Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

Rydym yn Ffrindiau - Amici Sumus

ICCF World Cup 21

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, May 27, 2015

The International Correspondence Chess Federation

in association with the

Polish Chess Federation

Announcement ICCF World Cup 21 (webserver)

27th May 2015

The International Correspondence Chess Federation is delighted to announce the Correspondence Chess Commission of the Polish Chess Federation as the main organizer of the ICCF World Cup 21 Webserver

This is the 5th World Cup edition (previously 3rd, 6th, 7th and 18th editions) where Poland has been involved as a tournament organizer. Tournament website (http://kszgk.com/?page_id=8319) will be regularly updated.

The tournament will be played by webserver with an incremental rate of play (30 days per game followed by 3 days every 1 move; 45 days leave per year, no special leave). Linear conditionals can be entered. It will be organized in three stages. Usually each group consists of 7-11 players in the preliminary round, 9-13 in the semi-final round and 9-15 in the final round. Each player plays one game with every player of his group simultaneously.

The event will be rated with title norms, which are usually possible at the semi-final and final stages.

The Correspondence Chess Commission of the Polish Chess Federation has appointed Mariusz Wojnar as the Central Tournament Leader (CTL).

Entries

Players may enter in the usual way through the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation (please contact Russell Sherwood for details) or via the ICCF Direct Entry system.

Entries via National Federations should contain player’s name, Email address, ICCF ID and current rating and should be forwarded by e-mail to Russell to reach him before 1st September 2015.

Allocation of players to the preliminary and semi-final groups will be made as random as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating, will be taken into account.

Tournament Organization

The tournament will start on 2015-10-01.

Registration will begin 2015-06-01 and will close on 2015-09-01 to allow for pairings.

All preliminary groups will finish on 2017-05-01.

Any unfinished games that will decide promotional positions in the group will be adjudicated. The players involved will send the record of the game (with the required result – win or draw) and an analysis to their TD for adjudication no later than 2017-05-15.

The adjudication will be organized in such a way that all qualified players will be known by 2017-06-15.

The semifinals are expected to start on 2017-09-01 at the latest.

The final is expected to start on 2019-09-01 at the latest.

Prizes

As confirmed at the ICCF Congress 2013, the total prize fund for this event will be 6,000 EUR with, for the first time, prizes also awarded to winners of the Preliminary and Semi-final Sections (such prizes, each to the value of approximately 25 EUR, will be in the form of books or other chess material with tie-breaks to be applied if necessary to determine section winners).

In the Final medals and certificates will be awarded to the top 3 players (if necessary tie-breaks will be applied to determine the top 3 places). Also in the Final cash prizes of 1,000 EUR, 600 EUR, 300 EUR and 100 EUR will be awarded to the top 4 players. Tie-breaks will not be applied in respect of these cash prizes and instead those players scoring equal points will equally share any prize money due.

Qualification

The number of promotions will depend on total entries received, but it is initially assumed that the first two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the World Cup semi-final. The winner of each semi-final section will qualify for the World Cup final.

Although the number of preliminary groups which each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semi-final groups or more than one place in the final.

In addition, those players who qualified for World Cup 19 and 20 Finals will also be entitled to play in the semi-final stage of World Cup 21 and the winners of WC 19 and 20 Finals will be eligible to participate in World Cup Final 21.

The following qualifications can be achieved in the final:

  • the winner and the runner-up may enter directly a World Championship Candidates (tie break applies) (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.3.1.(d));
  • the winner of the World Cup Final 21 will qualify for the final of the next World Cup Tournament without paying any entry fee (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 3.6) and will be awarded the IM title (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 10.6.(c));
  • participants in the final round have the right to take part in the semi-final round of the next correspondence chess World Cup tournament (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 3.6)
  • the participants in a Final of the ICCF World Cup Tournament who finished in place 3 or 4 (tie break applies) or scored at least 60% of the possible points may enter directly a World Championship semi-finals (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.2.1.(e));
  • the participants in a Final of the ICCF World Cup Tournament who scored at least 50% of the possible points may enter directly a World Championship Preliminaries (upon payment of the entry fee) (ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 1.1.1.(e)).

