Texas Chess Association (TCA) Meeting September 4, 2011
Called to order at 9:30 a.m. by Vice President of TCA Lakshmana Viswanath, known as “Vish.” In addition to Vish, TCA Treasurer Barbara Swafford was present. The TCA President and the TCA Secretary were not in attendance. Vish asked Alexey Root to take minutes for the meeting. There were 16 audience members (including Root; not including Vish and Swafford); those names are on the sign-in sheet maintained by Swafford.
Vish asked for approval of the spring 2011 minutes. Forrest Marler made a motion to dispense with the reading of the spring 2011 minutes and to approve those minutes. Tom Boone seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.
Next Swafford passed out copies of the Treasurer’s Report. She highlighted some aspects of it. Guadalupe asked questions about the finances of the 2010 Southwest Open (answered by Vish) and about insurance for the State Scholastic (answered by Swafford).
Next Francisco Guadalupe and Selby Anderson reported on the results of the TCA election. 26 ballots were submitted. For President, Clemente Rendon received 22 votes and Tom Crane got 4 votes. For Vice President, Vish got 22 votes. For secretary, Binny Nanavati got 22 votes. For Treasurer, Swafford got 26 votes. Anderson made a motion to approve the election results, which was seconded by Boone. Motion passed unanimously.
Anderson announced that he had 16 pages for Texas Knights, which would make a “thin issue.” Therefore, Anderson said, Texas Knights will be switching to a quarterly format. He will wait until the 2011 Southwest Open concludes to include its tournament report in a 36-page “fall 2011” issue. Luis Salinas asked about how this change to a quarterly Texas Knights might affect the June 1 deadline for contested bids to be published. Anderson said that a separate mailing to TCA members about contested bids would be possible.
Vish mentioned future tournaments which TCA has awarded. He also referred members to the Texas Chess Association Web site, http://www.texaschess.org/, go to the left-hand column and look for “Tournament Bid Spreadsheet.” The following tournaments had no competing bids and are awarded as such:
2012 Texas State and Amateur, Dallas Chess Club, Sheraton Dallas North
2012 Southwest Open, Southwest Chess Enterprises, Sheraton Dallas North
2013 Texas State Scholastic, Dallas Chess Club, McAllen
2013 Texas Grade, Dallas Chess Club, Houston
Note that Salinas wasn’t sure if the Texas Grade was bid under Dallas Chess Club or Southwest Chess Enterprises, but he believed it was Dallas Chess Club.
Marler will hold the 2012 Texas Senior at the end of summer in Temple, TX.
Texas Chess Association will run the 2012 Texas State Scholastic. Swafford will collect money on behalf of TCA. For start up costs, a $5,000 account has been opened. Salinas will “sub contract” to run the tournament. Salinas prepared a budget, which was handed to Vish. Salinas cautioned that many factors can affect the budget, such as not selling enough hotel room nights.
Vests for the 2011 State Scholastic TD staff were discussed. The cost might be $1,000. Salinas suggested that name badges would be less expensive. Guadalupe said that the K-12 tournament has a closed tournament floor, so that makes vests less crucial as the adults in the room will be staff. Guadalupe suggested the T-shirt vendor might donate T-shirts with the State Scholastic design to the TD staff. Marler and Boone added that having those T-shirts in a distinctive color, such as red, would be helpful. Salinas said that such a donation would result in a lower commission from the vendor.
The next topic was creating a high-resolution vector graphic for TCA. David Hopkins said his wife could create such a graphic, which could be used for banners and for Web sites. Vish asked Hopkins to get him something in one month. Hopkins agreed, and added information about the Arlington Chess Club which he is organizing.
Boone motioned to approve buying insurance for the 2012 State Scholastic. Forrest Marler seconded. Guadalupe added that the insurance will last for a year. Motion passed unanimously that TCA will buy insurance.
Tim Redman thanked the TCA and President Rendon for their support ($5,000) of the November 18-19, 2011 Second Koltanowski International Conference on Chess and Education www.utdallas.edu/chess/kolty2. Redman added that UT Dallas is contributing $15,000, the U.S. Chess Trust is contributing $15,000, and USCF is providing free rooms at the Hilton Anatole for the conference. The tournament is held alongside USCF’s National Grade.
Redman added that Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented clock hours are available for certain presentations on Friday, November 18. He noted that there would be concurrent sessions and also a Friday plenary session (by Root and Joseph Eberhard) and a Saturday plenary session (by a Turkish Chess Federation representative). He listed the conference’s organizing committee as himself, Root, Salinas, and James Stallings. Tom Boone asked about the clock hours. Root replied that each educator should check with his or her district about whether those hours could count for professional development purposes. Anderson mentioned reading in Susan Polgar’s blog about German primary schools having chess classes. Redman asked him to send references. Redman also added that he is still finalizing the schedule of presenters. Redman and Root emphasized that not just teachers but anyone interested in chess and education should attend this conference.
The Tyler Chess Center was mentioned by its treasurer, Tonya Baker. The center holds 2-3 tournaments per month and hosted a Region III scholastic. She asked for advice. Redman recommended approaching UT Tyler.
Marler mentioned that Larry Young died from brain cancer. Young was a former TCA Vice President. Marler said that Young’s widow wants to donate money to TCA for Scholastics. Vish confirmed that interest from the donation (not its principal) would be used for awards in Young’s name, with details to be worked out by the Scholastic Committee. Marler will serve as liaison between the widow and the committee.
Salinas noted that TCA must pick its USCF delegates and that USCF now asks for each delegate to have written an acceptance letter.
At 10:15 Boone motioned to adjourn, which was seconded by Salinas. Passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted Dr. Alexey Root.