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News Archive 2008

Last updated 30 December 2008

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30 Dec 08 | Gerhard Radosztics Memorial
Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF European Zonal Director, writes to invite entries for this event which will take the form of a team tournament. Teams will have 4 players, only one of whom can be graded 2000-99; the others must be below 2000. Entries close on 15 March and play is due to start on 19 April 2009. Gerhard, who died in November 2007, was a long-serving European TD and Austrian ICCF delegate, well known to many Scottish players and officials. If you are interested in celebrating his memory, please contact George Pyrich by end-February.
30 Dec 08 | 8th European Team Championships
Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF European Zonal Director, writes to invite entries for the 8th ETC semi-finals which start in mid-February 2009. Teams have 8 players, and the semi-final sections typically have 11 teams. If you are interested in playing for Scotland, please contact George Pyrich before mid-January.
12 Dec 08 | League 2008 Results
TD David Savage reports that some games remain unfinished, but final placings are now resolved. In division 1, Perth Correspondents and Social Stars (joint winners in 2007) have tied with Black Knight on 5½ points. Brutal Realism and Civil Service A finished on 5 points - the closest league placings ever! In division 2, Knights of the Board A have squeezed out Civil Service B with an uncatchable 8 points (with one game to finish). Congratulations to rather more winners than usual!
10 Dec 08 | CCLA (CC League of America) Team Event
Harold Bearce of CCLA writes to invite the Scottish CCA to enter one or more teams in their bi-annual team tournament which covers all playing strengths. The tournament starts in spring 2009 and coincides with CCLA's Centennial Anniversary. To celebrate this banner year, the CCLA Board of Directors has passed a resolution inviting teams from other organisations to play free. Games will be played on the ICCF webserver, with a time control of 10/40. There will be six players per team. The number of games played will depend on the size of the division your team(s) is/are assigned to. The TD assigns the division according to average playing strength and exercises judgement as to how many teams to assign to a division. Approximately six games per player can be expected. CCLA rules prohibit the use of chess engines. Deadline for entry is March 1. If you are interested in playing for an SCCA team please contact: George Pyrich before mid-February.
10 Dec 08 | Open 2008 Results
TD Colin Macgregor reports that both sections are now finished. In section A, Derek Coope entered our 100% Club with a perfect 10/10. In section B, David Cumming almost joined him with 9½/10 - but he made it in the Premier event (below)! Congratulations to both winners who are now eligible to play in next year's Premier tournament.
03 Dec 08 | Premier 2008 Results
TD Alastair Dawson reports that all adjudicated games are now complete, and both sections are closed. In section A, Ian Jamieson and Kevin Paine tied for first place with 5½/6. In section B, David Cumming became the latest addition to our 100% Club with a perfect score of 5/5. Congratulations to all winners who are now eligible to play in the Championship.
03 Dec 08 | ICCF Rapid and Blitz Tournaments
Pedro Hegoburu, ICCF General Secretary, writes to announce two new fast play events approved at the 2008 Conference in Bulgaria. The Rapid time control is 10 moves/20 days, and the Blitz is 10/10. 7-player sections operate for both events, and neither is graded. Entry may be made by the ICCF Direct Entry system online, or via your national association (cheaper if you are a member). For further details please contact: George Pyrich.
04 Nov 08 | ICCF Interzonal Team Tournament
Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF Zonal Director, writes to announce the next Interzonal team event which is scheduled to start in late December 08 on the ICCF webserver. There are four ICCF zones - Europe, Latin America, North America/Pacific and Africa/Asia. Each of these is fielding one team apart from Europe, the largest zone, which will have three. Each team has 8 players who will play two games against the same board number in each of the other five teams, making ten games in total. Players should note that the European Team Championship will start shortly afterwards. If you are interested in playing for one of the European teams, please contact: George Pyrich.
27 Oct 08 | Record Postal Transmission Time?
Mark May writes: "Is this a record? In this morning's post I received a move from David Edney. Nothing too unusual there you may say, after all I have played him several times. His postmark date was however 26th February 2004. A game from that year's Scottish Championship. Can any one beat that for time taken for a move to be delivered by snail mail?" [Ed. I make that 4 years, 8 months and 1 day. Any other contenders out there?]
15 Nov 08 Colin Macgregor writes: I can't match Mark May's record transmission time, but when I was playing an East German in the mid 1980s, I received half the postcard one day, and the other half on the following day!
