Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

Lifting the Hood

Russell Sherwood Sunday, April 16, 2017

Lifting the Hood - taking a look at Chess Engine Settings

Promotion To The Sinclair

Ian Jones Sunday, April 16, 2017

Well done to The West Wales B Team that have secured promotion from

The C & DCCC 2016/17 Division 3 - Butler Thomas

https://www.iccf.com/event?id=61584

If you are interested in playing County chess please get in touch.

Welsh Success at the Correspondence Master Title

Austin Lockwood Thursday, April 6, 2017

The ICCF Correspondence Chess Master title was born in Cardiff at the 2015 ICCF Congress; appropriately, Wales are now the most successful of the 55 ICCF Member Federations in terms of players achieving the title. We now have 5 active players holding the title (including one Lady Grand Master, the former ladies only name for the title). Only Germany (13) and Russia (6) have more, however both those federations have many more active players. When taken as a percentage of the total number of active players, Wales (6.49%) are well ahead of our nearest rivals, Bulgaria (5.41%).

If you are a Welsh chess player and are interested in playing correspondence chess and possibly earning the CCM, or any other title, please don't hesitate to contact us!

	ICCF Member Federation	CCM/LGM titles per 100 players
1	WLS	6.49%
2	BUL	5.41%
3	EST	3.45%
4	LTU	2.99%
5	SLO	2.78%
6	CRO	2.08%
7	SVK	1.49%
8	CZE	1.46%
9	GER	1.41%
10	POL	1.34%
11	AUS	1.18%
12	ITA	1.10%
13	SUI	1.01%
14	RUS	0.99%
15	ESP	0.89%
16	ENG	0.76%
17	UKR	0.64%
18	AUT	0.63%
19	NED	0.40%
20	USA	0.27%

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Mark Adams Achieves the Correspondence Chess Master title

Austin Lockwood Friday, March 17, 2017

Congratulations Mark Adams on achieving the CCM title! Mark's norms were earned in the Welsh Congress Invitational tournament, and representing Wales in the seventh North Atlantic Team Tournament.

Update - included one of Marks games from the Counties and Districts Championship

Adams, Mark Lane, Tim A.GB/Si2016 (ENG) | ICCF | - | 2016.10.25 | 1-0

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 I've had some good results against the Winawer. Computers tend not to realise that black can have a difficult ending, so it is important to be very aware on what sort of ending to aim for right from the begining. I've found with my research that white's chances lay in pushing the h-pawn. Qa5 As my plan involves pushing the h-pawn in the ending, I was pleased to see the queen on the a-file :-) 7. Bd2 Qa4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Nf3 Ne7 10. h3 :-) Nbc6 11. Be2 Qxc2 taking the 'bait'. Again, I'm looking at the ending, tryimg to get there as soon as possible with the 2 bishops and better active play. 12. Rc1 Qe4 13. Be3 The computer wants to exchange queens. I felt it was more important to defend the center. f6 A poor move. Black opens his king up against the queen and bishops. 14. exf6 gxf6 15. Bh6+ Ke8 16. Qg7 Rg8 17. Qxf6 White regains his pawn and retains a large positional edge. Qg6 18. Qxg6+ White is willing to give up the g-pawn for active plan again. Rxg6 19. Bd2 Rxg2 too greedy, costing the exchange, although black gets some compensation with the strong central pawns. 20. Ng5 cxd4 21. Kf1 Rxg5 22. Bxg5 dxc3 23. Rxc3 Nf5 24. Rg1 e5 The computer still likes white, but it actually isn't that easy. Black should just keep his e and d pawns and wait for white to find a winning idea. 25. Bd2 Be6 26. Rg5 Ke7 27. Bg4 Kf6 28. Rh5 Rh8 29. Rb3 Bc8 30. Rf3 Nd4 Computer says white is now much better, but I disagree.White's rook on h5 hasn't much scope and the g4 bishop can only take the knight. This position caused me a headache trying to find a way to win. 31. Rc3 Nc6 32. f4 exf4 This is what I hoped he would do when looking at the position some moves ago. This is the computer move, but it relieves the tension. He should play e4 and keep those central pawns. In some lines white will have to give the exchange back to stop their march. 33. Bxf4 Kg6 34. Rc2 Re8 35. Rg2 Ne3+ 36. Bxe3 Rxe3 37. Rxd5 Bxg4 38. Rxg4+ Kf6 Now we'll see the plan of using the h-pawn in the ending! 39. Rh4 Rxa3 40. Rxh7 Ra1+ 41. Kf2 Ra2+ 42. Ke1 Nb4 43. Rdd7 a5 44. Rxb7 Nd3+ 45. Kf1 Ke5 46. Rh4 Ra1+ 47. Kg2 Nf4+ 48. Kf3 Ra3+ 49. Kg4 Ng2 50. Rh5+ Ke4 51. Rg5 Ne3+ 52. Kh5 Ra1 53. h4 Here we go! Took its time, but plan A in action. a4 54. Rb4+ Kf3 55. Ra5 a3 56. Rb3 a2 57. Rba3 Rg1 58. Rxa2 Rg8 59. Ra8 Rg7 60. R2a7 Rg4 61. Re7 An amusing finish. Black actually thought I had blundered here. Rxh4+ 62. Kxh4 Nf5+ 63. Kh3 Nxe7 64. Rf8+ Ke4 65. Re8

Updated Friday, March 31, 2017 by Austin Lockwood

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Yet another title...

Austin Lockwood Friday, March 31, 2017

This time for Russell Sherwood - Congratualtions on acheiving ICCF Correspondence Master!

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Welsh Interests in Bdf Invitationals

Russell Sherwood Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Good Luck to all the Welsh players involved in the 2017 BdF series of Invitational Tournaments

Marybeth Baron in BdF Smaragd 08
Austin Lockwood in Germany Masters 06-A
John Claridge in Germany Candidate Master 04-C
Glyn Sinnett in Germany CCM/CCE 01 C
Philliip Dean in Germany CCM/CCE 01 A
Helen Sherwood in BdF Diamant 08

Correspondence Chess Expert Title for Dale Cannon

Austin Lockwood Thursday, March 23, 2017

Congratulations Dale Cannon in achieving CCE norms in the Second and Third WCCF Invitational Tournaments.

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Wales are 2016 Tri-Nations Champions

Austin Lockwood Thursday, March 16, 2017

Wales have won the 2016 Tri-Nations Team Tournament!

This is an annual event for players from England, Scotland and Wales rated under 2300, the tournament started in 2014 and is now in it's third year; this will be the second victory for Wales having also won the inaugral tournament. England won the 2015 event.

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