SCCA News

	News Archive 2021

Last updated 28 December 2021

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28 Dec 21 | ICCF CCE Norm for Whittaker: Lauder-based Ian Whittaker has obtained his second Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm playing on Board 4 in the North Sea Team event. Ian has reached the qualifying standard of 4 points with three games still to be completed. Ian’s first norm was achieved earlier this year whilst playing on Board 4 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team event. Congratulations to Ian!

22 Dec 21 | ICCF World Correspondence Chess Championship Preliminaries Announced: ICCF Title Tournaments Commissioner Gian-Maria Tani writes to announce the Preliminaries stage of the 2022 (46th) World Championship. This event will be played in sections of 13 players (or 15/17 at the organisers' discretion), with entries closing on 6th February and play commencing on 20th March 2022.; Entry should be made through the ICCF website, New Entries tab, by players who meet the set criteria. However, SCCA is entitled to 2 places in the 2022 cycle (includes Preliminaries and Semi-Finals) and players who do not meet the entry criteria must express their interest to Gordon Anderson as soon as possible, but before 23rd January 2022. At the closing date consideration will be given on the allocation of places, if necessary.; Entry fee for this event is £22 if entry through SCCA.

17 Dec 21 | SCCA Leagues 2022: Membership Secretary Mickey Blake writes: We are currently seeking entries for the Scottish Webserver League 2022. The event is for teams of 4 players who take part in Divisions of up to 7 teams. Games are rated. Entries will be accepted until the 15th of January 2022 with a start date of 1st February 2022. End date will be 31st December 2022.; Time control of 10 moves in 30 days with duplication after 20 days is used. 30 days of leave per year are available to each player. Full ICCF rules will apply. The cost is £2.50 per board for non-SCCA members.; To enter a team please contact Michael Blake.

14 Nov 21 | ICCF 5th Inter-Zonal Individual Tournament Announced: European Zone Director, Andrey Pavlikov has written to announce the above event. The purpose of this event is to develop the spirit of Amici Sumus amongst players worldwide (in all ICCF Zones) and to provide opportunities to qualify for title norms. Players can qualify for CCE, CCM and IM title norms. The format is groups of 9 players each in category 1–3. The details are as follows:; Scottish players wishing to participate should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible, but no later than 20th November.

08 Oct 21 | ICCF Grading List 2021/4 Published: The fourth quarterly list of 2021 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 Alistair Maxwell.

08 Oct 21 | SCCA Magazine 155 Published: The third e-mag of the 2021 set is being distributed by email and post today. 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 and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

04 Oct 21 | Cumming wins 2020-21 SCCA Championship: David Cumming has won the SCCA Championship for a 6th time (3 outright, 3 shared). The outstanding match between Mickey Blake and Iain Mackintosh was agreed drawn, which left David and Mickey equal on 5 points. However, David had notched up 3 wins to Mickey's 2, and so the Baumbach tie breaking rule worked out in his favour. Congratulations to the Invernessian!

03 Oct 21 | ICCF Match Europa Zone v Italy Announced: ICCF Zone 1 and ASIGC (Associazione Scacchistica Italiana Giocatori per Corrispondenza) are delighted to announce that a friendly match Italy versus Rest of Europe will be organised in December, 2021.; Any Scottish player who wishes to be considered for the Europa Zone team should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible, but no later than 23rd October 2021.

03 Oct 21 | SCCA 2022 Membership Renewal Documents Published: Membership Secretary Mickey Blake has made the 2022 document set available on the membership page. If you are intending to (re-)join the SCCA, please download the docs, complete your details and revert to Mickey by email or post.

05 Aug 21 | ICCF CCE Norm and Title for Paine: Frome based Kevin Paine has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm and consequently the CCE Title by reaching the norm requirement of 3½ points whilst playing on Board 5 in the 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries. Kevin’s first norm was obtained in May 2018 whilst playing in the European Team Tournament, Semi-Finals where he scored 5½/10. Congratulations to Kevin!