Member Federations are asked to give the tournament wide publicity to all their players.

We wish all participants many interesting games and new connections with CC friends in other countries, based on the spirit of friendship and the ICCF motto:

AMICI SUMUS

Mariusz Wojnar Central Tournament Leader

Markus Hömske ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner

Frank Geider World Tournament Director

8th ICCF Veterans’ World Cup (VWC)

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The ICCF Congress in Bulgaria in 2008 decided that following the great popularity of the first tournament amongst older players, that new Veterans’ World Cups would be started every year. Working in collaboration with ICCF, the English Federation for Correspondence Chess (EFCC) will organise the 8th Veterans’ World Cup tournament.

The first stage of the 8th ICCF Veterans’ World Cup will start on 1st September 2015.

As with the previous VWCs, the event will be organised in three stages which will allow several players from each group stage to advance to the Semi-finals and Final. The number of promotions will depend on total entries received, but it is envisaged that groups at each stage will comprise of 13 players (12 games) played by webserver with a rate of play of 10 moves in 40 days. Playing time in each stage will be about 18 months with a fixed closing date specified at the outset.

https://www.iccf.com/message?message=805

British Tri-Nations 2014

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Wales have won the 2014 British Tri-Nations with an incredible 32.5/40.  Second were England with 14/40 narrowly ahead of Scotland 13.5/40.

Well played John Claridge 3/4, Russell Sherwood (TC) 4/4, Phillip Dean 4/4, Ian Jones 3/4, Andy Robertshaw 4/4, Peter Bevan 2.5/4, Alex Bullen 2.5/4, Helen Sherwood 4/4, Mark Slupski 3.5/4, and David Guy 2/4.

This event will be repeated in 2015, and is for players rated under 2200 (several members of the Welsh team will be replaced as their ratings have since climbed about the threshold!).

British Webserver Team Tournament

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, March 4, 2015

The third season of the Correspondence Chess British Webserver Team Tournament will start on Monday 15th June 2015.

The first two seasons were successfully organised by the EFCC; the third season will be organised by the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation. Previous winners are “Pawn Stars” (season one) and “ICCF Warriors” (season two). This event has turned out to be a very challenging team event, with several players at SIM and GM level playing in the first division, giving UK players a chance which they might not otherwise have to play against highly rated players.

Groups of friends, chess clubs and other associations across the UK are warmly invited to participate; the organisers are looking for teams of four players, two members of each team must be UK players, but the other two can be from anywhere in the world. Players of all standards are welcome; there will be enough divisions set up to accommodate all teams entered.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the organisers if you have any questions (Russell Sherwood, [email protected], or Austin Lockwood, [email protected]).

Registration

To enter, please send the following details by email:

  • The name of your team
  • The ICCF ID and name of the Team Captain
  • The ICCF IDs, names, and board numbers of each of the four players

The Team Captain is not obliged to be included as a player.

Please also send the entry fee of £20 by PayPal to [email protected] (or please contact the WCCF treasurer at this address for details of cheque or direct bank payment).

The deadline for entry is Monday 1st June 2015, no entries will be accepted after this date.

There were Team entries last season from BCCA, Natcor, SCCA, SchemingMind, White Rose, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Sussex, Civil Service & others. We encourage all players to take part; if you cannot raise a team of 4 friends, contact your own Association (such as one of the above) & see if you can play for them.

WCCF AGM 2015

Austin Lockwood  Tuesday, February 24, 2015

The minutes of the 2015 AGM, held on 29th January, are now available.

Download

Player Photos

Austin Lockwood  Monday, January 12, 2015

It is now possible to have your photograph on your ICCF profile page after the last server update. Any member Federation player can now send Russell or Austin a JPEG picture (must be at least 200 x 200 pixels) along with your ICCF profile number. We will then upload it to your profile. This is a nice new feature and I encourage players to consider personalising their profile in this way. Players cannot yet upload their own photograph (although this is coming).

