Massachusetts Chess Association

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, December 1, 2021, 7:30pm

Boylston Chess Club, 40 Norris St., Cambridge, MA

ATTENDEES: Andrew Hoy (President), Robert Messenger (Treasurer, Membership Secretary), Jeff Caruso (Clerk, Bylaws Chairman), and Director Oleg Poliannikov in person, and Directors Paul Arond, Latanya Sweeney, and Yi Wang attending remotely.

CALLED TO ORDER at 7:38 p.m.

1. Minutes

MOTION (AH/RM): to approve the minutes of the November 3, 2021 Board meeting.  Passed 6-0 with one abstention.

2.  Announcements

Mr. Hoy reported that the Gus Gosselin is confirmed to take place at the Norwood Courtyard hotel. MACA has contributed $340.00 toward the summer Girls’ camp. The Scholastics committee is still finalizing details for a Girls’ Championship and one other preliminary event for girls.

3. Treasurer’s Report.

Mr. Messenger delivered financial reports from the Spiegel Cup 2nd Qualifier and the Massachusetts Senior Open. (See below)

4. Membership Report

Mr. Messenger delivered the Membership Report for the period through the end of November. (See below.)Categories are in transition and are currently being switched as memberships are renewed.

5. Senior Open and other topics

Members discussed several topics including support for the Senior Open, other possible tournaments for older (but not senior) players, a possible College league and/or a corporate league.

6. Appointment of US Chess Delegates

Mr. Hoy was recently informed by US Chess that places for three Delegates have been apportioned to Massachusetts for 2022, based on resident US Chess membership.

MOTION (AH/OP): to appoint Robert Messenger, Jeff Caruso, and Paul Arond as US Chess Delegates from Massachusetts for 2022, and to appoint Oleg Poliannikov and Latanya Sweeney as Alternate Delegates for 2022. Passed 7-0.

7. Bylaws Proposal

On behalf of the Bylaws Committee, Mr. Caruso announced a proposed amendment to the MACA Bylaws to provide for electronic meetings. Since March 2020 MACA has been operating under the State of Emergency and continuing procedures to meet electronically, but since we may want to do so in the future it is a good idea to make explicit provision for it in the Bylaws. The text of the proposal will be emailed to Board members during the next couple of days for formal consideration at the next Board meeting.

8. Gus Gosselin Tournament

Members discussed the format of the Gus Gosselin Grade tournament to be held in January, with attention to the likely attendance at the event. There is a feeling in favor of keeping the same sections as last year (K-2, 3, 4, 5, 6-8, and 9-12), with an announcement that sections may be combined if necessary. The matter will be considered further by the Scholastics Committee.

Mr. Wang departed the meeting.

9. MACA website

The masschess.org website (hosted at GoDaddy) was down for a period last month and had to be fixed by our Webmaster, Tiffany Wang. We are considering alternative (and cheaper) hosting elsewhere; apparently Microsoft Azure offers a level of free hosting to non-profits. Mr. Hoy offered his services and the code base he has developed for the Boylston CC to implement features like online tournament registration. We may also be able to offer clubs greater access to post things on the site.

10. COVID

As daily new COVID cases trend upward in Massachusetts, Mr. Hoy raised the question of whether we should require proof of vaccination for MACA tournaments, as some other organizations have done. This seems more of a possibility now that vaccines are available to children. Mr. Messenger noted that the Continental Chess Association is considering such a requirement starting in March 2022. 

The Board discussed the logistics of such a requirement, the burden on TDs, whether online registration would make it easier (perhaps with players uploading an image of their vaccination card) and whether to accept proof of a recent negative COVID test as an alternative for unvaccinated players. We will continue this discussion at the next meeting.

11. Next meeting

Unanimous consent motion (AH): the next meeting will take place on January 12, 2022, at 7:30pm at the Boylston Chess Club, 40 Norris St., Cambridge, MA. Passed without objection.

ADJOURNED at 9:19 pm.

Minutes written by Jeffrey Caruso, MACA Clerk