04 Aug 21 | Shri V.D.Pandit (India) RIP: Ambar Chatterjee writes with the sad news that V.D.Pandit, the first Editor of the AICCF Bulletin, died in April 2021 from Covid. Reactions from friends received by email are being put up at: www.aiwcf.org. Please feel free to add to the tributes and let others know of the website.

28 Jul 21 | British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC) Entries Update

The British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC) 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 Scottish Correspondence Chess Association (SCCA) and the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation (WCCF).

Further details of the tournament, including the full rules and a list of previous winners, are available on the EFCC website: efcchess.org.uk/bccc.html.

There is a first prize of £100 and a second prize of £50. Entries close on August 31 and play is due to commence in September 2021. Entries can be made directly to Tournament Organiser Russell Sherwood or via the SCCA Gordon Anderson.

Current entries stand at England (29), Wales (9) and Scotland (2 - Allan Buchan and John Dunn). Entries and the entry fee of £12 should reach Gordon Anderson by 30th August 2021 or Russell Sherwood no later than 31st August 2021.

07 Jul 21 | ICCF Grading List 2021/3 Published: The third quarterly list of 2021 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 Alistair Maxwell.

07 Jul 21 | SCCA Magazine 154 Published: The second e-mag of the 2021 set is being distributed by email and post today. 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 and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

27 Jun 21 | British Correspondence Chess Championship (BCCC) Announced

The BCCC is organised jointly by the English Federation for Correspondence Chess (EFCC), the Scottish Correspondence Chess Association (SCCA) and the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation (WCCF).

Further details of the tournament, including the full rules and a list of previous winners, are available on the EFCC website: efcchess.org.uk/bccc.html.

Entries and the entry fee of £12 should reach Gordon Anderson by 30th August 2021 or Russell Sherwood no later than 31st August 2021.

25 Jun 21 | ICCF 41st World Championship Candidates Stage Announced: Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF Title Tournaments Commissioner, writes to announce the Candidates stage of the 41st World Championship which will start on 20th September 2021.; All entries will be accepted according to ICCF Tournament Rules valid as from January 1, 2021, to be received not later than August 2, 2021. Rating numbers will be taken from the ICCF Rating List as at July 1, 2021 and/or from the current FIDE Rating List.; Candidates Tournament sections normally have 13 players with the possibility for the TTC to extend them to 15 or 17 players if appropriate in special situations.; Normally, no more than four Candidates Tournament sections are started each year with 1st and 2nd qualifying for a Final. However additional sections may be started at the discretion of the TTC. In this situation, the number of qualifiers for the Final may be reduced from two to one.; If the number of the entries isn’t a multiple of 13, 15 or 17, sections will be filled with the players who ask to enter the Candidates Tournament according Rule 1.2.1.3.3; if it’s again impossible to fill a section, the players who have been entered according to Rule 1.2.1.3.1 (h) and who have the lowest ICCF ELO rating won’t be admitted to the 2021 Candidates‘ Tournament.; Entries have to be sent through the “New events” page on www.iccf.com. The entry fee can be paid via Direct Entry or via the player’s National Federation. Entries of “reserve players” must be sent by e-mail to the TTC via the player’s National Federation. It is mandatory that the qualification right under Tournament Rules 1.2.1.3.1 should be specified for each entry.; Registration completes on 2nd August, so if you meet the entry criteria, please contact Gordon Anderson before 27th July, to register your interest.

09 Jun 21 | ICCF CCM Norm for Beveridge: Colin Beveridge from Cheltenham has achieved his 2nd Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst playing on Board 1 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez team tournament, by reaching the norm target of 4½ points. Colin obtained his first CCM norm in the 5th Aniversario Fedapven IM Celso Sanchez Group 4. A third norm will be required before Colin obtains the CCM Title. Congratulations to Colin!

