditch also
share the lead in the six-team Open Jamboree at the half way stage.
Five clubs have entered 23 teams across five divisions
[...] in the Worcestershire Leagues.
Eight clubs have entered 11 teams across two divisions
[...] in the Dudley Leagues.
Worcestershire have entered an U1650 and a Minor
Counties team in the MCCU Counties Championship.
Worcestershire have entered a team in Division 4 of the
4NCL OTB.
There were updates on the MCCU website covering County team entries for 2025-6 season and
Midlands players at British championships.
d) Staffordshire CA
– PN reported that the Staffordshire
congress had taken place on 16 & 17 August in Stoke. A longstanding issue caused by the death of
the sole signatory of the CA’s bank accounts had been resolved.
15. Date of Next Meeting
Hon. Gen Sec. to arrange.
16. AOB
A query about eligibility of
Minor Division teams to compete in the knock-out trophies led to the Rules
sub-Committee being asked to investigate what would need changing to permit
this. It was also pointed out that the
Townshend Trophy was failing to comply with Rule 8.1.
The Shropshire congress would
be held on 9, 10 & 11 January.
Summer League
A total of 22 Teams took
part, playing 70 Matches across three divisions in this year’s summer league,
Thanks to all who took part,
Unfortunately, there appears a
lack of appetite at the top end with not enough entries to run an Open section.
Honours 2024-25
BDCL
League Champions Central
Birmingham
Division ❷ Champions Central
Birmingham
Division ❸ Champions Stourbridge
Division ❹ Champions University of Birmingham
Division ❺ Champions Sutton
Coldfield-5A
Division Minor Champions
Lichfield
Terrill Trophy Winners Central Birmingham 2
Townshend
Trophy Winners Birmingham St George’s-4
Homer Trophy Winners South Birmingham-1A
Barrington Trophy Winners Mercia 4
Individual Open Winner
Cory Hazlehurst (SB)
Individual 1900 Winner
David Smith (Red)
Individual 1750 Winner
Shared (Olt/SB)
Individual 1600 Winner
Rory Lynas (Olt)
Individual 1450 Winner
Louis Maciel (SB)
Individual 1300 Winner
William Durrant Jones (Ky)
Summer League Open Not enough entries
Summer League 7400max Winners Warley Quinborne
Summer League 6600max Winners South Birmingham
Summer League 5800max Winners South Birmingham
Team Withdrawals and
Relegation
Due to player circumstance a
team was withdrawn from Division 4, The rule governing this says If less than
half of the fixtures have been played all results are void,
therefore it’s as if the team did not enter and the normal of two remaining
teams will be relegated at the end of the Season…….
However if a team have played over half of the fixtures, results stand and the
withdrawn team will count as one of the relegated teams.
For clarification It’s also been
said its common practice for a club to drop the bottom team and move any
players in lower teams up.
This is the case when clubs
want to drop a team at the start of a season, and not part way through.
One argument is, players due
to no fault of their own, should not be forced to play at a higher level than
they were originally registered,
LMS Verification
Can teams Please make sure all matches
have been verified on the LMS site within 5 days of playing,
11. Notification of Results
11.1 A Result Card shall be sent to the Honorary Records Secretary
by an official of the home club and also of the visiting club within five days
of the date of the match. For the purpose of this rule a result card
shall include an electronic result card approved by the League. When during
a season a team fails four times to send in a card within five days, then that
team shall have one match point deducted and subsequently one match point
deducted for every failure thereafter. When the results are submitted to the
Records Secretary on an electronic Result Card, then the original Result
Card shall be retained by a club official until the date of the AGM.
The LMS from the Start of the Season
will Display August Std Grades, not in Brackets, these should be used for board
order purpose and will be refreshed in January.
Ungraded players with a FIDE, Rapid
or Estimated grade (xxxF/xxxR/xxxE), who acquires an official ECF over-the-board Standard
Play (Original Blue) grade,
shall
thereafter be regarded as being of that rating.
24th August 24
Minutes of the Meeting of the
Management Committee
4. Report of the Hon. Gen.
Sec.
TL reported that production
of Handbooks for the 2024-25 season had been completed in a timely
fashion. Editorial incompetence was
responsible for the failure to incorporate a recent change to the Hon.
Treasure’s email address. Other changes
that had occurred since the Handbook was sent to the printer (new secretary at
Sutton Coldfield; new venue for Mercia; change of rooms at Birmingham St.
