Notice is hereby given to members that this year’s AGM will be held at 2.00pm. on Saturday 25th November via Zoom.

Further details can be obtained from our membership secretary, Keith Kitson.

The Executive Committee is reviewing the structure of management of our tournaments.    As the membership year has already started, we are deferring further membership renewals or acceptance of new members until this exercise has been completed.

We will be writing to members shortly to explain the proposed approach.   This will include all members in 2022/23 who have not renewed for 2023/24.

Following discussions with the ICCF, we are considering the future operation of our tournaments.  Further information will be provided in due course, but in the meantime and pending approval by the ICCF, we will not be accepting further entries for our events.

Congratulations to Anthony Copsey and Matthew W. Bailey on becoming joint winners of the Championship.  Both players were equal regarding total points, number of wins, and SB.

Brain Thompson and Tom Gunn finished equal third.

Congratulations are due to our President, Stan Grayland, for winning BCCA Candidates Section B, being unbeaten with 9 1/2 points out of 12.

For more details, see the cross table:  BCCA Candidates 2022/23 .

After more than a decade running the BCCA’s finances, Allan Gardner has decided that the time is right to step down as our Treasurer.

We would like to thank Allan for his dedication to ensuring that the BCCA is in robust financial health, despite maintaining our low subscriptions.

We are now looking for a volunteer to step into Allan’s shoes.   If you would be interested in being considered for this position (which also means sitting on our Executive Committee), please contact either Stephen Woodhouse (General Secretary: stephenwoodhousechess@outlook.com ) or Stan Grayland (President: sgrayland@gmail.com) prior to 7^th July.

We are sorry to announce that our stationery officer, Graham Williams, has died.   Graham had been ill some time, but responding to treatment, before contracting an infection.

He had worked tirelessly for the BCCA for many years managing our stationery supplies.   We would like to express our gratitude to Graham and give our condolences to his family.

The BCCA Executive Committee has approved changes to the BCCA Master points system in which current BCCA members may obtain BCCA Senior Master, BCCA Master, and BCCA Candidate Master titles. The changes are as follows:

A BCCA Candidate Master may have transferred a maximum of twelve (12) BCCA Candidate Master points that have been obtained after receiving the BCCA Candidate Master title to become four (4) BCCA Master points i.e. at a rate of three (3) BCCA Candidate Master points for one (1) BCCA Master point. These transferred points may only be used towards a BCCA Master title. If a BCCA Candidate Master obtains any additional BCCA Candidate Master points beyond the maximum permitted transfer, then these would become worthless.

BCCA Candidate Master points obtained by such a transfer will not count towards the BCCA Senior Master title. For example, a player already has 18 BCCA Master points. That player should he/she have sufficient BCCA Candidate Master points after obtaining the BCCA Candidate Master title may only use a maximum of six (6) BCCA Candidate Master points to obtain the required two (2) BCCA Master points to obtain the BCCA Master title.

The BCCA Curator of the BCCA Master points system will be responsible for transferring BCCA Candidate Master points in accordance with these proposals. Players will not be required to apply for the transfers.

All of these proposals came into force on 20^th May 2023. They will apply to all BCCA tournaments which will start or are completed after this date. Therefore, there will be no calculations applied for points already obtained by BCCA Candidate Masters who have obtained further BCCA Candidate Master points after they became a BCCA Candidate Master prior to the date referred to above.

Please remember that BCCA members may only obtain BCCA points towards the BCCA titles providing they retain their BCCA membership.

If you have any questions about the BCCA Master points system then please contact Ian M Pheby at ian.pheby@tiscali.co.uk

The future of the BCCA relies on encouraging new members to join.   Once someone becomes a member, we hope that the excellent value for money will become evident and the new joiner will stay and become a long term member.

Accordingly, we do not wish new joiners to be discouraged from joining at any time in the year due to the seasonal timetable resulting in them not obtaining full value for their subscription in the first year.   The Executive Committee has therefore decided that for a new joiner (i.e. someone who has not previously been at any time) joining on or after 1^st March in any year, their initial subscription will pay for membership until 31^st August in the following calendar year, ensuring that the new joiner obtains at least one full year’s value for their initial membership.