21 Oct 08 | Slovenian Open Tournament
Tournament Director Dr Danilo Korze writes to remind us that the cloing date for entries to the Slovenian Open is 31st October. Tournament details are posted below (17th September). The Slovenians are keen that at least one player from every ICCF federation takes part, so if you want to fly the flag for Scotland, please get in touch with George Pyrich.
16 Oct 08 | Magazine 103 Published
The third e-mag of 2008 is being distributed by email today. Subscribers to the printed magazine will have to wait a few more days as our printer is snowed under. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be about the same as last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster@scottishcca.co.uk and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!
15 Oct 08 | ICCF World Championship Nominations
Marco Caresso writes to remind us that Scotland still has three unused nominations for the World Championship semi-finals or preliminaries during 2008. Ratings below 2400 will play in the preliminaries; 2400 and above in the semi-finals. If you are interested, please contact: George Pyrich
09 Oct 08 | Friendly Match with USA Starts
We have agreed to start a friendly international against USA on October 20. It will be contested over 21 boards, 16 played on webserver and 5 postal.
30 Sep 08 | Friendly Match with England Starts
We have agreed to start a friendly international against England on October 14. It will be contested over 28 boards, 20 played on webserver and 8 postal.
29 Sep 08 | IM Title for IM
At the recent ICCF Congress in Pleven, Bulgaria, Iain Mackintosh was awarded the IM title for two SIM norms gained in January 2004 and August 2007 respectively. Iain becomes our 10th International Master, so congratulations to him!
17 Sep 08 | Borwell on Wikipedia
Colin Macgregor writes to advise that Wikipedia now carries an entry for Alan Borwell. It's in German, but you can get the general gist fairly readily by using a web translator like Babel Fish. Follow this link: Alan Borwell
17 Sep 08 | Slovenian Open Tournament
Janko Bohak writes to advise us that the CC Council within Slovenian Chess Federation is proud to announce an International Open Tournament to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its affiliation to ICCF. This event offers three rounds - Preliminary, Semifinal and Final rounds and it is open to all CC players in the world. For those who have an ICCF rating of at least 2350 at the beginning of the Semifinal round, it will be possible to enter the tournament directly at that stage; however, entry fees will be somewhat higher then. All games will be played exclusively through the ICCF webserver. Time control is shortened to 10 moves in 30 days, which is the minimum reflection time necessary for games to be rated and for the achievement of international titles to be acknowledged. Conditional moves are available. The Tournament Director is Dr Danilo Korze.
The Preliminary round starts on 15 December 2008. The winner of each seven player group qualifies for the next round. Every player can participate in up to three preliminary groups, however, only two qualifications for the Semifinal round per player are possible. The Semifinal round will begin after the games of the first round have finished, probably at the beginning of 2010. Additional entries will be available for those players whose ICCF rating is at least 2350 at that time, but there will be no entry fee for players who qualify from the Preliminary round. Groups of seven players will be formed in the semifinal round as well. Every player can obtain only one qualification for the Final round. The number of players to qualify from each group for the Final round will be decided upon at the beginning of the second round. The Final round will begin as soon as all the finalists are known, probably in 2011. The prizes for the best five players are €500, €400, €300, €200, and €100.
For further information and to enter, please contact: George Pyrich
09 Sep 08 | 2009 Leagues Format
Following the article in SCCA Magazine 102, we polled team captains and players for their preferences on league structure. The majority of players were happy with an all-play-all format on the webserver, but a significant minority preferred to continue with the current format.
The SCCA Committee has decided to operate 2 types of league next year with the number of divisions in each depending on entries. One league will be as now (target 6 teams per division, 5 boards, 2 games per player, any playing mode) and the other will be all-play-all (target 5 teams per division, 4 boards, 4 games per player, webserver mode only). Teams can enter as many sides as they wish in either or both types of league. Players can turn out for one team in either or both leagues.
Jim Anderson will structure the divisions and promotion/relegation rules once entries are known and any 'floating' players have been placed in teams. Jim will consult with captains before year-end to finalise arrangements before play starts in January.
17 Jul 08 | Magazine 102 Published
The second e-mag of 2008 is being distributed by email and post today, and we trust all subscribers will safely receive their copy. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be slightly shorter than last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster@scottishcca.co.uk and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!
