SCCA News

	News Archive 2022

Last updated 29 December 2022

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29 Dec 22 | ICCF CCM Title for Paine: Frome-based Kevin Paine has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst playing on Board 7 in the Final of the European Team Championship, reaching the qualifying score of 5.5 points with 1 game to spare. Kevin’s first norm was obtained in July 2019 whilst playing in the European Team Tournament, Semi-Finals where he scored 5.5/10. The Qualifications Commissioner has now confirmed that the second norm is sufficient to award the CCM Title. Congratulations to Kevin!

29 Dec 22 | ICCF CCE Title and CCM Norm for Taylor: Chudleigh-based Wilf Taylor has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm playing in the Ian M. Pheby Celebration event Section D, and his first CCM norm in the same event when he achieved a score of 10/14. Wilf’s first CCE norm was obtained in June 2021 whilst playing on Board 5 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team tournament, where he scored 4.5/8. The qualifications Commissioner has now confirmed the awarding of the CCE Title. Congratulations to Wilf on the award of the CCE Title and on his first CCM norm!

18 Dec 22 | ICCF World Correspondence Chess Championship Preliminaries Announced: ICCF Title Tournaments Commissioner Gian-Maria Tani writes to announce the Preliminaries stage of the 2023 (47th) World Championship. This event will be played in sections of 13 players (or 15/17 at the organisers' discretion), with entries closing on 10th February and play commencing on 20th March 2023. 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 2023 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 1st February 2023. At the closing date consideration will be given on the allocation of places, if necessary. Entry fee for this event is £13.50 if entry through SCCA.

9 Dec 22 | New ICCF Entry Fees from January 2023: Gordon Anderson's proposals for ICCF tournament entry fees were adopted by Congress delegates in Glasgow during August this year. The new rates take effect from 1st January 2023 and will be welcome news for players - almost every event will cost less than before! You can browse the changes at: entry fees.

2 Dec 22 | ICCF CCM Norm for Paine: Frome based Kevin Paine has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm whilst playing on Board 7 in the Final of the European Team Championship, reaching the qualifying score of 5 points with 2 games to spare. Kevin’s first norm was obtained in July 2019 whilst playing in the European Team Tournament Semi-Finals where he scored 5.5/10. Congratulations to Kevin!

2 Dec 22 | ICCF CCE Norm for Taylor: Chudleigh based Wilf Taylor has obtained his second ICCF Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm playing in the Ian M. Pheby Celebration event Section D. Wilf reached the qualifying score of 8 points with 2 games still in play. Wilf’s first CCE norm was obtained in June 2021 whilst playing on Board 5 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team tournament, where he scored 4.5/8. Congratulations to Wilf!

29 Nov 22 | ICCF CCE Norm for Morrison: Lytham St. Annes-based Graham Morrison has obtained his first Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norm playing in the WS/MN/B/55 event. Graham has reached the qualifying standard of 4.5 points with three games still to be completed in the event. Congratulations to Graham!

11 Oct 22 | SCCA 2023 Membership Renewal Documents Published: Membership Secretary Mickey Blake has made the 2023 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.

07 Oct 22 | ICCF Grading List 2022/4 Published: The fourth quarterly list of 2022 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 Oct 22 | SCCA Magazine 159 Published: The third e-mag of the 2022 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!

23 Sep 22 | ICCF IM Title for Bell: Falkirk-based Alan Bell has obtained his third International Master (IM) norm and subsequently the IM Title whilst playing on Board 5 of the Scottish team participating in the 11th European Team Championship Final. Alan reached the required total of 6 points with a draw in his final game. Alan obtained his first IM Norm in 2013 whilst playing in the 9th ETC Semi-Final and his second in the 22nd Olympiad Preliminaries in 2021. Congratulations to Alan!

18 Sep 22 | British Correspondence Chess Championship Update: All the tables can now be seen on the ICCF website:; Norms are available in the Championship and Candidates.; The Reserves are using the Silli pairing system so that all players get 14 games.; Good luck to all Scottish players who are participating in one of the various sections!

21 Jul 22 | British Correspondence Chess Championship: 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 Championship section, one or more Candidates sections 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: BCCC Championship.; Entries close on 31st August 2022 with play due to commence in September 2022. Entries can be made direct to the Tournament Organiser, Phillip Beckett or via SCCA (Gordon Anderson). Please note that these are the only entry routes for this event.; The BCCC is a highly competitive event and we are unable to confirm a player's final allocation at the time of entry. Entries and the entry fee of £12 should be received by Phill Beckett or by Gordon Anderson, no later than 30th August 2022. If you have a qualification to a specific division please state this at the time of entry.; If you have any enquiries please direct them to Gordon Anderson.

18 Jul 22 | ICCF IM Norm for Sneddon: Iain Sneddon from Irvine has achieved his second International Master (IM) norm whilst participating in 12th European Team Championship Semi-Final on Board 5. Iain reached the qualifying standard of 5 points from his 9 games. Congratulations to Iain!

