Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

Austin Lockwood  Thursday, May 8, 2014

We are glad to announce that registration is open to the Semifinal stage of the LIPEAD-40 tournament, an International event organized by the Peruvian federation (LIPEAD) as a tribute to our founding member Gustavo Paz y Barriga. Registration closes on June 1st, 2014.

The following cash prizes will be available in the Final stage: First place 1,000 euros, Second place 300 euros and Third place 200 euros.

Who may play?

• Players that qualified in the Preliminary stage listed here.
• Any player rated 2200 or above willing to register.

How will the tournament be played?

• Exclusive ICCF webserver play, current ICCF rules, time control 10/50 with duplication after 20 days, conditionals will be allowed, live display with 5 move delay.
• ICCF Tiebreak rules for Individual tournaments (a. Number of wins, b. Sonnerborn-Berger and c. Result between tied players). If ties are not broken yet then the following rules will be applied in succesion: d. Number of wins with black, and e. Rating, player with higher tournament entry rating will advance if all other criteria are equal.
• Tiebreak rules are important because only one player per semifinal group will advance.
• There will not be adjudications, games that decide a qualifier will be played out before the Final can start.
• Group size will be 13-17 players depending on the number of entries, groups will be balanced by rating and norms may be available.
• The tournament official start date will be June 15, 2014

How to register?

• Players qualifying from the Preliminaries do not need to do anything and will be automatically seeded into the Semifinals, they will not pay any additional fees either.
• Players rated 2200 or above wishing to register in the Semifinals will need to pay the entry fee of 26 US dollars or 20 euros.
• We accept Paypal payments, credit or debit cards and "Bill Me Later", if players wish to pay in US dollars they should try this link, if they wish to pay in euros then follow this other link.
• Players may also register via their national federation.
• If players do not have access to any of these payment options please contact us to see if we have alternative methods of payment available.
• Current list of players registering directly into the Semifinals can be reviewed here.

Sincerely,

Gino Figlio, Tournament Organizer

Alfredo Cilloniz, LIPEAD President

Austin Lockwood  Thursday, May 8, 2014

Dear Friends,

ICCF is delighted to announce the start of the 6th WebChess Open tournament on the server. This announcement is posted on the ICCF website and distributed to all national federations. The following Frequently Asked Questions clarifies all information applicable for this edition.

1. What is the Webchess Open Tournament?

It is a tournament open to all correspondence chess players around the World, with or without any previous ICCF experience.

2. Who is in charge?

Frank Geider (FRA), World Tournament Director (WTD) has appointed Markus Hömske (FRA), ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner (NTTC) as the responsible ICCF Officer for this tournament. Please direct all general inquiries to him at: [email protected]

Guido Bresadola (ITA) has been appointed Central Tournament Leader (CTL). He is in charge of registration, pairings and other tournament related issues. His email address is: [email protected]

3. How and when to enter?

Multiple entries are allowed. Go to the ICCF Webserver main page www.iccf.com click on “New Events”, find the tournament in the main list and click “Enter”. It allows you to register with a click of a button using one of the three methods available:

• Contact The Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation, Provide your ICCF-ID (if you have one) and a valid email address you will use for this tournament. WCCF will forward your entry to CTL Guido Bresadola (ITA).
• Qualified players may use Direct Entry (DE). This method is available for new players to ICCF
• New players to ICCF are allowed to enter 1 section for free. They should send their contact information: name, email address and country to Markus Hömske NTTC. ([email protected]) If they wish to enter more than one section, all extra entries should be paid for as described above.

4. When does the registration close?

Registration is open immediately and it closes on June 30th, 2014.

5. How much does it cost?

The payment is linked to the method of registration used:

• Registering via WCCF. Receiving payment of the event fee and confirmation of your registration is handled by WCCF, more details are available on request.
• Registering via Direct Entry. All information is provided through the DE registration process. Simply click the enter button and follow the prompts.
• New players to ICCF play 1 section for free.

