League AGMs Round-Up

The Leamington and Coventry League AGMs have now both been held, so I thought I should summarise the main changes for next season. There is good news and bad news!


We'll start with the good, which comes from the Leamington League, where a number of positive developments can be reported:-

1 Digital Clocks - it is now compulsory for the home time to supply and use digital clocks in Div 1 and the Open KO Cup. Hopefully in due course this requirement will also be extended to the other divisions and cups. It is, of course, quite possible - indeed encouraged - to use digital clocks in other divisions, and we will obviously continue to use them for all teams in all our home matches.

2 Time Limit - where digital clocks are supplied, the time limit will now be 80 minutes for all moves, plus 10 second increment from move 1. Where analogue clocks are used, the time limit will remain at 90 minutes for the whole game. Our Leamington League digital clocks are already re-programmed with the new time limit on setting 7b, which should be the only one we ever need.

3 Eligibility for the u-120 Cup - there will no longer be any requirement to have played 2 league games to be eligible for the u-120 Cup.  Anyone graded under 120 who is a registered member of the club can play.

4 Defaults - Teams will now be penalised one match point for every four individual defaults that they accrue during the course of the season. (So defaulting a whole match obviously scores -1 immediately - except in Div 4, where there are only 3 boards!)

The first two of these changes were proposed by me, and the second two by Mike, so KCC was at the forefront of the action - not to mention that Ben masterfully chaired and led the meeting!

5 - Less favourably, though not with too many practical concerns for us, it will no longer be possible for players to "play down" into a team lower than the one for which they are registered. I think we only did that twice last season, when Dave played for the C team twice at the start of the season, so it shouldn't be a big deal, and it at least makes the admin easier. Playing up is still very much possible, and that rule stays the same - so hopefully Ben can still play 25+ Leamington League matches if he wants!

6 - Banbury are moving and their new venue is to be St Mary's Hall. This is very central apparently, but has no bar! Full address/direction/parking details to follow when received from Banbury, and these will also be placed on the LDCL website, of course. Banbury are also changing their match night from a Tuesday to a Thursday. This will actually help us greatly by reducing potential clashes with our Cov League fixtures - though it will mean reduced attendances at the Gauntlet on the dates of away matches at Banbury!


And now on to the bad news, which affects fewer of us as we will only have the one team in the Coventry League next season. Regretfully, the rule change here is that the Coventry League time limit will now be all moves in 90 minutes. We do keep the option for an incremental time limit, but this - due to procedural bureaucracy - remains as before at 30 moves in 70 minutes, plus 10 minutes sudden death, with a 10 second increment from move 1. If only this option had been changed to G/80 + 10 secs as well, we would have been using the same time limits in each league and would not need separately programmed clocks and separate equipment boxes! Maybe next year...? Also it was decided that all clocks should be started at the same time, so there is no question of waiting for a late arriving opponent to arrive before starting the clock. When one game starts every game starts!!

So much for the heavy stuff. We had two trophies to collect at the LDCL AGM, and here they are!

Ben, standing in for Dave, receives the Division 2 trophy from Mike.

(I really must get a better phone - the photo quality is dreadful!)

I couldn't quite pull off the trick of snapping myself receiving the Open KO Cup from Ben, so instead you'll have to be content with a "morning after" photo of Captain and trophy.

The first ever selfie on the club website!! They're more difficult than I realised.

Eagle eyed viewers may be able to spot The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll and The World Guide to Beer in the background!

Any team member who would like to view the KO Cup chez moi (where it will be residing for the next 12 months) is invited to make an appointment. Though I can't guarantee your request will be successful!