SCCA News

	News Archive 2019

Last updated 18 December 2019

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18 Dec 19 | BdF Invitation Tournaments Announced: The National Delegate of Germany has written to extend invitations to Scottish players to participate in the undernoted events. It is anticipated that play will commence in June 2020, although pairings will appear on the ICCF Server in late April 2020. Scottish players who meet the rating requirements are requested to contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible and before 31st January 2020. The events are:

18 Dec 19 | ICCF European Championship 2020 Candidates Announced: The Europa Zonal Director has written to announce that the Candidates Tournament of the European Championship 2020 will start on 20th March 2020 and be played on the ICCF Server. The top two players from each Candidates section (tiebreaks will be used if required) will qualify for the Final. All sections will normally consist of 13 players but, conditional upon the number of entries received, the Tournament Organiser shall have the authority to change the number of players in all sections to 11, 15 or 17. If the number of the entries do not permit the formation of all sections of 13 (or 11, 15, 17) players, the entries of those players who have submitted entries under condition (d) below will, in ascending order from the lowest, be deferred to the next Candidates event. The following players have the right to participate in the European Championship Candidates:; Players may enter in the usual way through their National Federations or, where eligible, via the ICCF Direct Entry system. Entry fee for those entering through the National Federation is £13.50.

18 Dec 19 | ICCF WCCC 2020 Preliminaries Announced: ICCF Title Tournaments Commissioner Gian-Maria Tani writes to announce the Preliminaries stage of the 2020 (44th) World Championship. This event will be played in sections of 13 players (or 15/17 at the organisers' discretion), with entries closing on 2nd February and play commencing on 20th March 2020 Entry must be made through national delegates and each member federation is allowed to nominate entries - SCCA is once again entitled to 3 places in the 2020 cycle (includes Preliminaries and Semi-Finals). If you are interested, please contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible and before 31st January 2020.

13 Dec 19 | Germany versus Rest of Europe (<2100) Match: The German CC Federation (BdF) has written to indicate it would like to arrange a match against the Rest of Europe restricted to players rated below 2100 on the upcoming rating list. The German Federation recognises that many opportunities exist for stronger players, however, little scope exists for those rated below 2100. The plan is to attempt to create a match over 50 boards, although this figure may increase depending on demand. Play would commence in February 2020. There is no information, at this stage, as to rate of play.; Would any Scottish player, who is rated below 2100, who wishes to participate please contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible but no later than 7th January 2020. Those interested can request to play on a maximum of 2 boards.

12 Dec 19 | ICCF Entry System Survey: ICCF released a new system for entering tournaments in 2017; players now enter all tournaments through the ICCF website. We are interested in whether or not players find this process useful or helpful and how we might improve the system. Players are invited to complete the survey: click here.

13 Nov 19 | SCCA 2020 Membership Forms Available: Membership forms for 2020 are now available for download from the website on the membership page. The forms are in Word format and can be returned by post or email. Please use them whether you're renewing or joining as a new member, and remember to complete the tournament form to say which events you'd like to play in during 2020. For further information, please contact Kevin Paine by email, or use his home contact details provided on the officials page.

12 Nov 19 | SCCA Team For ICCF 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries Announced: The SCCA Selection Committee has announced the Scottish team to participate in the 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries. The selected team in board order is:

08 Nov 19 | Friendly Versus Cuba Starts: Team captains Gordon Anderson and Pablo Salcedo Mederos have finalised their teams and play will officially start on 20th November in our friendly match against Cuba (pairings have been issued and moves are possible now). The match comprises 20 boards and will take place on the webserver. This is our first encounter with the Cubans so we're looking forward to making many new acquaintances. As ever, best wishes to both teams for competitive chess and, as the Cubans would say, 'may friendship win!'.

07 Oct 19 | ICCF Grading List 2019/4 Published: The fourth quarterly list of 2019 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Kevin Paine.

07 Oct 19 | SCCA Magazine 147 Published: The third e-mag of the 2019 set is being distributed by email today. Printed copies are also in the post. 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 a touch 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!

26 Sep 19 | ICCF CCM Norm and Title for Lloyd: Geoff Lloyd of Prestatyn has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm and consequently the CCM Title by scoring 8/14 whilst playing on Board 1 in the State and Regions CCC 2019 Division 2. Geoff’s first norm was obtained in July 2019 whilst playing in the North Sea Team Tournament IV on Board 3, where he scored 5.5/10. Congratulations to Geoff!

