Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, August 13, 2023

As of 15th August 2023 the following entries have been received so far for the 2023-25 British C.C. Championship:

Peter Ackley, Matthew W. Bailey, Paul A. Batchelor, Phillip J. Beckett, William Bishop, Trevor S. Brotherton, Alastair Cowan, Valerie Craven, Les Ellis, Allan Gardner, Oliver Graham, David J. Grobler, Terry Hart, Gregory Hughes, Kay Joslin, Steve Law, Arnold Marchant, Ian J. Mason, Richard David Perrin, Kevin D. Plant, Eugene Raby, Alan J. C. Rawlings, Steven Roberts, Josh Robinson, Robert Różański, Alan Ruffle, Helen Sherwood, Russell Sherwood, Iain Sneddon, Alan B. Sutton, Kevin J. Thurlow, James Toon, John Vivante-Sowter, Marc R. Wakeham, Richard Ward, Francis Watson, Richard Webster, Ben A. Wood, Stephen Woodhouse.

If you have entered and your name is missing, please get in touch

Closing date 31st August

Updated Tuesday, August 15, 2023 by Russell Sherwood

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, July 30, 2023

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, one or more candidate section and a number of reserve sections.

The BCCC is organised jointly by the English Federation for Correspondence Chess (EFCC), the Scottish Correspondence Chess Association (ScoCCA) 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:

http://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 2022. Entries can be made directly to Tournament Organiser, Kieth Kitson  or via the National Federation. 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.

Welsh https://welshccf.org.uk/content/18

For more details, please contact your National Federation or Keith Kitson

 Entries and the entry fee of £12 should be received by Keith Kitson, no later than 31st August 2023. If you have a qualification for a specific division, please state this at the time of entry.

Sent by Dave Kilgour (Scotland) Phill Beckett (England) and Russell Sherwood (Wales)

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, July 30, 2023

WCCF’s Bank Accounts are changing. If you have to make any payments, please contact Russell Sherwood

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, July 30, 2023

Congratulations to Fred Clough on achieving his first CCE Norm in Horst Rittner Team Tournament SF 5 Board 5  Here is one of the wins from the event 

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, July 30, 2023

Congratulations to Bob Hurn on achieving his 2nd CCE Norm in Horst Rittner Team Tournament SF 1 Board 5  Unfortunately Bob still needs a third norm to meet all the title criteria!

Here is the win that secured the Norm!  

Russell Sherwood  Sunday, July 30, 2023

Congratulation to Paul Keevil in winning the British Correspondence Chess Championship 21/23 with a score of +2 = 12 -0  Here is one of the wins vs SIM Claridge

Russell Sherwood  Tuesday, July 11, 2023

As we always look to push boundaries and advance knowledge in Correspondence Chess, the WCCF will be running three trial tournaments in the near future. These events cover different approaches which are considered possible if partial solutions to increasing draw levels.

Many discussions have been observed in recent weeks, although almost all based on theories, lacking in any data – the aim of these events is to start to 

The three trial events will be:

1. Unrated
2. Played on the ICCF Server
3. Whilst mainly for Welsh players, may be open to players of other nations.
4. Invitational in nature – we invite players to self-nominate but will have to limit entries. Places will be limited and wholly at the discretion of the WCCF
5. Free

Event 1 – Rapidplay

This event will be based on a time control : Starting Time 10 days, 1 move gained every 10 moves, 7 days of vacation, doubling after 3 days. This means that a player will need to maintain high rate of play.

Event 2 – Fixed Openings (So called TCEC style)

Here a small event will take place. A randomly selected opening will be allocated to each game that players will be required to follow. Time Control will be 350 day TB event with guaranteed time.

Event 3 – Predict a Move Tie Break (Both 1st and Last will be used to evaluate the event)

In this event players will, in addition to playing a normal game of correspondence chess, required to predict their opponents moves. Details for the trail are being finalised but this will probably include the use of emailing a file to an umpire each more and/or the use of conditional moves on the server.

All these events are unrated due to their experimental nature but to also encourage a mix of player ratings. What is required is that all players play fully in the events and any default or withdrawal will be considered for future team and invitational selections.  The time controls aim to give us a fuller picture to be able to make Congress proposals next year.

The expected start date is around the 1st of August.

If you are interested in taking part in one or more of these events, please get in touch to be added to the selection list.

Austin Lockwood  Thursday, June 29, 2023

ICCF member federations are currently voting on the new Executive Board to take office from 1st January 2024 for four years.  As an ICCF member federation, WCCF has a vote in these elections and the Executive Committee are currently discussing how we should vote for each position.  All Premium members are welcome to join these discussions and contribute to our vote, you should contact [email protected] if you wish to participate.

The schedule is tight because the elections need to be concluded before the 2023 ICCF Congress in Amsterdam, and elections for each EB position must be completed sequentially (because there are candidates for multiple positions, and they can be eliminated by being elected to a previous position), so if you are interested in participating in the discussions, please do get in touch asap.

WCCF has two candidates in the elections, Russell Sherwood (for Finance Director, World Tournament Director and Marketing Director) and Austin Lockwood (for Services Director).

The full list of candidates (with links to their personal statements) can be found here.

Austin Lockwood  Monday, June 19, 2023

The 2023 ICCF Congress will take place in August in Amsterdam.

The list of proposals on which delegates will vote is now locked in, and the members of the WCCF Executive Committee are currently discussing how the Welsh federation will vote on each proposal.

https://www.iccf.com/Proposals.aspx?id=77

If any Premium Member of WCCF has any strong feelings about any of these proposals, or would like to get involved in the discussions, please get in touch with [email protected]

There are also elections for the ICCF Executive Board and Auditor this year, further details on how you can get involved in this election will follow here.