09 Jun 21 | ICCF CCM Norm for Montgomery: Livingston-based Robert Montgomery has obtained his second Correspondence Chess Master norm playing in the 11th veterans World Cup, Semi-final 3, by reaching the norm target of 6½ points with one game still outstanding. Robert obtained his first norm playing on Board 2 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez team tournament. A third norm will be required for the title. Congratulations to Robert!

09 Jun 21 | ICCF CCE Norm for Taylor: Chudleigh-based Wilf Taylor has obtained his first Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm whilst playing on board 5 of the Carlos Flores Gutierrez team tournament by reaching the norm target of 4½ points. Congratulations to Wilf!

31 May 21 | ICCF IA Title for Murden: ICCF’s Tournament Director Committee has confirmed the award of the International Arbiter (IA) to IM Clive Murden. The process to obtain the title is quite onerous in that any candidate for the award required to have been a Tournament Director for at least 2,000 games (internal national events are not counted), has passed the TD Level 2 test and has performed the TD duties to an acceptable level. Each candidate is supported by an approved Mentor. Congratulations to Clive!

17 May 21 | 2021 AGM Highlights: At the AGM via Zoom on 16 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 the accounts page and its attached analysis sheets.

16 May 21 | ICCF CCM Norm and Title for Buchan: Allan Buchan from Edinburgh has achieved his second Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm and the CCM Title whilst participating in the I/TAA/CUB/2K 1, I TORNEO AMIGOS DE ARISTOTELES 2K 1. Allan reached the qualifying standard of 7 points by drawing his last game in the event and exceeding the norm requirement by 0.5 points. Congratulations to Allan!

07 May 21 | SCCA AGM 2021 Notice: This will nominally be held at 7 Tullylumb Terrace, Perth PH1 1BA at 4:00pm on Sunday, 16th May, but will be a Zoom conference due to the Coronovirus restrictions. Please contact the president for Zoom details. The agenda is:

27 Apr 21 | ICCF CCM Norm for Montgomery: Robert Montgomery from Livingston has achieved his first Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst playing on Board 2 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team tournament. Robert achieved his norm by scoring 5 points against the norm requirement of 4.5 points. Congratulations to Robert!

08 Apr 21 | ICCF Grading List 2021/2 Published: The second quarterly list of 2021 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 Alistair Maxwell.

08 Apr 21 | SCCA Magazine 153 Published: The first e-mag of the 2021 set is being distributed by email and post today. Printed copies have resumed as our printers can now offer a partial service under Covid restrictions. We'll also distribute edition 152 (which should have been sent in January) with this mailing. 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 and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

04 Apr 21 | ICCF Nol van´t Riet Team Tournament Announced: The Non-Title Tournament Commissioner has announced the IV. ICCF Team Tournament for players rated <2300 – here in memoriam Nol van't Riet. All ICCF member federations (that are not currently suspended) are invited to enter their teams to this event, which will be played on the ICCF webserver on two rounds: semi-final and final.; Each federation may enter two teams. All team players must be rated at <2300 on the ICCF rating list 2021/2 or 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 tournament duration.; The semi-finals will start on July 4st, 2021 (the birthday of Nol van't Riet!).; There will be 6 players on each team. A maximum of 3 players may be replaced during the tournament. The right to be promoted from the semi-final shall be determined by the ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner and approved by the Executive Board at the start of the tournament. The intention is 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.; The time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 700 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 5 days).; Scottish players wishing to be considered for selection are asked to make contact with Gordon Anderson no later than 15 May 2021.

01 Apr 21 | SCCA Domestic Events 2021: Mickey Blake reports that 5 Challengers sections are now under way, so all of our 2021 tournaments are up and running. We encountered some delays due to Iain Sneddon having to cope with family illness. Our best wishes go to Iain, and many thanks to Mickey Blake and Kevin Paine for filling in at short notice.

