Massachusetts Chess Association
Board of Director Meeting Minutes
Monday, August 14, 2017, 7:00pm
Panera Bread, Cambridge, MA
ATTENDEES: Nathan Smolensky (President), Bob Messenger (Treasurer), Andrew Hoy (Clerk),
Paul Arond, Jeff Caruso, Steve Frymer, Larry Gladding, Oleg Poliannikov, and Steven Winer.
NEXT BOARD MEETING: Tuesday, September 26, 7:00pm at Panera Bread, Cambridge, MA
1. Meeting Minutes
MOTION: Approval of minutes from the June 11, 2017 board meeting (NS/BM).
VOTE: Passed, 7-0
2. Committee Reports
Financial/Membership
The financial report was not prepared for the meeting and was later distributed to board members via email. George Mirijanian has three boxes of chess accessories from the Eldridge family to be donated to MACA. Additionally, there is a desire to setup a Larry Eldridge Memorial fund to assist with travel expenses for Eastern Mass scholastic players attending national tournaments. For example, Nationals, K-12, etc.
There was basically no change in membership numbers as there are few summer tournaments.
Chess Horizons was not sent to approximately 100 members due to a versioning error with the membership database. Several solutions were proposed with the final decision to extend the memberships of the affected members but not to try to contact all of them and try to re-send Chess Horizons.
MOTION: Extend the membership for members that were supposed to receive the summer 2017 edition of Chess Horizons and did not receive it (BM/LG).
VOTE: Passed, 7-0-1
Tournament Committee
Several upcoming tournaments were discussed:
· Greater Boston Open (Oct 15): No contract yet at the Best Western in Marlboro
· Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial (Dec 10): Scheduled for the second Sunday in December
· MA Open 2018:
o Space has become a consideration at the current venue
o MACA will consider finding a new location for the event
· NE Open 2018
o Bidding begins at the annual meeting at the end of this year’s NE Open
o MOTION: MACA should prepare a bid for the 2018 New England Open if it makes financial sense to do so (AH/LG).
o VOTE: Passed, 7-0-1
Investments Committee
There are no current recommendations at this time.
Scholastic Committee
Tournaments are mostly scheduled for the upcoming season. The Mass Junior will be held Oct 29 and it was also noted that team tournaments in the past have not been very successful.
There will be an effort made going forward to encourage stronger players to participate, potentially by splitting tournaments by grade and rating sections.
Chess Horizons
A double issue of Chess Horizons was sent out since the last meeting. Nathan is still looking for an editor or an assistant to be trained. Fees paid to contributors were slightly higher than they have been in the past.
Education
A second edition of the educators’ guidebook for chess has been created. It includes curriculum and suggested activities for schools to follow. MACA is providing funding for the pilot program with the expectation that schools will pay for sets and equipment in the future once the program has gotten started.
3. Lanyards for TD’s at MACA events
A potential deal has been found to purchase 15 lanyards for approximately $2 each.
MOTION: Purchase lanyards for MACA TD’s and volunteers (AH/NS).
VOTE: Passed, 9-0
4. Ballots
The paper ballots from the annual election were delivered to the Clerk. They will be kept until the end of August and then destroyed.
5. Player Travel and Support
In the past, MACA has given financial assistance to Massachusetts players traveling for chess events. Tianna Wang and Dustin Liang have requested stipends to travel to the World Cadet. Several options were discussed, including directly tying the financial assistance to tournament results or using the money for purposes other than travel, potentially including scholarships for coaching or MACA coordinated instruction offered to a group of players.
MACA budgeted $2,500 for player travel and support, of which $1,500 is allocated for the three championship winners.
MOTION: Give $250 to each Tianna and Dustin for travel and then change the policy to no longer entertain requests for international travel (SW/LG).
VOTE: Passed, 5-2-2
6. Next Meeting
Next meeting set to be 7pm on Tuesday, September 26th at Panera in Cambridge. This meeting was later cancelled.
MOTION TO ADJOURN
VOTE: Passed, 7-0-2 |