More on ECF - see below

One of our former club members, CJ de Mooi, resigned from his position as ECF President on Saturday. Ever out-spoken and controversial, and still better known as a television 'Egghead', he has been offered a job in the world of commercial chess which he considers incompatible with his position at the ECF. Roger Edwards (?) is currently the only candidate for the post - to be confirmed at the ECF AGM on 13th October.

However, don't let this stop you taking out ECF membership - only 17 of our members have signed up so far - which means so far only 17 lucky members will be appearing on our internal tournament charts! (see post on September 3 below) Club membership subscriptions are also due and will be accepted by any committee member any Thursday or Saturday at the club.

ECF Membership Rates:

• BRONZE £13 a year (Juniors £9)
• SILVER £19 a year (Juniors £13)
• GOLD £28 a year (Juniors £22)
• PLATINUM £60 a year (Juniors £60)

You only need BRONZE for all graded games at the club and in the Mid-Sussex League. The year runs from 1st September and it costs the same whenever you join in the year. The £2 per person per game alternative will NOT be available for internal tournaments.

AGM and ECF alert for Thursday 6th September

The Club AGM is this Thursday at 8:00 pm. All members have been sent the agenda, and last year's minutes and financial accounts have gone by email. There are no extra items to debate and so far all post-holders have indicated their willingness to continue, with no other contenders. And we have six captains ready for running six teams in the mid-Sussex League. So please come if you can. Business should be short but Geoffrey will be taking subscriptions - please remember to bring cash or cheque. Andrew will be signing people up for the standard play tournaments and rapid play ladder.....

BUT - please note - you will only be able to sign up for these if you have joined both the club and the ECF. This is a new requirement. ECF membership runs for a year from 1st September so it would help if you join before Thursday - you can do it easily online - see http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ - or by post. Help will be provided on Thursday if necessary. Joining the ECF will also make you eligible to play for the MSCL (otherwise it will not be free). You can join the club without joining the ECF but you will only be able to play friendly, ungraded games. This is because of a change in the way the ECF is funded and not a change the club has any influence over.

ECF Membership

After a meeting of the committee last night we decided on the following for next season:

1. Present subscription levels will remain unchanged.

2. All members wishing to enter internal tournaments will be required to be members of the ECF. This is because of recent funding changes in the ECF whereby non-membership will require a £2 game fee for every graded game played, per person. The same will be true of games in the MSCL but there will be a choice here - you can still pay the £2 to your captain each time if you prefer. If you're an ECF member, you'll pay nothing.

ECF membership runs for a year from 1st September. You can join online for £12 via the ECF website. You can do this now, ahead of the AGM.

The AGM agenda will now be coming out later in the month.