26 Sep 19 | Norwegian NORJUB-75 Jubilee Announced: In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the Norwegian Correspondence Chess Federation is organising an International Open Tournament. Games will be played on the ICCF Webserver. Entries must be made by 20th October, with multiple entries allowed.

26 Sep 19 | ICCF 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries Announced: The ICCF General Secretary has written to announce the 22nd Correspondence Chess Olympiad. All ICCF Member Federations (that are not currently suspended) are invited to enter their team to this event, which will be played on the ICCF web-server on two rounds: Preliminaries and Final. Each Federation may enter only one team. The Preliminaries will start on January 13th, 2020. There will be 6 players in each team. A maximum of 3 players may be replaced during the tournament. The right to be promoted from the preliminaries shall be determined by the ICCF Title Tournament Commissioner and approved by the Executive Board at the start of the tournament (ICCF Rule 1.2.1.7.7). Scotland will be entering a team in this event.

26 Sep 19 | Friendly versus Netherlands Update: A brief note to advise that the start date for the server match with Netherlands has been put back to February 2020. If you have not already contacted Gordon Anderson to indicate you wish to play in the match, please do so as soon as possible. The Dutch have also suggested a separate match played by post. Are there any Scottish players who would like to play a Dutch opponent by post rather than server? If so, please contact Gordon Anderson by 25th October 2019.

05 Sep 19 | ICCF Europa Zone: Netherlands v Rest of Europe: ICCF Europa Zone and De Nederlandse Bond van Correspondentieschakers are delighted to announce that a friendly match Netherlands versus Rest of Europe will be organised in November, 2019.

21 Aug 19 | SCCA to host 2020 ICCF Congress in Glasgow: The 2019 ICCF Congress, presently being held in Vilnius, Lithuania, has today voted unanimously to accept a Scottish proposal to host the 2020 Congress in Glasgow from 16th August to 20th August 2020. The proposal from the SCCA was timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the first Congress hosted by SCCA in Peebles, an event which was very successful.

17 Aug 19 | British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC) 2019-21 Reminder: A quick reminder that closing date for entries is fast approaching with anyone wanting to play needing to meet the closing deadline of 26th August if entering through SCCA or 30th August for those making a direct entry to the Championship. Scottish entries are down significantly this year and I’d encourage anyone who wants to play in a very competitive event to get in touch with Gordon Anderson without delay. Entry fee is £10.

03 Aug 19 | ICCF CCE Norm and Title for Sneddon: Iain Sneddon of Irvine has quickly obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm and the CCE Title whilst playing in the 10th Inter-Zonal Team Championship Board 7. Iain reached the qualifying standard of 8 points with 2 games still outstanding. Many congratulations to Iain!

30 Jul 19 | ICCF CCE Norm for Sneddon: Iain Sneddon of Irvine has obtained his first ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm whilst playing in WS/CCM/B/3. Iain reached the qualifying standard of 7 points with 2 games still outstanding. Congratulations to Iain!

30 Jul 19 | ICCF CCM Norm for Paine: Kevin Paine of Frome has obtained his first ICCF Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm having reached the qualifying standard of 5½ points whilst competing on Board 8 of the 11th European Team Tournament. Kevin has already achieved a CCE norm in the same event. Congratulations to Kevin!

19 Jul 19 | ICCF CCM Norm for Lloyd: Geoff Lloyd of Prestatyn has obtained his first ICCF Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst playing on Board 3 for Scotland in the IV North Sea Team Tournament. Geoff has reached the norm requirement of 5½ points. Congratulations to Geoff!

19 Jul 19 | IV Magistral AEAC: The Spanish Correspondence Chess Federation has written in connection with the above event to invite Scotland to nominate up to 3 players to participate. The salient details are as follows:; Play is scheduled to commence on 25th October 2019. Would Scottish players who are interested in being nominated for any of the above events please contact Gordon Anderson by 1st August 2019.

03 Jul 19 | ICCF Grading List 2019/3 Published: The third quarterly list of 2019 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Kevin Paine.

03 Jul 19 | SCCA Magazine 146 Published: The second e-mag of the 2019 set is being distributed by email today. Printed copies are also in the post. 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!

