Logos, Banner by KaitlinB and Tom45.

Permanent Members: chesskix, DaveTheRook (chair), rgadoury, SandiaCaveMan
General Members: bmw2002, BosqueVerde, Gomer, Kingofknights, nursey, Rookmaster.

Standing Subcommittee (Rules): bmw2002, BosqueVerde, chesskix, rgadoury (chair), SandiaCaveMan

The role and purpose of the Steering Committee is to manage the affairs of the league, to set its direction and expansion, see to its advertisement and management, writing the Constitution, Statutes and Handbooks, and reviewing the rulings of the previous Oversight Committee. This is the ultimate governing body of Team 45 45 League with all rights and responsibilities. (Article III of the League Constitution)

League Members may stay informed of potential rules changes by watching this page. Prior to voting results being displayed here, members may make their comments known by notifying any Steering Committee member, who may choose to forward your comments to the Steering Committee. The Committee members will not disclose any details of the Committee discussions.

Item 1. a. Shall the FICS Conference withdraw from the Team 45 45 League to become its own self-supporting league, known as FICS Team Chess.

Item 1. b. Shall the “former” ICC Conference continue to hold the League name of Team 45 45 League and retain proprietary rights to the General ByLaws of the league.

Item 1. c. The Team 45 45 League shall remove references to the FICS Conference (eg. Timelines) in its By-Laws.

Item 1. d. Shall Team 45 45 League grant permission to FICS Teamchess to use such of its By-Laws as they deem desirable, with appropriate credits being given.

Approved 8-0, 2 abstentions  (with appropriate revisions made to copyright)

Item 2. ICC Tournament T30 parameters-
Time Control: 45 45
Sections: 5 (U2200, U2000, U1800, U1600, U1300)
Rounds: 6 - (possibly 7) followed by Playoffs
Team entries accepted: February 28 to March 14, 2006
Team Entry Deadline: March 14, 2006
Ratings "fixed" starting February 7, 2006.
Round 1 Posted: 22:00 March 21, 2006
Three rounds of playoffs will end May 30, 2006.

Approved 10-0

Item 3. Oversight Committee established Interim Rule 1 regarding playing simul matches. “For the remainder of T29 (round 4 and following) - Simultaneous matches are not permitted.”

It is the recommendation of Rules that this rule NOT be incorporated into the statutes. SC25-26 voted against the prohibition of simultaneous games. Teamchess programming can handle simuls. Therefore, Rules recommends that simuls be permitted in cases where a player has to “Double Book” games or adjourned games, but the onus for any ensuing problems falls upon that player.

Rules proposed two statutes to cover simuls, one of which is a general statement of expectations of players’s knowledge.

Section 11.H. (new): Playing simultaneous games (see “help simul” and “help simulize" on ICC server) is permitted. All league expectations (e.g. 10.F.i, and 11.A) and consequences remain in effect in such games.

Section 11. A. (addition of 2nd sentence) The movement of the pieces, time keeping, stalemates and all other similar mandatory rules shall be controlled solely by the ICS and its programming. It is the player’s responsibility to know, understand and use any ICS commands and help files needed to play the game.

Approved 6-3, 1 abstention
 

Item 4. Oversight Committee established Interim Rule 2 regarding offers made for times less than 24 hours ahead. “Addition to the statutes:

Section 10.C.vii (new): Exception to the 24-hour acceptance/confirmation guideline: Should a player offer a time that is within 24 hours of the time of the post, and it be accepted, it is presumed that he intended to honor it even if he did not see the acceptance, unless he places restrictions on the time of acceptance (e.g."I can play at 5 pm tonight, if you respond by noon"), absence of either player at the “agreed” time will result in a forfeit.”

It is the recommendation of Rules that this rule, and the addition to Section 11.A be adopted.

Approved 8-1, 1 abstention
 

Item 5. Addition to Section 3.A.iv.  They cannot be a designated computer account, have a (C) on their handle or finger note apology of computer usage, or found to have cheated on other servers or in other leagues or tournaments.

Explanation. We have in fact banned players found to have been cheating on another server (ICC or FICS, and vice versa), in other leagues (OCL—Online Chess League), and potentially reports of cheating in STC Bunch tourneys. This addition to the statutes merely documents what we are already doing, and have done since the inception of the league.

Approved 7-2, 1 abstention
 

Item 6. Revise Section 11.E.iii to read, “Should a player disconnect and not return for more than 30 minutes, or disconnect more than three times within the same 30-minute period, the game is over and will not be rescheduled or resumed; set game loss to the disconnector.”

Several members of the OC expressed their disapproval of the current rule on disconnections and asked Rules to draft a proposal to change it. Their concerns were the potential for abuse to gain a draw, the inconvenience to the offended player, and difficulties with rescheduling, especially late in the tournament or the round cycle. Here is one comment, others were similar.

“So here is what happened: the lowest rated played (-200 points) disconnected after few moves and got an adjournment, of course. Then agree to resume only at a "middle of the night" time for the other player. The game was not played and, of course, he enjoyed a ½ point, as "the position at the time" was equal.”

Voting is now taking place on an amended version of Section 11.E.iii:

"In other situations that can best be described as technical difficulties, the intent and spirit of the league is that the games be played to a conclusion if possible. Should a player disconnect for more than 30 minutes, the offended player may either request a set game win, or may offer to reschedule at times convenient to him. It is expected that players and captains will discuss resolution of affected games with Section 3.B. in mind, and not question the motives of the opponent."