George’s) would be circulated by email.
5. Report of the Hon.
Treasurer
RC reported that the June
rapid-play had yielded a surplus. The
League’s major expenses had either occurred recently (trophy costs and
handbooks) or were imminent (insurance – which would be higher than previously
due to the increased amount of equipment now owned by the League).
6. Report of the Records
Secretary
AW reported that player
registrations had started to arrive. He
reminded the meeting that unrated players had to be given an estimated rating
and that P ratings weren’t recognised.
Clubs providing estimated ratings should provide as much information as
possible to justify the figures.
7. Distribution of Handbooks
Handbooks were distributed to
Clubs in attendance.
8. Reports of sub-Committees
a) F&GP – hadn’t met
b) Match – Terry Walker
reported via email that, with divisions 4 and 5 at capacity (28 teams), it was
likely that three teams instead of two would need to be promoted from these two
divisions. In the event of five further teams competing in 2025-26 the League
would be able to restart Division 6.
c) Rules – MB had nothing to
report
d) Eligibility – activities
had been covered in the report of the Hon. Records Secretary
9. Reports of Tournament
sub-Committees
a) Individual – RG reported
that this would consist, as usual, of six rating-limited sections. Entries should be sent to him, individually
by members or in bulk by clubs, by 1 October.
b) Lightning – JM had nothing
to report
c) Rapid-play – no report
d) Online – CE reported that
matches were in progress between the BDCL and other online clubs, generally at
one move per three days. He was
considering running an internal event at the same speed. He was still seeking a more enthusiastic
candidate to take over the role of chair.
e) Morry-Wood Memorial – PM
reported that he had not instigated the election process for Morry-Wood
officers so the status quo was unchanged with PM as Controller and Acting
Chairman. The formalities should proceed before the next meeting. The changes
to the Morry-Wood rules that were agreed at the BDCL AGM would be applied to
the 2024-25 competitions, and any further changes would be discussed in time
for the 2025-26 competitions. There was
a reduction in the number of judges (to six) due to the resignation of Terry
Walker at the AGM. He felt that the sub-committee should consist of about eight
members but was working quite well with six experienced members. He intended to propose a limit to the number
of games each player can enter each year for the Best Game prize, but this had
to be discussed with the judge’s.
f) Summer – AW reported that
the 2024 Summer League had been completed without any disputes.
10. Report of Webmaster
RR reported that a “BDCL
online” button had been added to the web site, using material provided by
CE. The Competition Rules and the
Constitution pages had been updated to incorporate recent changes. The pages for individual clubs had also been
updated.
There was a brief discussion
about the need to collect the date of birth of juniors – TL to talk to Dave
Thomas about circumstances in which this information was required.
11. Report of the Rating
Officer
12. Report of the
Safeguarding Officer
PS had nothing to report.
13. Reports of the various
Delegates
a) ECF – CL reported that the
ECF would publish a “safeguarding FAQ” in due course (date TBC).
b) Warwickshire CA – TL had
nothing to report
c) Worcestershire CA –
Worcestershire had entered two teams in the Minor championship, but both had
lost at the quarter-final stage. The
summer cups were in progress. Joe Friar had won the county championship.
d) Staffordshire CA – Stephen
Smithson noted that he had taken on the role of MCCU Director of Rating and
Counties Championship Controller. Clubs
would (mostly) be interested to know that each of Warwickshire, Worcestershire
and Staffordshire would have a team in the under-1650 section in the coming
season. Worcestershire, Staffordshire
and Lincolnshire would also have teams in the Minor section (and it was not too
late if Warwickshire wanted to enter too).
Some counties would additionally have further teams in other
section. All those interested should
follow the MCCU website updates. All
Clubs would have members eligible for at least one team.
15. AOB
TL briefly described the ECF
grassroots funding initiative – see https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-grassroots-support/.
JM announced that a
three-section tournament in memory of Keith Escott would be held at Plantsbrook School on 14 & 15 December.
Division Make up for 2024-25
The Match committee met 3 June to finalise the League Make up for Season
2024-25, there were 2 requests, 4 Withdrawals, and 6 new entries, some up
drafting was needed to fit all the teams in and satisfy the rule of 14 max per
division
West Bromwich the longest
running team without a break have withdrawn from the league (Div 2), However
Tamworth and District are re-entering the League and will be in Div 2
Shirley and Wythall and Longbridge have entered new teams into Div 5, Warley
Quinborne have withdrawn their Div 5 team, Mercia have entered a new team which
has been placed in Div 4, Coleshill 5A have been up drafted to Div 4
Rushall 4 were drafted to Div
3 however this was not to the clubs liking and have withdrawn. Lichfield B and
Solihull D have been withdrawn from the Minor League, Longbridge and Coleshill
have entered the Minor League.