08 Jul 22 | ICCF Grading List 2022/3 Published: The third quarterly list of 2022 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 Jul 22 | SCCA Magazine 158 Published: The second e-mag of the 2022 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!

25 Jun 22 | ICCF CCE Norm and Title for Whittaker: Lauder based Ian Whittaker has obtained his third and fourth Correspondence Chess Expert (CCE) norms playing in the British Candidates A 2021/23 and the WCCF 13th invitational. Ian has reached the qualifying standard of 6 points with two games still to be completed in the BCCC event and exceeded the qualifying standard of 6.5 points in the WCCF event. Despite these new norms the confirmation of the CCE title is awaited from the Qualifications Commissioner. There is always a slight delay in this occurring and hopefully confirmation will come shortly. Ian’s first norm was achieved whilst playing on Board 4 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team event and his second playing on Board 4 in the North Sea Team event. Congratulations to Ian on his norms and the Title when it is confirmed!

19 Jun 22 | ICCF World Correspondence Chess Championship-Candidates Announced: The Title Tournament Commissioner, Gian-Maria Tani, has written to announce entries can now be accepted for the above.; For details of the event, SCCA members should use the following link to the ICCF announcement of the 42nd WCCC.; Scottish Players who are eligible are encouraged to enter the event. Further details can be obtained by contacting Gordon Anderson.; Closing date for entries is 10 August 2022, with play starting on 20th September 2022.

06 Jun 22 | ICCF 8th WebChess Open Announced: ICCF is delighted to announce the start of the 8th WebChess Open tournament on the server. This announcement is posted on the ICCF website and distributed to all national federations. Working in collaboration with ICCF, the Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, IM Jörg Kracht, IA (GER), will organise the tournament.; For details of the event, SCCA members should use the following link to the ICCF announcement of this new event.; Entry can be through either the National Federation or by Direct Entry. The fee for those using the National Federation route is £4.50 per entry. Multiple entries are permitted. Closing date for entries is 31 August 2022.

28 May 22 | SCCA Horst Rittner Memorial Team Announced: Team Captain Gordon Anderson has finalised the Scotland team for the upcoming Horst Rittner Memorial Tournament (<2300).; Good luck to all the players!

23 May 22 | 2022 AGM Highlights: At the AGM via Zoom on 22 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.

29 Apr 21 | SCCA AGM 2022 Notice: This will nominally be held at 11 West Grange Farm Steading, St Andrews KY16 8LJ at 4:00pm on Sunday, 22nd May, but will be a Zoom conference to make attendance easier. Please contact the president for Zoom details. The agenda is:

25 Apr 22 | ICCF CCM Norm for Whittaker: Lauder based Ian Whittaker has obtained his first Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm playing on Board 4 in the North Sea Team Tournament V event. Ian has reached the qualifying standard of 5 points with one game still to be completed. Congratulations to Ian!

13 Apr 22 | ICCF Horst Rittner Team Tournament Announced

The Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, Jörg Kracht has written to announce the Horst Rittner Team Tournament for players rated <2300.

All ICCF Member Federations (that are not currently suspended) and Zone (only for isolated players) are invited to enter their teams to this event, which will be played on the ICCF web-server over two rounds: semi-final and final.

Each federation and zone may enter two teams. All players on the team must be rated at <2300 on the ICCF rating list 2022/2 or on the current FIDE list. In addition, all players must be members of the Federation (or zone) they represent or be registered on the ICCF server for the county of the Federation they represent for the duration of the tournament.

The semi-final will start on July 1st, 2022.

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 semi-final shall be determined by the ICCF Non-Title Tournament Commissioner and approved by the Executive Board at the start of the tournament. The intention will be for a 13 Team final.

Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 700 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 5 days).

Team entries have to be sent by the National Federations or Zonal Directors to the Non-Title Tournament Commissioner Jörg Kracht ([email protected]) not later than June 12th, 2022. No replacement or board change will be allowed after that date, unless exceptional circumstances occur.

Scottish players who meet the rating requirements and who are interested in being selected to represent Scotland should contact Gordon Anderson as soon as possible, and certainly no later than 31st May 2022.

06 Apr 22 | ICCF Grading List 2022/2 Published: The second quarterly list of 2022 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.

06 Apr 22 | SCCA Magazine 157 Published: The first e-mag of the 2022 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!

13 Mar 22 | ICCF Extraordinary Congress (Virtual): As everyone is aware Russia has invaded Ukraine which has resulted in a variety of sanctions. ICCF has now called an Extraordinary Congress (Virtual) for early May 2022. Access to the Congress Website can be obtained by logging into ICCF and by clicking on ICCF Congresses on the site menu (left column). Once there, members can access the Proposals as they are submitted by Member Federations. At the time of writing this article, there are 6 Proposals submitted to the Congress by the ICCF Executive Board. Members of SCCA will have views and it would be extremely helpful if you would convey these to our National Delegate Gordon Anderson or any Member of the SCCA Committee, by 30th April 2022.