6. Who is considered a new player to ICCF?

• Players without ICCF ID or,
• Players with ICCF ID but who never played an ICCF rated game in the past.

7. What is the time frame?

The tournament will be played in three stages: preliminaries, semifinal and final.

Preliminaries will start in early July 2014, with an approximate end date of Feb 28th, 2016. The other 2 stages will be scheduled accordingly at a later date. Reference information:

1st WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started Feb 1st, 2005, all groups finished; semifinals started Nov 15th, 2006, all groups finished; final started May 5th, 2009 ended January 29th, 2011

2nd WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started June 15th, 2006, all groups finished; semifinals started Jul 25th, 2008, all groups finished; final started June 21st, 2010 ended on February 9th, 2012

3rd WebChess Open tournament - preliminaries started May 20th, 2008, all groups finished; semifinal started July 31st, 2010 all groups finished, final started June 23rd 2013

4th Webchess Open tournament - preliminaries started July 20th, 2010; all groups finished, semifinal started September 10th 2012

5th Webchess Open tournament preliminaries started June 1st 2012, 4 groups unfinished

8. How will I play?

Preliminaries will consist of groups of 7 (seven) players each. All games will be rated. The latest ICCF Playing Rules Webserver will apply for all stages as applicable. You can read them online at www.iccf.com by clicking on “Online Help” ? “Server rules”.

9. How do I qualify from preliminaries?

Only the section winners will qualify for the semifinal stage. Ties will be broken according to the ICCF Tournament Rules, Article 5. 10.

10. What are the prizes available?

Winners of the preliminaries will receive a book or a DVD (worth 20€) (Tiebreak will be used to decide amongst player with equal points) Winners of the semi-finals will receive a subscription to a magazine or a book (worth about 100€). (Tiebreak will be used)

Final: 1st: 900€, 2nd 700€, 3rd 400€ (Cash prizes will be shared on equal points, tie break to be used for medals)

11. To verify entries

You may check the latest list at http://www.asigc.it/temp/wot6.htm

We welcome with open arms regular ICCF players as well as new ones, eager to test their skills with us. It is our hope you will enjoy the experience on our server and will use this opportunity to make new friends around the World.

Austin Lockwood  Thursday, April 24, 2014

Each of the WCCF member organisations are invited to submit one or more teams to this event, there will be no limit to the number of teams which each member organisation can submit. Teams will consist of eight players. Each team must include at least two Welsh players (i.e. players who play under the Welsh flag on the ICCF webserver); the remaining team members may be of any nationality.

If there are four teams or fewer involved, the event will be double rounded, otherwise the event will be single rounded. The event will be played on the ICCF webserver and be rated by ICCF, the time control will be ten moves in fifty days. Entry will be free.

Current WCCF member organisations eligible to enter this event are:

• The British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA)
• SchemingMind.com
• The Social Correspondence Chess Association (SCCA)
• The Welsh Chess Union (honorary member)

The start date will be 1st July 2014, teams must be submitted to the WCCF Secretary by 15th June 2014, including the ICCF ID number (or email address if unregistered), board number, and name of each player, and the name of the team captains.

Other Welsh, British, or international correspondence chess organisations with Welsh members are cordially invited to apply for WCCF affiliation; the current fee is £1.00 per calendar year and member organisations are entitled to a voting representative on the WCCF Executive Committee. In order to qualify for this event, an application for affiliation must have been received by the WCCF Secretary by 1st June 2014.