25 Mar 21 | ICCF CCM Norm for Buchan: Allan Buchan from Edinburgh has achieved his first Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst participating in the British Correspondence Chess Candidates A section. Allan reached the qualifying standard of 7 points by drawing his last game in the event. Congratulations to Allan!

16 Mar 21 | ICCF 2021 World Championship Semi-Finals Announced: Gian-Maria Tani, ICCF Title Tournament Commissioner, writes to announce the start date of the Semi-Finals of the 45th WCCC as June 20, 2021. Entries will be accepted according to ICCF Tournament Rules valid as from January 1st, 2021, to be received not later than 8th May 2021. Member Federations Nominations (MFN) for the Semi-Finals should also be submitted not later than 8th May 2021. Scottish players who are eligible and who are interested in playing should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible and before 30th April 2021.

05 Mar 21 | ICCF Interzonal Team Tournament (IZTT): IZTTs are held every two years as a team event among the different geographical zones of ICCF. Each team consists of eight players playing at least eight games to make it possible to qualify for title norms. The purpose of these events is to play in the spirit of "amici sumus" (we are friends) and to give players in remote and less developed regions more exposure to competitive correspondence chess. The start date is March 31, 2021.; Zone 1 (Europa) is allowed to play with 4 teams. With 8 players per team, 32 players need to be nominated to complete the Europa entry. Each Zone 1 member federation may nominate 1 player plus 1 reserve player. Note that reserve players will only play if some federations do not send their nominees.; All players will be ordered by boards according to the TO rating requirements (see below). In case there are more players than required in one rating band, those entries which were sent first would be accepted. The ratings for each board are as follows:; Any Scottish player wishing to be considered for selection should contact Gordon Anderson not later than 11 March 2021.

22 Feb 21 | ICCF IM Norm for Anderson: Nottingham-based Gordon Anderson has obtained his first International Master (IM) norm playing on Board 6 in the 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries. Gordon reached the qualifying standard of 5½ points when he won has final game. Congratulations to Gordon!

11 Feb 21 | SCCA Website Outage: Apologies for the unavailability of the SCCA website yesterday. The problem occurred during our domain renewal process, with admin errors resulting in non-payment of fees because of an expired credit card. All now happily sorted.

11 Feb 21 | SCCA 2021 Domestic Events Started: Many thanks to Iain Sneddon who has initiated all our major domestic individual events for this year. You can access the x-table links via the following pages: championship; premier; and open. The leagues are taking a bit longer to organise. Challengers fixtures have also begun for those indicating this preference.

08 Feb 21 | Canadian CCA 100th Anniversary Tournament: The Canadian Correspondence Chess Association has announced the CCCA-100 International Open Tournament to celebrate the event. Details of the event, how to enter and the entry fees can be found on the ICCF website by clicking CCCA-100.

26 Jan 21 | SCCA Best Game Prize 2020 Reminder: I'm delighted to announce that SIM Per Söderberg, Sweden's ICCF delegate, has kindly agreed to be our judge this year. Per has been a good friend to the SCCA over many years, and he's looking forward to assessing our efforts. There are still 5 days left for you to submit your entries, so please send them to me at my: president email address. The main stipulation is that games must have been completed in 2020. Multiple entries are allowed. If you do enter, good luck!

23 Jan 21 | ICCF North Sea Team Tournament: The English Federation for Correspondence Chess has agreed to organize the next edition of the North Sea Team Tournament. The event has been authorised by the ICCF World Tournament Director and the plan is to start the event on 1 September 2021.; The basic details as agreed are:; It is envisaged that Scotland will participate and Scottish players who wish to be considered for selection should contact Gordon Anderson by the end of February 2021.

20 Jan 21 | SCCA Magazine Archive Work Completed: Grader Alistair Maxwell has now finished his archiving work on our members downloads page. Alistair scanned editions 10-72 and created pdf files for each issue. That means every SCCA magazine ever published can now be accessed online. It's been a huge exercise, and many congratulations to Alistair for having the resolve to take it on!