27 Jun 19 | ICCF CCE Title and CCM Norm for Beveridge: Colin Beveridge from Cheltenham has achieved his Correspondence Chess Expert title whilst playing in the 5th Aniversario Fedapven IM Celso Sanchez Group 4 and has also achieved a CCM Norm playing in the same event. Colin has achieved two CCE norms, firstly in April 2017 whilst playing in the British Reserves A 2016-17, with the second coming in the above anniversary event, where he has scored 8/12. The CCE title has been awarded as a consequence of significantly over-scoring the norm requirement, to the extent that Colin has also achieved a CCM Norm. Many congratulations to Colin!

14 Jun 19 | ICCF Champions League 8 Announced: The Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, Jörg Kracht writes to announce the launch of Champions League 8, which is a team event for teams of 4 players. There are 3 divisions:; Games are rated and where all necessary requirements are met, title norms may be possible.; Entries will be accepted from 1st June until 31st July 2019 with a start date of 1st September 2019. End Date will be 31st August 2021.; ICCF standard time control applies; i.e. 10 moves in 40 days with duplication after 20 days is used. 30 days of leave per year are available to each player.; Cost of entry for each team will be £28 i.e. £7 per player.; It is some years since Scottish teams last participated, however, any Scottish player who would be interested in playing in this event should, in the first instance, contact Gordon Anderson by 15th July 2019 to express their interest.

13 Jun 19 | British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC) 2019-21 Announced: The British Correspondence Chess Championship is the premier tournament on the British CC calendar. Running continuously since 1921 and open to all British players, the BCCC has carried ICCF title norms since 2016. The BCCC caters for players of all levels and consists of a final, a candidates section and a number of reserves sections.; The BCCC is organised jointly by the English Federation for Correspondence Chess (EFCC), the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation (WCCF) and the Scottish Correspondence Chess Association (SCCA).; Entries close on August 31 and play is due to commence in September 2019. Entries may be made to Gordon Anderson (entry fee £10) until 26th August, or directly at the EFCC website. If a qualification to the Championship or Candidates is held then is should be stated with the entry.

03 Jun 19 | ICCF CCM Title for Anderson: Gordon Anderson from Nottingham has achieved his Correspondence Chess Master title whilst playing in the World Correspondence Chess Championship Preliminaries. Gordon has achieved two norms, firstly in April 2017 whilst playing in the 21st Olympiad Prelims, with the second coming in the WCCC Preliminaries, where he has scored 7/12. The title has been awarded as a consequence of over-scoring the norm requirement in both events. Many congratulations to Gordon!

27 May 19 | 2019 AGM Highlights: At the AGM in Perth on 26 May, the following items were noted:; Members can download AGM and Executive Committee minutes from the members download page. Full financial details may be accessed from accounts page and its attached analysis sheets.

26 May 19 | ICCF- Europe Zone Werner Stern Memorial Reminder: Andrey Pavlikov, Zonal Director for Europe writes to announce a new Memorial Tournament as a permanent tribute to Werner Stern who died recently.; The tournament is for EU players and will be played by server and will be organized in two stages. The sections of the preliminary round will have 9-15 players (8 to 14 games). The Final will be played with a main group for the winners of each section; there will also be a number of “consolation finals” for those who finish as a runner-up in their stage one section.; Those who participate should enter in the usual way through the ICCF Server Entry System. A player can apply for more than one preliminary group. Entry fee for this event via National Federation is £8.00. The closing of the registrations is the 10th of June 2019.; 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.; The tournament will start on 25 June 2019. Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 350 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 75 days; Increment: 1 day). Finals (13-17 players in each section) will start not later than 1 May 2020. Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 500 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 3 days).

23 May 19 | Friendly Versus Sweden Starts: Team captains Gordon Anderson and Sture Olsson have finalised their teams and play will officially start on 1st June in our friendly match against Sweden (moves are possible now). The match comprises 27 boards and will take place on the webserver (26) and via postal (1). We've played the Swedes three times in recent years, and they've won all of them! In the 2010 match (web/postal), the score was 22-42; the 2006 fixture (web/postal) finished 17-39; while the 1997 encounter (postal) ended up 22-30. The omens are not good, but we'll be trying to get closer this time... As ever, best wishes to both teams for competitive chess plus the making of new and the renewal of old acquaintances!