Austin Lockwood  Friday, April 18, 2014

Wales, Scotland and England are competing in this ten board tournament for under 2200 rated players.  We wish our friends good luck, and we hope that we can make this a regular event in the future.

https://iccf.com/event?id=43880

Austin Lockwood  Friday, April 18, 2014

Good luck to the Welsh team in this friendly match vs Ireland

https://iccf.com/event?id=43701

There are always places for Welsh players of all strengths in our international friendly match

Austin Lockwood  Monday, March 3, 2014

Good luck to Mark Adams and Tony Balshaw, who both start World Correspondence Chess Championship preliminary sections today!

https://iccf.com/event?id=42327

https://iccf.com/event?id=42319

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The International Correspondence Chess Federation

Announcement

3rd Chess 960 World Cup

The tournament will be played by server and will be organized in three or four stages, depending from the number of the entries. The sections of the preliminary round will have 6 players (10 games) with 2 qualified for the next round. All sections will be with double round robin (players will have the same position with Black and White but all positions will defer from one opponent to another). Time control will be 10 moves for 30 days. The event will be rated for Chess 960 rating system.

Entries

Players may enter in the usual way through the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation, or through the ICCF Direct Entry system.

A player can apply for more than one preliminary group.

Allocation of players to their sections 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 into account.

Tournament Organization

The tournament will start on 15.03.2014.

Registration will begin on 1.01.2014 and will close on 28.02.2014 to allow for pairings.

All preliminary groups will finish at the latest on 15.05.2014. Any unfinished games that will decide promotional positions in the group will be adjudicated. The players involved will send the record of the game (with the required result –win or draw–) and an analysis to their TD for adjudication no later than 5.06.2014.

The adjudication will be organized in such a way that all qualified players will be known by 31.07.2014.

The second stage is expected to start on 1.09.2014 at the latest.

Prizes

Prize 1000 € for the first 3 players (500 €; 300 €, 200 €), no tie break.

Qualifications

The first two players of each preliminary section will qualify for the next round.

Although the number of preliminary groups which each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semifinal groups or more than one place in the final (in the case of four stages the qualification to the second round is unlimited).

In the case of same score in different groups, will be prefered the number of wins (Baumbach tiebreaking), then best SB, then highest ELO; to compare sections with different number of players in the preliminary round, will be prefered the best %, then cancelling the 7th place in the bigger sections and compiling a new scoretable, then highest ELO.

The winner of the 3rd Chess 960 World Cup will qualify for a World Championship Candidates (tie break applies).

Austin Lockwood  Monday, December 2, 2013

The following players have the right to participate in the new European Championship Preliminaries:

• players rated between 2100 and 2299 at the time of application.
• players who have won a European Championship Open Round, regardless of rating.
• until 30 September 2014 players without ICCF ratings may be nominated by National Federations. Such Nominations must be accompanied by a statement of qualification confirming that the player is considered to be of sufficient strength to enter directly into the Preliminaries.
• Winners of European WS Higher Class started during the years 2011-2013.

Preliminaries, will consist of 11 players per section, starting continuously after 1st January 2014 and played on the ICCF Server.

The winner and runner-up of a Preliminary section are entitled to one start in the Semi-Finals, regardless of rating. Entry is though Direct Entry, or via WCCF for qualified players (please let me know if you need further details). WCCF does have two nominations for players who do not meet the above criteria, please contact me for further information.

Austin Lockwood, WCCF Secretary

Austin Lockwood  Monday, December 2, 2013

The match will be played on the ICCF webserver, the usual ICCF playing rules will apply.

Each player is going to play two games (one with white, one with black) against his opponent.

The start date will be March 1st, 2014

Each country of the European Zone is invited to nominate 8 players. In case a country nominates less than 8 players, it is allowed to let players of another Federation play on behalf of this Federation.

If anyone would like to represent Wales on the "Rest of Europe" team, please let me know (austin at schemingmind.com)

Russell Sherwood  Thursday, November 28, 2013

A 21 Board Friendly Match with the USA has started.

A great mix of Welsh representatives ranging from 1414 to 2339!

The teams are evenly matched with an average board difference of only 3 rating points, so it should be a close and interesting match

https://iccf.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=40945

If you are interested in playing in future friendlies please get in touch with either Austin Lockwood or myself.