18 Jan 21 | ICCF CCE Norm for Whittaker: Lauder-based Ian Whittaker has obtained his first Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm playing on Board 4 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team event. Ian has reached the qualifying standard of 4 points with one game still to be completed. Congratulations to Ian!

09 Jan 21 | ICCF Jubilee Events Reminder: A reminder to Scottish players, the closing date for entry into the various ICCF 70 Anniversary events is 15 January 2021. Players should enter in the usual way through the ICCF website. There is an entry fee of £9 for entry to ICCF Jubilee World Cup via your National Federation. All other Jubilee events are free. The following link will take you to the Tournament announcement page: ICCF 70.

08 Jan 21 | ICCF IM Norm for Bell: Falkirk-based Alan Bell has obtained his second International Master (IM) norm playing on Board 2 in the 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries. Alan reached the qualifying standard of 5 points when he drew has final game. Alan’s first norm was obtained in the 9th European Team Championship. To obtain the IM title Alan will require to obtain a further norm. Congratulations to Alan!

07 Jan 21 | ICCF Grading List 2021/1 Published: The first quarterly list of 2021 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 Alistair Maxwell.

07 Jan 21 | SCCA Magazine 152 Published: The last e-mag of the 2020 set is being distributed by email today. Printed copies are not available because of the closure of our printers due to Covid restrictions. We'll try to issue the print edition when things return to normal. 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 and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

04 Jan 21 | ICCF European Championship-Candidates’ Tournament Announced: The Zone Director has written to announce the Candidates‘ Tournament of the European Championship 2021 will start on 20th March 2021 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.; Also conditional upon the number of entries, multiple entries submitted by those players holding more than one qualification may have only one entry accepted with other qualifications deferred to the next Candidates event.; The following players have the right to participate in the European Championship Candidates :; The ICCF European Championship is reserved only to those players from European countries.; Players may enter in the usual way through their National Federations or, where eligible, via the ICCF Direct Entry system.; It is also mandatory that the qualification right to participate in the event should be specified for each entry. Entry fee, if through National Federation, is £13.50. Closing date for entries is 15th February 2021.

04 Jan 21 | ICCF Zone 1 Europa 3rd EU Amateur Cup Announced: The Zone Director has written to announce a new multi-stage tournament for players rated not higher than 2000. It is expected that the tournament will be organised annually.; The tournament will be organised in three stages, played by server. Usually each group consists of 7-11 players in the preliminary round, 9-13 in the semi-final round and 11-15 in the final round. Each player plays one game with every opponent of his group simultaneously.; Entries; Only players rated 1000 to 2000 in current rating-list (2021/1) are eligible to play the tournament. Unrated players are not allowed to play. Only players from National Federations who are members of Zone 1 (Europe) are eligible to play the tournament. Players may enter in the usual way through their National Federations or, where eligible, via the ICCF Direct Entry system.; Entry fee is £4.50 when through the National Federation and €5 for a Direct Entry.; Registration will begin immediately and will close on 29 January, 2021 to allow for pairings.; 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 in consideration.; Tournament Organisation; The tournament starts on 20 February, 2021. Triple Block system for a 350 days event, with 75 days initial bank and 1 day increment for the first 50 moves is used, no leave. All groups will finish on 1st February, 2022 at the latest.; The semi-finals are expected to start on 1st March, 2022 at the latest. Triple Block system for a 350 days event, with 75 days initial bank and 1 day increment for the first 50 moves is used, no leave. All groups will finish on 15th February 2023 at the latest. The final is expected to start on 15th March, 2023 at the latest. Triple Block system for a 400 days event, with 50 days initial bank and 2 days increment for the first 50 moves is used, no leave. The tournament will finish on 1st May, 2024 at the latest.; Qualification; The number of promotions depends on total entries received, but it is initially assumed that the top two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the semi-final stage. The winner of each semi-final section will qualify for the 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.

News Archive 2021