08 Jul 08 | Chess Training in Colombia
Fernando Rojas has emailed us with the following query: "Dear Friends: I represent the city of Villavicencio from Colombia South America. The mayor's office would like to implement a campaign to teach school children to play the game of chess. For this objective we are looking for chess tutors to train school teachers on how to teach the game to children. The city is seeking volunteers willing to donate their knowledge; in term the city will provide a place to live and food for the period of stay in Villavicencio. Villavicencio is located only 2 hours drive from the capital city of Bogota and enjoys temperatures of 25 plus degrees all year around. Thank you for all the attention." If you're interested, contact Fernando direct on: (+44) 07709594475 or (+44) 02089538114. His postal address is: 3 Eaton Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 4QJ England, and you can email him at: Fernando Rojas.
22 May 08 | SM Title for Matheis
At the Executive Committee preceding the 2008 AGM, George Pyrich on behalf of Raymond Baxter proposed the SCCA Master title for Tom Matheis (ICCF grade of 2354 in April 2007; ICCF grade of 2375 in October 2007; 6½/10 on board 5 in the 7th European Team Championships). This was duly awarded, so our congratulations go to Tom!
22 May 08 | 2008 AGM Highlights
At the AGM in Stirling on 18 May, the following items were noted:
  1. The League structure will probably have to adopt the standard ICCF team format in order to be administered on the webserver in 2009. No suitable structure exists for the Challengers event, though results can be entered retrospectively through the webserver for grading. The committee will organise the necessary changes before 2009 events are advertised in the autumn.
  2. Full audited accounts showing a surplus of £575 were produced by Gordon Anderson. Alan Hind was reappointed as auditor.
  3. Gordon Anderson and Dr Kevin Paine were elected as treasurer and membership secretary repectively, replacing Stuart Mackenzie and Dr Alan Brown. Following Raymond Baxter's retirement, no grading officer was appointed, and George Pyrich will take over grading duties. Other appointments were unchanged.
  4. Subscriptions remain unchanged.
15 May 08 | Delay to NATT VI Start
Eric Ruch reports that he is still waiting for two teams to be finalised and is thus unable to start the tournament today (May 15) as planned. More news should follow shortly.
13 May 08 | 30th Anniversary Match v RoW Starts
George Pyrich has completed arrangements for our 30th anniversary friendly international against an ICCF team representing the Rest of the World. The match will be contested over 50 boards - 38 webserver and 12 postal, and the start date is 12 May (players can move earlier if they wish). The webserver pairings will be sent by email, and Scotland sends the first moves on the postal boards. If you have any queries please contact: George Pyrich
28 Apr 08 | SCCA AGM 2008
This will be held at Stirling Chess Club, BB Headquarters, Dalgleish Court, off Baker Street, Stirling FK8 1BJ at 4:00pm on Sunday, 18th May. Directions to the venue can be found by following the link: Stirling CC The agenda is:
  1. Apologies
  2. Minutes of Previous AGM and Matters Arising
  3. President's Remarks
  4. Secretary's Report
  5. Treasurer's Report
  6. International Secretary's Report
  7. Election of Office Bearers
  8. Appointment of Auditor
  9. Subscriptions
  10. AOCB
28 Apr 08 | ICCF World Championship Nominations
Marco Caresso writes to inform us that Scotland is entitled to three nominations for the World Championship semi-finals or preliminaries during 2008. Ratings below 2400 will play in the preliminaries; 2400 and above in the semi-finals. If you are interested, please contact: George Pyrich
25 Apr 08 | Magazine 101 Published
The first e-mag of 2008 is being distributed by email and post today, and we trust all subscribers will safely receive their copy. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be slightly shorter than last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster@scottishcca.co.uk and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!
25 Apr 08 | ICCF Announces 1st Junior World Cup Tournament
Pedro Hegoburu and Frank Geider have announced the first Junior World Cup, intended to promote cc amongst young players. You can read full details by following the 1st junior world cup link.
30 Mar 08 | ICCF Announces 3rd Webchess Open
Frank Geider and Valer-Eugen Demian have announced that registration has started for the popular webserver open tournament. You can read full details by following the 3rd webchess open link.
27 Mar 08 | Beecham Wins 2007-08 Championship
A win against Alan Brown and a draw with Mark May have given Richard Beecham an unassailable 6½ points in the 2007-08 Championship. This represents Richard's fourth outright win, a new record - the previous best was three (full details of previous winners are now available elsewhere on the site). Congratulations to Richard on a superb achievement!