Any player who has their photograph on their profile will be entered into a Prize draw with New In Chess for 50 euros to spend online.

4th Chess 960 World Cup

Austin Lockwood  Monday, December 29, 2014

The International Correspondence Chess Federation

Announcement

4th Chess 960 World Cup

The tournament will be played by server and will be organized in three or four stages, depending from the number of the entries. The sections of the preliminary round will have 6 players (10 games) with 2 qualified for the next round. All sections will be with double round robin (players will have the same position with Black and White but all positions will defer from one opponent to another). Time control will be 10 moves for 30 days. The event will be rated for Chess 960 rating system.

Entries

Players may enter in the usual way through their National Federations or, where eligible, via the ICCF Direct Entry system.

All the finalists of the 2nd Chess 960 World Cup can start the 4th Chess 960 World Cup from the Semi-Finals (starting approx. in the first half of 2016), entering via Direct Entry up to 28.02.2015 or via National Federation up to 30.09.2015.

Entries via National Federations should contain player’s name, e-mail address and ICCF ID and should be forwarded by e-mail to the Tournament Organizer, Leonardo Madonia, (e-mail: [email protected]) to reach him before 28th February 2015. It would be appreciated if Federations send entries “as received” and not delay them until closing date.

A player can apply for more than one preliminary group.

Allocation of players to their sections will be made as random as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating will be taken into account.

Tournament Organization

  • The tournament will start on 15.03.2015.
  • Registration will begin on 1.01.2015 and will close on 28.02.2015 to allow for pairings.
  • All preliminary groups will finish at the latest on 15.06.2016.
  • Any unfinished games that will decide promotional positions in the group will be adjudicated. The players involved will send the record of the game (with the required result –win or draw–) and an analysis to their TD for adjudication no later than 5.07.2016.
  • The adjudication will be organized in such a way that all qualified players will be known by 31.08.2016.
  • The second stage is expected to start on 1.10.2016 at the latest.

Prizes

Prize 1000 € for the first 3 players (500 €; 300 €, 200 €), no tie break.

Qualifications

The first two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the next round.

Although the number of preliminary groups which each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semifinal groups or more than one place in the final (in the case of four stages the qualification to the second round is unlimited).

In the case of same score in different sections, will be preferred the number of wins (Baumbach tiebreaking), then the best SB, then the highest ELO; to compare sections with different number of players in the preliminary round (in the case the total number of players isn’t a multiple of 6 some section may have 7 players), will be preferred the best %, then cancelling the 7th place in the bigger sections and compiling a new score-table, then highest ELO.

The winner of the 4th Chess 960 World Cup will qualify for a World Championship Candidates (tie break applies);

Member Federations are asked to give the tournament wide publicity to all their players. We wish all participants many interesting games and new connections with CC friends in other countries, based on the spirit of friendship and the ICCF motto AMICI SUMUS.

Leonardo Madonia Central Tournament Leader

Markus Hömske ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner

Frank Geider World Tournament Director

2014 ICCF Congress Minutes

Austin Lockwood  Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The final version of the 2014 ICCF Congress minutes are now available on iccf.com

https://www.iccf.com/message?message=741

ICCF Thematic Tournaments - 2015

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The 2015 Thematic Tournaments have been announced by Leonardo Madonia of the ICCF Thematic Office; these are unrated events, starting from a themed position. There are both server and postal options.

For a list of themes, please see here:

http://www.asigc.it/inter/data/ic/tem2015.html

You can enter via Direct Entry from the ICCF website:

https://www.iccf.com/EventsAnnouncements.aspx

Counties & District CC Championships

Russell Sherwood  Thursday, October 23, 2014

Good Luck to the West Wales Team following their promotion to the 1st Division of the Counties & District CC Championships.

https://www.iccf.com/event?id=45571

Quote of the Day

Unlike other games in which lucre is the end and aim, [chess] recommends itself to the wise by the fact that its mimic battles are fought for no prize but honour. It is eminently and emphatically the philosopher’s game.

Paul Morphy

ICCF

Welsh Chess Union

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