Division Make ups and first
round trophy ties can be found here BDCL-2024-25
(birminghamchess.org.uk)
Honours 2023-24
BDCL
League Champions Sutton
Coldfield win their tenth League Champions Title
Division ❷ Champions South
Birmingham-2A
Division ❸ Champions Solihull
Division ❹ Champions Redditch
Division ❺ Champions Longbridge
Division Minor Champions
Solihull-B
Terrill Trophy Winners Stourbridge-3
Townshend
Trophy Winners Redditch-4
Homer Trophy Winners Warley Quinborne-2A
Barrington Trophy Winners Solihull-5
Individual Open Winner
Cory Hazlehurst (SB)
Individual 1900 Winner
Philip C Maybury (WQ)
Individual 1750 Winner
Mark Drugan (SB)
Individual 1600 Winner
Aaron Norton (Ky)
Individual 1450 Winner
Muhammed Mehmood (Sol)
Individual 1300 Winner
Donald Billows (Ky)
Summer League Open Winners Central
Birmingham
Summer League 7400max Winners South Birmingham
Summer League 6600max Winners South Birmingham
Summer League 5800max Winners South Birmingham
April
13th 2024
Birmingham
& District Summer League BDSL
Rapid
Play
Hello
everyone, it's that time again,
Tournament and Rules are mainly the same as previous, (A limit of 11 team per
section has been Introduced)
Four Divisions, 4 players per Team, 20 minutes + 10 sec per move 2 Matches per
round Alternate Colours
Starting
7th May to Aug 1st IF need be (13
weeks max of 11 teams per section, (Max ten Fixtures) B teams will be dropped if they prevent a
different club joining,
May Rapid Grades. The reason for this is the current May grade will
be shown on LMS and I will not have to manually enter every April one.
Send
team entries to me (Summer League Chairman) AFTER 13th April
24 and before Mid-night 2nd May 24 a
first come, first served basis
(This
will allow clubs to see the player's May grade), which you will mainly
know if you look at the player's ECF OTB rapid history beforehand
Entry fee £5 per team Paid to BDCL Treasurer (Richard) by 31st May Please
Division
One Open
Division
Two 7400 max, average 1850 (minimum 1550)
Division
Three 6600 max, average 1650 (minimum 1350)
Division
Four 5800 max, average 1450 (minimum 1150)
Board
order 100Pts max
You
can play lower graded players but they will count as the minimum for the
Division
Check
Rules Doc for more details
Let
me know Details of Ungraded or P graded Players so we can estimate them.....
I know this may go on too long for some, but the Majority seem okay with it,
and the grade tolerance in each section allows teams scope for change, so we
will see how it pans out again this year.
I will populate the button below for details as I get them
Thank
You in advance for your support
Alan,
BDCLRecords
Jan 1st 2024
Today sees the release of the ECF January grades, which
we will be using for Board order in the second half of the season.
Can all club secretaries / captains of teams, Please re-estimate any Non ECF K graded players, whose grade
may have changed more than 50Pts since first being estimated.
This will also be used for the Second half of the
season or until a ECF grade is acquired
Honours 2022-23
BDCL League Champions Solihull
Division
❷ Champions Redditch
Division
❸ Champions Rushall
Division
❹ Champions Kynoch
Division ❺
Champions South Birmingham
Division Minor
Champions Coleshill
Terrill Trophy Winners Sutton
Coldfield-1
Townshend
Trophy Winners South Birmingham-5
Homer Trophy Winners Sutton
Coldfield-2
Barrington
Trophy Winners South Birmingham-4
Individual Open
Winner Shared
Individual 1900
Winner Rob
Glass South
Birmingham
Individual 1750
Winner Bruno
Silva South
Birmingham
Individual 1600
Winner Thomas
Vanes Coleshill
Individual 1450
Winner Sam
Fowlkes
Individual 1300
Winner Chaniru
Ranasinghe
Summer League Open Winners Sutton
Coldfield
Summer League 7400max Winners South
Birmingham
Summer League 6600max Winners South
Birmingham
Summer League 5800max Winners Solihull