Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

Neil Limbert  Monday, January 30, 2017

The 2nd Welsh Member Organisations Team Tournament, which began in December 2015, has a very exciting finish in store. With only 5 games remaining (out of 105 initially), there are still three teams in with a shout at victory: BCCA Cougars, SCCA "A" and BCCA Wildcats. The tournament crosstable can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=56581 This tournament, provided free by the WCCF, has provided some excellent chess and there is no reason why this event should not get stronger every year.

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Congratulations Gareth Yeo on earning the ICCF title of Correspondence Chess Master and Russell Sherwood for achieving Correspondence Chess Expert, both on the same day!

Ian Jones  Thursday, December 29, 2016

Helen Sherwood was awarded the Lady International Correspondence Chess Grand Master Title.  

She will receive a Gold Medal & Certificate. Congratulations Helen!

Austin Lockwood  Sunday, November 27, 2016

1. What is the Webchess Open Tournament? It is a tournament open to all correspondence chess players around the World, with or without any previous ICCF experience. Dependent upon entries the Tournament is played over three rounds (Preliminary, Semi-Final and Final). Winners from each group in each round advance to the next round.
2. What are the Timings? The Preliminary round will commence in January 2017, Semi Finals will commence in Jan 2019 (sooner if all prelimary groups are completed) and the Final in January 2021 (sooner if all Semi-Final groups are completed) 
3. What are the Prizes? Total prize fund is 6000 Euro – Each Preliminary group winner shall receive a 20 Euro Voucher, Each Semi- Final Group winner a 50 Euro Voucher and the Final shall have a 2000 Euro prize fund. 
4. Who to contact Russell Sherwood , Non-Title Tournament Commissioner ([email protected]) is happy to a handle general questions  on this event. 
5. How and when to enter? Multiple entries are allowed. Go to the ICCF Webserver main page www.iccf.com click on “New Events”, find the tournament in the main list and click “Enter”. It allows you to register with a click of a button using one of the three methods available:
   1. Contact your national federation (NF). Provide your ICCF-ID (if you have one) and a valid email address you will use for this tournament. Your national federation will forward your entry.
   2. Qualified players may use Direct Entry (DE). This method is available for new players to ICCF:
   3. New players to ICCF are allowed to enter 1 section for free. They should send their contact information: name, email address and country to Russell Sherwood NTTC. ([email protected]) If they wish to enter more than one section, all extra entries should be paid for as described above. 
6. When does the registration close? Registration is open immediately and it closes on Dec 31st, 2016.
7. When does play start? Preliminary Rounds will be set up in early January with a start date of 31st January 2017. 

Austin Lockwood  Saturday, November 26, 2016

In 2015 I was invited to the ICCF Congress held in August of that year in Cardiff. This  was an ideal opportunity to meet, in person for the first time, with Thomas Johansson from Malmo after corresponding for over 15 years only via e-mail. Thomas was to be presented with his ICCF International Master certificate and medal at this event and pictures may be found on this web site in section 8 (My Stuff-Memorabilia Corner for the years starting from 2014).

 

I may add the whole event was very well run and a pleasure to attend. Apart from Thomas I chatted to several players who I had played correspondence chess against and also met many of the organisers who work hard for this form of chess but were previously only names on notifications and tournament tables etc.

 

Each attendee of the ICCF Congress received a rather fine "welcome pack" which contained all sorts of chess material as well as information about Cardiff and the places worth seeing both locally and in other parts of Wales. Chess related items in the pack included a very well written and researched booklet entitled " A History of Correspondence Chess in Wales 1835-2015" by Martyn Griffiths and Austin Lockwood.  The bare scores of two games given in the booklet caught my eye and I subsequently played them over on a board. They are both very high quality games from a time when there was no help from modern technology such as Informator or computers. These have thus been annotated in detail for this site.

Download

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The fourth season of the British Webserver Team Tournament will start on 1st January 2017.

The BWSTT is an event organised by the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation for teams of correspondence chess teams of four players.  As there are normally four divisions, the tournament is suitable for chess players of all standards.  There are no membership requirements, and teams representing chess clubs, workplaces, or just groups of friends are very welcome to enter.

The full tournament announcement can be downloaded below.
 

Download

Peter M. Bevan  Saturday, November 5, 2016

Here is Paul Scott's spectacular Queen sacrifice game!!

Russell Sherwood  Monday, October 17, 2016

An interesting season awaits for Welsh County Teams in the CDCCC!

Division 1 – Ward-Higgs https://www.iccf.com/event?id=61532

Bouncing back with immediate promotion following their relegation to the Sinclair last season West Wales A are looking to challenge for the Title this season. This will be no easy task with the two front runners – Yorkshire A and Essex A both having average ratings over 2300 and counting CC GM’s amoung their numbers.

However the draw has not been unkind and anything is possible!

West Wales A Team are:

1. Russell Sherwood 2326

2. Ian Jones 2333

3. Gareth Yeo 2252

4. Adam Davies 2236

5. Glyn Sinnett 2229

6. Andrew Gibbons 2094

7. Fred Clough 2149

8. Martyn Griffiths 2127

Division 2 – Sinclair https://www.iccf.com/event?id=61579

The East Wales A Team are:

1. John Claridge 2346

2. Helen Sherwood 2317

3. Mark Adams 2269

4. Alex Sherwood 2242

5. Dale Cannon 2183

6. Colin Denham 2112

7. Andrew Robertshaw 2033

8. Marybeth Baron 1991

Following successful promotion (as East Glamorgan) last season the EW A team are runaway favourites for promoton this season with an team rating almost 200 elo above their nearest rivals. Things are rarely so straighforward but anything less than promotion would not meet expectations!

Division 3 - Butler Thomas https://www.iccf.com/event?id=61584

Welsh interests here are both the East and West Wales B Teams. The division is always difficult to call with so many players new to CC but both teams are in the running for promotion!

East Wales B

1. Mark Slupski 1940

2. Margaret Baron 1835

3. David Roberts 1711

4. Marc Wakeham 1532

5. Arthur Wilding 1511

6. Michael Richards 1453

7.Malcom Chugg 1372

8.Edwin Allen 1800

West Wales B

1. Paul Scot 1945

2. Peter Bevan 1990

3. Adam May 1900

4. Andrew Smith 1863

5. Vaughan Thomas 1842

6. Mark Wilson 1808

7. David Guy 1726

8.Bill Flew 1621

Good Luck to All!!

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, October 16, 2016

https://www.iccf.com/event?id=52981

Wales win 35-21!

Congratulations to the team and especially: Helen Sherwood, Ian Jones, Gareth Yeo, Adam Davies, Alex Sherwood, Colin Denham and David Guy on scoring 100%

Russell Sherwood  Tuesday, October 11, 2016

We have been challanged to Friendly matches by Scheming Mind and Yorkshire.

Both will have oppotunities for all ratings.

If you wish to play please get in touch by Sunday 23rd October

Russell Sherwood

[email protected]