13 May 19 | ICCF 1st EU Chess 960 Individual Championship Announced: Andrey Pavlikov, Zonal Director for Europe writes to announce the above new tournament at Chess 960. The tournament will be played by server and will be organized in three stages (might be in two stages depending from the number of the entries). The sections of the preliminary round will have 5 to 6 players (8 or 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 vary from one opponent to another). Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 302 days, Initial Clock: 50 days, Initial Bank: 51 days, Increment: 1 day). The event will be rated for Chess 960 rating system.; Players may enter in the usual way through the ICCF Server Entry System. The closing of the registrations is 5th of June 2019. A player may apply for more than one preliminary section. Entry fee is £4 to be paid via National Federation; 9.00 Euro to be paid via DE Program.; Allocation of players to their sections will be made as randomly as possible; however, geographical distribution as well as an achievement of reasonable equality of the average rating will be taken into account.; The tournament will start on 15 June 2019. The closing of the registrations is 5th of June 2019 to allow for pairings.; The semi-final stage is expected to be started not later than 1 May 2020. The final is expected to be started not later than 15 March 2021.; The winner and the runner-up of each preliminary section will qualify for the next round. Qualifications to the Final depend on number of semi-final sections. Although the number of preliminary sections which each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semi-final sections or more than one place in the final.

06 May 19 | ICCF George Pyrich Memorial Team Tournament: Gordon Anderson has announced the following team for the George Pyrich Memorial Team Tournament due to start on 1st June 2019. Best wishes to all involved!

06 May 19 | Friendly Versus Sweden Calling Notice: As most are aware plans are in place to start a match against Sweden in June 2019. Recently, we have lost some players through death or ill-health which clearly presents some challenges. It would be helpful if those who wish to play could get in touch with Gordon Anderson by 14 May 2019 to confirm their availability and to advise if they wish to play on one board or may be prepared to play on two boards. We haven’t played Sweden for some time and it would be good to have as strong a team as possible, playing, if possible on 20/25 boards.

29 Apr 19 | SCCA AGM 2019: This will be held at 7 Tullylumb Terrace, Perth PH1 1BA at 4:00pm on Sunday, 26th May. Skype facilities can be made available for those unable to attend in person (please contact the president). The agenda is:

22 Apr 19 | ICCF Europe Zone Chess and 960 Events: At the last ICCF Congress in Llandudno the delegates from the above zone approved a proposal that the Europa Zone Director, Andrey Pavlikov should attempt to organise new individual championship, team championship and club tournament for 960 chess. It was agreed that Zonal Director should make enquiries of each Federation in an attempt to ascertain the level of interest for these proposed tournaments.; Mr Pavlikov has now written to Delegates enquiring if any players from their country are willing to play in a 960 chess EU Individual Championship. As far as I can ascertain no Scottish players participate in 960 chess events, however, there may be some Scottish players who would wish to participate.; If there is demand the aim is to start an event on 15th June 2019. There are likely to be Preliminaries with 5 to 6 players in each. Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 302 days). Semi-finals to be started after all qualified players are known but not later than June 1, 2020, with the Final to be started after all qualified players are known but not later than May 1, 2021. Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 302 days) for each stage of the event.; Entry fee for this event via National Federation is £4. If any Scottish player wishes to participate they should contact Gordon Anderson by 28th April 2019.

22 Apr 19 | ICCF CCM Norm for Anderson: Gordon Anderson from Nottingham has achieved his Correspondence Chess master norm whilst playing in the World Correspondence Chess Championship Preliminaries. Gordon has achieved the norm score of 6 points and has one outstanding game. Gordon’s first norm was achieved in April 2017 whilst playing in the 21st Olympiad Prelims. Congratulations to Gordon who may need a third norm to be awarded the CCM title, depending on the outcome of his final game in the WCCC Preliminaries.

08 Apr 19 | ICCF Veterans World Cup 12 Announced: Ian M. Pheby, President of EFCC (the English CC Federation), writes to announce that VWC12 will start on 1st September, 2019, with the closing date for entries 1st August. As with 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 11 players (10 games) or 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 18 months, with a fixed closing date specified at the outset. VWCs are open to all players who are 60 years old or more at the start date of the tournament. 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. Players may enter through their National Federations (the SCCA entry fee per section is £9.00) or, where eligible, via the ICCF Direct Entry system, where the fee will be €14.04 per preliminary section.; Entries should be made by players via the server from the ‘New events’ page. National delegates will be automatically alerted to entries made through their federation and will approve them before the closing date. Entries sent by email directly to the tournament organiser by delegates or players will not be accepted.

