Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation

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.

Austin Lockwood  Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Following the decision taken in Kraków during ICCF Congress 2013, the new European Championship Open Round events will commence on 1st January 2014. Sections will consist of 7 players and will start continuously whenever 7 entries are received. All sections will be played on the ICCF Webserver.

Winners of an Open Round may enter a European Championship Preliminary Section regardless of rating.

The following players have the right to participate in the European Championship Open Round:

1. players new to ICCF or those without an ICCF rating
2. players rated below 2100 at the time of application.

Welsh players may enter directly on the ICCF server through Direct Entry (€6.00), or through WCCF by cheque. Please state your qualification criteria at time of entry.

Austin Lockwood  Sunday, September 15, 2013

ICCF-Europa invites all its member federations to enter teams to this new team tournament to be played on the ICCF webserver.

Each member federation may enter one team of comprising of 4 players and a team captain.

Conditional upon the number of entries, the tournament will be organised in either one or two stages.

All pairings will use the Double Round Robin system whereby players will play 2 games with alternate colours against each opponent under Chess 960 Rules (both games against the same opponent will start with the same randomised position of the pieces but these will vary against other opponents). The rate of play will be 20 days for 10 moves and the games will be unrated.

The tournament will start on 1st November 2013.

If we have four players interested I will submit a team to represent Wales; selection will be strictly by rating if more than four players come forward. Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to play.

Austin