Approved 8-0, 2 abstentions 
 

Item 7. Changes to the application of yellow cards.

Rules proposes to revise Section 17.B. in its entirety.

A Yellow Card is a Formal Warning of an infraction of the rules of the league. After the issuance of the Yellow Card, the matter is considered closed (except for any appeals that may be filed). However, multiple Yellow Cards earned in the same or successive tourneys may earn a Red Card. One GTS Reliability Point is deducted for each Yellow Card; at "-2" reliability a Red Card is given. (see GTS Reliability Points - Section 1.A.xx and 3.A.vi.a-d). Each Yellow Card is "forgiven" when the player completes the next tourney without incident or does not compete in the tourney. ¶ SC 29-30

The second area of concern among members of the OC was the matter of yellow cards for forfeiting, yellow cards in one circumstance but set game and no card in another circumstance, difference between players who play just two or three games in a tourney versus those who play many games for more than one team, etc.

We have two choices: (1) leave our set games and forfeits the way they are; or (2) change to a single penalty for all forfeited games, by doing away with set games as forgiven infractions. This change eliminates set games, but increases the number of allowed forfeits to four, based on past good performance over several tourneys. The change is actually a return to our original reliability ratings, +2 to –2.

One major advantage to this change is that TDs, and the OC, will not have to spend a lot of time determining whether or not a forfeit should be changed to set game, and vice versa.

It should be possible to automate the scorekeeping, utilizing the personal records program Chuck has recently introduced. Should this pass, we would rewrite the other statutes to change most set games to forfeits.

Here is a sample of how the new approach would work, as demonstrated by a long time player:

Approved 8-0, 2 abstentions

A two-year moratorium on further changes to the reliability ratings was also approved, 6-2, 2 abstentions

Item 8. A proposal to change the League Constitution, bringing the Oversight Committee as a sub-committee of the Steering Committee.

Proposal withdrawn.

Item 9. A discussion of Oversight Committee operations, including proposals to change the criteria for service as defined in the League Constitution.  The discussion was separated into five elements which were voted on separately.

I. A proposed amendment to Article IV (Oversight Committee) of the Constitution changing the qualifications for committee membership by reducing the number of members from nine to seven, restricting who can participate, from the present team captains and general membership. to no active TDs or other administrators. A YES vote approves this new Article IV. A NO vote maintains the current version now on the website Constitution page.
Not Approved 7-2, 1 abstain.

II. Shall the administrators (CD and aCD) be excluded from receiving copies of all OC correspondence? A YES vote excluded them. A NO vote allows them to receive copies of the correspondence.
Not approved 4-4, 2 abstain (With a tie vote the OC/Chief TD is understood to be able to include or exclude the CD and aCD from the correspondence at their discretion.)

III. When the OC overturns an appealed TD decision, shall a report summary be provided to Rules Subcommittee and/or to the administrators in sufficient detail to know what future actions are needed, such as writing, rewriting, clarifying, or correcting a contradiction, in the ByLaws? A YES vote requires that a report be provided. A NO vote says no report beyond the published decision is needed.
Approved 9-0, 1 abstain

IV – OC ask Rules (Subcommittee of the SC) to make Interim Rule recommendations Approved 7-0, 3 abstain

V – By a 6-0-4 abstain vote, element V was approved as a statement of opinion by the Chief TD, and an Administrative Rule. 
Approved 6-0, 4 abstain

Greetings SC,

The League Constitution does not prohibit dTD's or secTD's from participating. As long as we don't do the double duty thing, that is try not to have a secTD and a dTD from the same section, I think we'll be alright.

I would like to see our veterans, and some new-comers as well. If we have 9 people on the OC we can accomplish that. The Chair, the Deputy Chair, maybe 4 other experienced Volunteers, and a few newbies who have exemplified an interest and a spark. We will not use the OC as a training ground, but if a player is involved enough to be a Captain, and maybe (or maybe not) has former TD experience, that's great. All OC and SC members had to start somewhere, and we all experienced serving on a Committee for the first time. If we weed out those with no experience completely, how will we raise new Volunteers?  If they don't do a good job, they will not be invited back, and if someone needs to be removed during a tournament, so be it.

As for the elusive Administrative Rules: "When the OC overturns a decision, the Committee will be responsible for preparing and presenting a summary and statement to the SC (which may be the Rules Committee) so that the SC can see if anything needs to be fixed. If the SC has questions, they may politely and respectfully approach the OC via the Chair or Deputy Chair, at a convenient and non-disruptive time for all."

Item 10. A proposed change to Article IV of the League Constitution.

The following sentence; "The members of the Oversight Committee shall be composed of volunteers from Team Captains and, if there is room, from the General League Membership."

would be changed to; “The members of the Oversight Committee shall be composed of volunteers from Team Captains and other experienced active League Members."

Approved 8-0, 2 abstentions

Item 11. A proposed change to Article III of the League Constitution.

We have a proposal before us which mirrors the Constitutional Amendment just passed, regarding SC Agenda Item #10, except it concerns Article III of the League Constitution, the Steering Committee.

The portion of following sentence which is in quotation marks,

The Steering Committee consists of a council of no more than 11 people, some of whom may be permanent members, "the rest shall be composed of volunteers from Team Captains and, if there is room, from the General League Membership."

would be changed to;  “the rest shall be composed of volunteers from Team Captains and other experienced active League Members."

Approved 7-1, 1 abstention

Previous SC Agendas: