ICCF Page
General Information
Thematic Tournaments
ICCF is the International Correspondence Chess Federation.
ICCF was founded in 1951 as a reincarnation of the ICCA
(International Correspondence Chess Association), itself
founded in 1945 as successor to the IFSB (Internationaler
Fernschachbund), founded in 1928.
Postal Events 2016
Theme 2/16 - Queen's Indian, E18
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O
7.Nc3 Ne4
Entries by 15 April; play starts 1 May
ICCF organises a huge variety of tournaments for individual
and team play; operates a worldwide rating system and
awards GM, SIM and IM titles to male and female players
to recognise strength and performance. Most play is based
now on the ICCF webserver, with a residue of postal and
email events. Principal tournaments are:
Theme 3/16: Philidor Defence, C41
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6
Entries by 15 September; play starts 1 October
Webserver Events 2016
Theme 4/16 - Frankenstein-Dracula, C27
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Nc6
6.Nb5 g6 7.Qf3 f5 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8
Entries by 15May; play starts 1 June
World Individual (www.iccf-webchess.com)
• World Championship. Annual cycles progress through
preliminary, semi-final, candidate and final stages.
• World Cups. These include Adult, Junior and the
highly popular Veterans events.
• Norm Tournaments. For aspiring IM, SIM and GM
players, categorised by rating strength.
• Promotion Tournaments. For middle-strong players,
spanning Open, Higher and Master classes.
• Aspirer Tournaments. For beginners and lower-graded
players.
• Thematic Tournaments. Organised by opening
variations (see opposite).
Theme 5/16 - Shara-Henning Gambit, D32
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4
Entries by 1 September; play starts 15 September
Note there are no Email Events in 2016.
News
World Team (www.iccf-webchess.com)
• Olympiads. National team event, 6-player teams,
played to a very high standard.
• Champions League. National, cross-national and
scratch 4-player teams, several divisions.
European Zone (www.iccf-europa.com)
• European Individual Championship.
• European National Team Championship.
Other
• Friendly Internationals. ICCF member organisations
play team events, usually 2 games per player.
• Invitation/Memorial Events. To commemorate
anniversaries and deceased officials and players.
• Chess 960. New events featuring Fischer/Random
chess opening positions.
The 2016 ICCF Congress will be organised by the
German CC Federation (BdF) and held in Bremen from
August 14-20. Registration is now open.
ChessBase have published a two-part interview with
GM Ljubičić, Ing. Leonardo (CRO) who has become
the 28th ICCF World Champion. Refer the ChessBase
website http://en.chessbase.com/.
The Direct Entry Webserver Anniversary Tournament
(DE10A) received a total of 891 entries which have
been split into 81 groups of 11 players. Play has now
started.
Belgian GM Jef Boey and German GM and former BdF
president Achim Soltau both sadly passed away during
the last quarter. RIP.
The Preliminary stages of the 40th World Championship
were started in March. 169 players are competing in 13
sections with 13 players each.
SCCA members are eligible to enter all ICCF events, though
Scottish nationality is required for national representation.
Further details of all ICCF activities and events; entries to
events, and orders for ICCF publications may be obtained
via George Pyrich at: [email protected]
Current tournament fees are shown on the Fees page of the
SCCA website, and all Scottish players competing in ICCF
events have bookmarks from the SCCA site to the relevant
ICCF cross-table for easy checking of results.
SCCA Magazine 133
The SCCA Magazine is sponsored by Mackintosh Independent.
24
Spring 2016