22 Mar 08 | ICCF Spring 2008 Grades Published
Hard on the heels of the SCCA 2008 Grading List comes the first update from the ICCF rating system this year. Due to webserver programming changes, ICCF were a little slower with their Spring update than usual - players were able to interrogate the ICCF website to find out their new grades, but Raymond has only just received the full grading extract.
The new SCCA and ICCF grades are combined under publications/grading list, and the joint pdf version is available for download from the members/downloads page. The new ICCF grades apply to events starting from April 1st.
20 Mar 08 | NATT VI Team Announced
The Scotland team for the upcoming North Atlantic Team Tournament is listed below. Server pairings should be available on the ICCF webserver around mid-April, with the official start in early May. For further information, please contact George Pyrich at: international@scottishcca.co.uk
  1. Matheis, T, 2386
  2. Craig, T J (SIM), 2366
  3. Livie, G W G (IM), 2338
  4. Brown, Dr A C, 2317
  5. Anderson, G M, 2292
  6. Montgomery, R S, 2244
  7. Pyrich, G D (IM, TC) 2243
  8. Lloyd, G, 2112
16 Mar 08 | Website 10th Anniversary Makeover
The website was launched on 7 March 1998, and the redesigned version is now available to celebrate its 10th birthday. This job turned out to be far bigger than I envisaged, mainly due to the huge amount of material we've accumulated over 10 years, and the variety of styles and technologies in which it was assembled. Most of the effort has gone in to redesigning a consistent layout and navigation system, plus bringing the code up to international standards. It will take a little while to acclimatise to the new layout, but please take some time to explore the menu system and bookmark your regular pages.
I'd like to hear your reactions, good, bad or indifferent, and also whether you spotted any flaws - it's been impossible to test every single link and line of code to exhaustion. I've disabled the message board due to lack of activity (use the contact page to send in your comments and queries please), and one or two low-hit pages are marked 'under construction' - I'll complete these as soon as I can. On balance, I hope you find it an improvement and easy to move around.
14 Mar 08 | Grading List 2008 Published
Our latest Grading list is now available, and my apologies for delaying its publication due to the website makeover. The 2008 list is the last set of SCCA grades to be published by Raymond Baxter, who retires from our Executive Committe at this year's AGM. Raymond's work has been a model of accuracy and timeliness over many years, and we thank him most warmly on behalf of all our members for doing such an excellent job! Our best wishes to Raymond for a long and happy retirement!
You'll find the new list under publications/grading list, and a pdf version is available for download from the members/downloads page. New SCCA grades are effective forthwith, and we expect the March ICCF update shortly.
14 Feb 08 | Douglas Livie Memorial Completes
The final game of this highly competitive event is now over, finishing as a 96-move draw between Grant Lambert of Australia and Raul Martin Molinero of Spain. This result means that Raul Martin Molinero ties for 2nd/3rd place with Heiko Starke of Germany, both with 8/12. The event was won by Frank Geider of France with 9/12 back in January 2006, with play having started in June 2004! The best game prize was judged by Roddy McKay of Cathcart, and awarded to Olavi Halme of Finland for his win with the white pieces against Grant Lambert. Sincere congratulations to all the prize-winners, to all the players who contributed to such a fitting tribute to Douglas, and to the Livie family who organised the event and generously donated the prize fund. The final cross-table can be viewed on the Douglas Livie Memorial page (look under events/scca international), and all the games from the event are now available for download from the Scottish Games page (games/scottish collections).
22 Jan 08 | NATT VI
Eric Ruch writes to inform us that NATT VI (North Atlantic Team Tournament) is scheduled to start on 1st May 08. Scotland has participated in previous events, and we'd like to field a team again this time. Each team has 8 boards who play 1 game against each of the other 10 teams in the event. NATT is usually a strong tournament, and this one will be played on the ICCF webserver. If you are interested in taking part, please contact George Pyrich over the next few weeks at: international@scottishcca.co.uk
11 Jan 08 | Magazine 100 Published
The final e-mag of 2007, also the landmark 100th edition, is being distributed by email and post today, and we trust all subscribers will safely receive their copy. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be slightly longer than last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster@scottishcca.co.uk and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!