08 Apr 19 | ICCF CCE Norm for Beveridge: Colin Beveridge from Cheltenham has achieved his second Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm whilst participating in the 5th ANIVERSARIO FEDAPVEN IM CELSO SANCHEZ Tournament Group C4. Colin reached the qualifying standard of 5.5 points with 3 games still to complete. Colin’s first norm was obtained in April 2017 while competing in the BCCC Reserves 2016-17. Congratulations to Colin who now requires a further norm to obtain the CCE title.

03 Apr 19 | ICCF Grading List 2019/2 Published: The second quarterly list of 2019 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Kevin Paine.

03 Apr 19 | SCCA Magazine 145 Published: The first e-mag of the 2019 set is being distributed by email today. Printed copies are in the post tonight. 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!

19 Mar 19 | BCCC Rules Added to Website: Gordon Anderson has provided a rules update for the British CC Championship which applies from this year. The rules may be accessed via the site menu system by selecting events/general/bccc rules, or by following this link: BCCC Rules.

18 Mar 19 | ICCF 2019 World Championship Semi-Finals Announced: Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF Title Tournament Commissioner, writes to announce the start date of the Semi-Finals of the 43rd WCCC as June 20, 2019. Entries will be accepted according to ICCF Tournament Rules valid as from January 1st, 2019, to be received not later than 5th May 2019. Member Federations Nominations (MFN) for the Semi-Finals should also be submitted not later than 5th May 2019. MFN for 2018 cannot be used for 2019 WC Cycle. Scottish players who are eligible and who are interested in playing should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible and before 30th April 2019.

16 Mar 19 | ICCF George D Pyrich Memorial Team Tournament Announced: Michael Millstone, ICCF General Secretary has written to announce the above team tournament in memory of the late George D Pyrich. All ICCF Member Federations are invited to enter up to two teams to this event, which will be played on the ICCF web-server on two rounds: Preliminaries and Final.; All players in a team must be rated at <2300 on the ICCF Rating list 2019/2 or on the current FIDE List. In addition all players must be full members of the Federation they represent or be registered on the ICCF server for the county of the Federation they represent for the duration of the tournament.; The Preliminaries will start on 1st June, 2019.; There will be 6 players in each team. A maximum of 3 players may be replaced during the tournament. The right to be promoted from the preliminaries will be determined by the ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner and approved by the Executive Board at the start of the tournament. The intention will be for a 13 Team Final.; The entry fee will be at the rate of £5 per player, i.e. £30 per team. There will be no further entry fee for the Final.; Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 700 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 5 days).; Scottish players who meet the ratings requirements and who wish to be considered for selection should make contact with Gordon Anderson as soon as possible but no later than 30th April 2019.

19 Feb 19 | ICCF Europa Stern Invitational Announced: Andrey Pavlikov, Director Europa Zone writes to announce an invitational tournament in memory of Werner Stern who died recently. Stern is the only player to have won the European Championship twice.; The Werner Stern Memorial will be a Category V-VIII: Dependent on the players entered SIM, IM, CCM, CCE norms should be available. Each section will comprise 13-15 players. Play will be by postal mail.; ICCF standard time control of 10 moves in 40 days with duplication after 20 days is used with a start date of 15 May 2019. Entry fee: €10 (euros). Prize fund: €300, €200, €100 (euros) for 1st, 2nd, 3rd players. Players who wish to participate in tournament should have an ELO rating of 2350+ in ICCF rating list 2019/2.; Any Scottish players who wish to participate should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible but no later than 20th March 2019.

13 Feb 19 | Friendly Versus Panama Starts: Team captains Gordon Anderson and Hermann Rösch have finalised their teams and play will officially start on 1st March in our first-ever friendly match against Panama (though moves are possible from today). The match comprises 19 boards and will take place on the webserver. As ever, best wishes to both teams for competitive chess plus the making of new friends!

