Massachusetts Chess Association

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, April 6, 2022, 7:30pm

Boylston Chess Club, 40 Norris St., Cambridge, MA and via Zoom

ATTENDEES: Andrew Hoy (President), Steven Winer (Vice President), Robert Messenger (Membership Secretary), Jeff Caruso (Clerk, Elections Chair), and Directors Paul Arond and Yi Wang.

CALLED TO ORDER at 7:39 p.m.

1. Minutes

MOTION (AH/SW): to approve the minutes of the March 16, 2022 Board meeting.  Passed 6-0.

2. Spiegel Cup

Mr. Wang reported on plans for the Spiegel Cup Final, to be held May 21-22. The hotel has been arranged and will cost $800.00 for the weekend. A proposal to charge an entry fee (to cover the higher hotel cost) was discussed; the consensus is that there will be no entry fee but players should register in advance.

The invitation lists are ready, and invitations will be sent in the next day or so.

3. Hurvitz Cup

Members discussed plans for the Hurvitz Cup to be held the first weekend in June. Some parents have asked about the “Feeder Rule” when tournament grade ranges were non-overlapping (K-5, 6-8, 9-12) and which covered the case where none of the proposed ranges would cover a given school (e.g. one with just grades 4, 5, 6). In that case we were going to allow the top grade in a school to be part of a team from the next higher school.

With the new proposed grade ranges (K-3, K-5, K-8, K-12) the original problem does not arise, and the board did not take up the idea of reinstating such a rule.

Mr. Winer left the meeting.

4. Elections

Mr. Caruso presented the Elections Commission Report (appended).

5. Tournament and Membership reports

Mr. Messenger presented financial reports for the Winter Team Challenge, 3rd Spiegel Qualifier, and Mass. G/60, and the Membership report (appended).

6. Massachusetts Open

Mr. Hoy held a discussion of arrangements for the Massachusetts Open.

7. New England Open

It appears that the Maine Chess Association does not intend to run the next New England Open. MACA has organized the tournament many times in the past.

MOTION (AH/JC) to authorize the Tournament Committee to organize the 2022 New England Open. Passed 5-0.

8. Budget

Mr. Hoy presented a proposed budget for MACA for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, with one typographical amendment (appended). 

MOTION (AH/RM): to approve the budget as amended.  Passed 5-0.

9. LMCF request for boards

Some board members have a request for the Living Memorial Chess Fund for chess sets and/or boards, though they were not present.  The consensus is to consult with those members, but this should not have to wait for another board meeting.

MOTION (AH/RM): to authorize the President to make disbursements from the LMCF.  Passed 5-0.

10. MACA Corporate Address

MOTION (AH/JC): to change the location of the principal office of MACA to 40 Norris St. B103, Cambridge, MA 02140.  Passed 5-0.

11. Girls’ Championship

Mr. Wang and Mr. Hoy discussed some details regarding scheduling of the Girls’ Championship.

12. Next meeting

Unanimous consent motion (AH): the next meeting will take place on May 18, 2022, at 7:30pm at the Boylston Chess Club, 40 Norris St., Cambridge, MA.  Passed without objection.

ADJOURNED at 9:12 pm.

Minutes written by Jeffrey Caruso, MACA Clerk

Report of the Elections Commission

April 6, 2022

Candidate statements were submitted by 8 of the candidates. They are assembled into a single document for printing and have been published on the masschess.org website.

The online ballot has been finalized and is ready to be mailed May 1.  The small number of paper ballots will be printed in the next few days.

Including printing and mailing costs, and increased fees from electionrunner.com, the cost of election is estimated to come in between $50.00 and $55.00.

The projected timeline is unchanged:

April 28: mail out paper ballots 

May 1: send out electronic ballots 

May 27: voting deadline for online ballots 

May 27: voting deadline for mailed paper ballots 

May 28: voting deadline for paper ballots submitted by hand

May 28-30: publication of results

- Jeffrey Caruso, Chair of the Elections Commission