13 Mar 22 | ICCF Peace Open Amici Sumus: ICCF and BdF have jointly organised this event to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Full details can be found on the ICCF website at: Peace Open Amici Sumus.

07 Mar 22 | ICCF Emergency Congress: In view of the aggression by Russia against Ukraine, some member Federations have called for an Emergency Congress. The Executive Board of ICCF met on Saturday 5 March and the outcome is that there will be an Emergency Congress (virtual) in early May. Please see the ICCF Notices posted on 6/7 March on the ICCF website.; The Executive Committee of SCCA will direct our National Delegate once Proposals have been submitted for consideration at Congress. Scottish members/players who wish to contribute to the debate should communicate with Gordon Anderson or any Member of the SCCA Committee.

30 Jan 22 | SCCA 2022 Domestic Events Started

Many thanks to Mickey Blake who has initiated all our major domestic individual and team events for this year. You can access the x-table links via the following pages: championship; premier; open A; open B; league 1; league 2; and league 3.
Challengers fixtures for 2021-22 and 2022-23 are arranged in mini-tables on the SCO-Challengers page of the webserver.

28 Jan 22 | SCCA Best Game Prize 2021 Reminder: I'm very pleased to announce that IM Maxim Konstantinov of Russia has kindly agreed to be our judge this year and is looking forward to analysing our entries. There are still a few days left for you to send your submissions, so please direct them to me at my president email address. The main stipulation is that games must have been completed in 2021. Multiple entries are allowed. If you do enter, good luck!

25 Jan 22 | ICCF Swiss System KO Tournament Announced: Jorg Kracht, the Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, writes to announce the launch of a new tournament, the ICCF Swiss System KO Tournament, sponsored by Opening Master. Details of the event can be found on Swiss System KO Tournament. The event can be entered through the ICCF Server Entry system.

19 Jan 22 | ICCF Events Start Date Changes: Players should note that the majority of events on the ICCF webserver now require that no move may be made prior to the official event start date. Players should receive a minimum of one week's notice prior to an event starting. This rule applies to all International tournaments, which include SCCA Webserver Team Leagues. Other SCCA Domestic tournaments are largely unaffected at present.

19 Jan 22 | ICCF Congress 2022 Website Launched: ICCF General Secretary Michael Millstone has now circulated all ICCF member nation delegates to announce that the website specially built for the upcoming Congress in Glasgow is now available for use. You can access it at: 2022 congress website.; Registration facilities are available for those wishing to attend, and there is plenty of information about hotels, local attractions and the planned programme of events. Further updates will be made between now and August. Our event organiser is Gordon Anderson, who can provide any further information you may need.

17 Jan 22 | ICCF European Championship 2022 Candidates Tournament

The European Zone Director, Andrey Pavlikov has written to announce that the Candidates’ Tournament of the European Championship 2022 will start on 15th March 2022 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 does 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 rated 2500 or over at the time of entry
holders of the Grandmaster Title
holders of the Senior International Master Title with a rating over 2400 at the time of entry
holders of the International Master Title with a rating over 2450 at the time of entry
those players who finished 1st or 2nd in a European Championship Semi-Final
participants of previous or running Finals who have scored at least 45% of the possible points, if they have not earned a higher qualification and have not already used this qualification right
the participants of previous or running Candidates who have scored at least 55% of the possible points, if they have not earned a higher qualification and have not already used this qualification right

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. Players from those countries not members of ICCF may submit entries only via the ICCF Direct Entry system. It is mandatory that the qualification right to participate in the event should be specified for each entry.

Eligible Scottish players who wish to participate should contact Gordon Anderson no later than 20th February 2022.

Entry fee will be £13.

16 Jan 22 | ICCF CCM Norm and Title for Beveridge: Cheltenham-based Colin Beveridge has achieved his 3rd Correspondence Chess Master (CCM) norm and the CCM Title whilst playing in the DE 15th Webserver Anniversary event scoring the required 6 points. Colin obtained his first CCM norm in the 5th Aniversario Fedapven IM Celso Sanchez Group 4 and his second on Board 1 in the Carlos Flores Gutierrez Team Tournament. Congratulations to Colin!

11 Jan 22 | ICCF Grading List 2022/1 Published: The first quarterly list of 2022 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.

11 Jan 22 | SCCA Magazine 156 Published: The fourth 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!

03 Jan 22 | ICCF President's New Year Message: To all Correspondence Chess Friends,; As 2021 has ended, 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 has proved successful for ICCF even though we had to cancel the Congress once again.; Hopefully, this year the ICCF Congress will be held in Glasgow in August, and I hope that many delegates, officials, and correspondence chess players will join us.; In closing, let me once again extend to you my best wishes for the New Year. I hope that 2022 will bring satisfaction to all your endeavours, personal, professional, and chess!; Amici Sumus,; Eric Ruch; ICCF President

News Archive 2022