11 Feb 19 | ICCF Venezuelan Invitational Tournament: César Jesús Reyes Maldonado, President of FEDAP-VEN writes to announce the decision to hold the II INTERNATIONAL MEMORIAL PABLO ATARS 2019 (VEN) tournament. The event will be an International Open in 10 Groups by categories (rating list 2019-2), using the new Triple Block (302 days) system. Start date will be May 15, 2019. Entries need to be submitted to the organisers by 21st April 2019. Entry fee through registration by participant is €10 (euros) through PayPal ([email protected]). The following sections are planned:; Each member of ICCF, including Scottish players will have received a notice through the server of the above and those interesting in participating should enter directly making payment through PayPal, as above. Please note that neither SCCA nor its Treasurer have a PayPal account.

Group	Players	Category	Rating
1	11-13	7+	(2401+)
2	11-13	5-6	(2351-2400)
3	11-13	3-4	(2301-2350)
4	11-13	1-2	(2251-2300)
5	9-11	K-L	(2201-2250)
6	9-11	I-J	(2151-2200)
7	9-11	G-H	(2101-2150)
8	9-11	E-F	(2051-2100)
9	7-9	A-D	(1951-2050)
10	7-9	N/A	(1950-)

28 Jan 19 | SCCA 2019 Domestic Events Started: Many thanks again to Kevin Paine who has initiated all our major domestic events in January this year! You can access the x-table links via the following pages: championship; premier; open; and leagues. The leagues have again proved popular, with an extra division this season. Challengers fixtures will follow in February, in order to stagger the games load for players.

27 Jan 19 | ICCF SIM Norm for Murden: Australia based IM Clive Murden has achieved his second Senior International Master (SIM) norm whilst playing for Scotland on Board 3 in the 11th European Team Championship Semi-final. Clive achieved the norm score of 6/10. Clive’s first norm was achieved in 2012 playing in the 18th Olympiad Prelims. Congratulations to Clive who now needs a third norm to be awarded the SIM title.

11 Jan 19 | ICCF Grading List 2019/1 Published: The first quarterly list of 2019 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Kevin Paine.

11 Jan 19 | SCCA Magazine 144 Published: The fourth and final e-mag of the 2018 set is being distributed by email today. Printed copies are in the post tonight. 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!

09 Jan 19 | ICCF CCE Norm (and Title) for Lloyd: Geoff Lloyd of Prestatyn has obtained his third ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm and subsequently the CCE Title, although the latter has still to be confirmed by the Qualifications Commissioner. Geoff reached the qualifying standard of 5 points while playing in the Veterans World Cup 9 Semi-final 3 where he still has 4 games to complete. Geoff’s first norm was obtained in January 2017 whilst playing in the WCCF Congress Invitational, while his second norm was obtained whilst playing in the Esko Nuutilainen Team Tournament. Congratulations to Geoff on his 3rd norm and on obtaining the title when it is confirmed!

09 Jan 19 | ICCF CCE Title for Blake: Mickey Blake of Castle Douglas has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm and subsequently the CCE Title. Mickey reached the qualifying standard of 5 points while playing in the Veterans World Cup 9 Semi-final 1 where he still has 5 games to complete. Mickey’s first norm was obtained in September 2018 whilst playing in the WCCF 5th Invitational. Congratulations to Mickey!

01 Jan 19 | ICCF President's New Year Message: To all Correspondence Chess Friends,; As 2018 ends, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you and all those dear to you for a very healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. I also want to extend my sincere thanks to all officials and delegates for their devoted work on behalf of ICCF during the last year.; This last year has indeed been demanding for all ICCF officials and volunteers but nevertheless has proved to be successful for ICCF which has achieved substantial progress and improvement.; This year a new and fully automated registration system has been implemented on the server to improve players' experience and streamline the entries to our tournaments. We have now published the ICCF laws of correspondence chess that complete the set of rules applying to correspondence chess.; The new structure of ICCF norm tournaments adopted by the Congress in Wales has been launched successfully in December. The new system provides improved targeted master and grand-master norm tournaments as well as new correspondence chess experts, chess masters, and senior international masters tournaments. The number of entries registered since these new tournaments were advertised among the players demonstrates that they will be a success and that they have filled a gap in ICCF tournament offerings.; This year the ICCF Congress will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania at the end of August, and I hope that many delegates, officials and correspondence chess players will join us. 2019 will be an election year and all member federations are kindly invited to participate in the election of the ICCF Executive Board members.; In closing, let me once again extend to you my best wishes for the New Year. I hope that 2019 will bring satisfaction in all your endeavors, personal, professional, and chess!; Amici Sumus,; Eric Ruch; ICCF President

News Archive 2019