19th U.S. CORRESPONDENCE CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

#chess .
Thinking of entering USCCC19. Anyone else?

ICCF-US Announces US CorrChess Championship Finals for USCCC18

Oh, great. Now I have to make sure my ICCF rating doesn't fall under 2000! Both my USCF and CCLA are under 2000, so if I have any hope... But with the way I've played so far this year a precipitous drop is likely considering I'm at 2028 currently.

From ICCF-US:

August 5, 2009

US Correspondence Chess Championship (USCCC) News

All qualifiers for USCCC18 Final have been determined (crosstables at http://www.iccf-webchess.com/Tables2.aspx under National Tournaments, USA, Semifinals). First or tied for first in each section qualified for the Final. USCF and CCLA will be invited to nominate a participant, and one or more previous Champions may be invited to complete a field of 13 or 15 players. With a number of international tournaments starting early this Fall, and several of our finalists in them, the Final will likely start late this year.

USCCC19 is planned for early 2010, again by server with seven player sections. An ICCF rating of 2000 is required, or a USCF or CCLA rating of 2000 for players without a fixed ICCF rating. With a less than perfect mailing list, please watch for an announcement here on iccfus.com.

Corky Schakel, ICCF-US Secretary

J. Franklin Campbell wins Silver Bertl von Massow Award

#chess . .
From ICCF-US:

July 25, 2009

Press Release -- J Franklin Campbell to Receive Silver Bertl von Massow Award

von Massow Award Winner J. Franklin Campbell

The ICCF-US would like to add our thanks to Franklin for his years of devoted service to correspondence chess. This recognition from the international chess community is richly-deserved.

Click here to read the ICCF-US press release.

Bob Rizzo, ICCF-US Titles Officer

Congrats!

Starting New ICCF Event

I missed out on USA vs. ROW due to a mail problem with AT&T's switchover to using Yahoo webmail (big mistake, guys). I used to use Yahoo Mail but their lack of spam control and outages always made life tough. It bit me here again, but ICCF-US honcho Corky Schakel says he'll make sure to I get a shot at the next one. IM Schakel was instrumental in saving ICCF-US and American Correspondence Chess players from disaster a couple years back.

In addition to starting my first CCLA event, I received notification that a new ICCF Higher Class event is starting. In WS/H/195 I'll face a couple familiar opponents in Walter Baumann of Switzerland and Vaclav Sladek of Canada. In WS/H/171 I gained a point as Black against Baumann's Dunst opening. I'm currently playing Black against Sladek's Trompowsky in WS/H/187.

I've procrastinated sending my opening moves in both eents as I am still debating what I want to play. Decisions!

USA Correspondence Chess Team Clinches GOLD in Pan American Team 9

#chess #iccf-us . .

From ICCF-US:

USA Clinches First in Pan American Team 9

After more than two years since play began, with only four games still to be completed, Pan American Team 9 silver and bronze are still up for grabs, but the USA team has clinched first in a field of 16 teams to get the gold, either outright or by tiebreak. Here is how it stands:
USA 40.5
Peru (Rojo) 39.5 one game remaining with Brazil (Verde); USA wins the tiebreaker with more team match wins
Brazil (Amar) 39.5
Chile 39 one game remaining with Canada

The other two open games are Mex-Gua and Arg (Cel)-Nic.

Team members are:

• SIM Ted Brandhorst
• SIM Michael Millstone
• SIM Michael Proof
• IM Corky Schakel

Congratulations!

USCF Correspondence Workshop Report

Bob Rizzo of the USCF Correspondence Chess Committee relayed several points about the Correspondence Committee workshop at the recent US Open in Cherry Hill.

• Mike Nolan's report on the USCF CC rating system
  
  -The new system is now running. The changes primarily involved smoother input by USCF CC Director Alex Dunne and allowing quicker results. Mike Nolan requested that any quirks found with the new system by USCF CC players be reported.
  
  -The ICCF web server was discussed during Nolan's report. Nolan and others expressed some dissatisfaction with the recent changes to the server interface.
  

  
  My personal opinion is that the ICCF server is the best on the web. I did have a bit of discombobulation when the changes were first implemented, but they must have been very minor effects on my usage as I can't remember what I found less desirable than before.
  
  However, there are complaints from others as seen at the ICCF Forums here.
  -sdo

  
  
  -The upshot is that Mike Nolan will soon have a proposal ready for a USCF Correspondence web server. Hurrah!
  
  
• Fund to be used for web server events
  
  -Bob Rizzo also handed out a proposal to establish a fund to enable primarily invitational events, such as the Absolute, to be held on the ICCF server. If the USCF develops a web server this would be unnecessary. Several interested members have donated monies to seed the fund.
  
  
• ICCF Olympiad XVII Preliminary
  
  -The USA team has advanced to a spot in the finals.
  Team members are:
  SIM Jason Bokar, SIM-elect Ken Reinhart, IM Keith Rodriguez, IM Robert Rizzo, SIM Michael Millstone and IM Corky Schakel.
  
  -The web site maintained by Team Captain J. Franklin Campbell is at here.
  
  
• ICCF-US Federation Office
  
  -The problems presented by the looming lack of representation in the ICCF for America was discussed. Everyone agreed that the ICCF-US office must be maintained, but no solutions were proposed. Bob Rizzo explained the ramifications of this (on Olympiad representation, no one to apply to ICCF for those who qualify for titles, etc...)
  
  -Brennan T. Price offered to join the Correspondence Committee and committee chair Hal Stenzel accepted the offer.
  

I've asked Joan DuBois at the USCF office for permission to post the related documents and will do so as soon as I receive it. In the meantime, the documents may be seen on J. Franklin Campbell's The Campbell Report.

If You Play USCF and/or ICCF Correspondence Chess...

It is time for action!

Read the blog entries HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Then please email your delegates, the old Executive Board members, the new Executive Board members, the Correspondence Committee Chair Harold G. Stenzel, Correspondence Director FM Alex Dunne, and anyone else you can think of that can bring pressure to bear on USCF governance to take care of the problems Franklin Campbell has written about.

Threads about the issue may be found at the ICCF Forums HERE and on the USCF Forums HERE.

Email addresses for most USCF governance may be found in the 2007 USCF Delegates' Call.

The 2007 US Open Correspondence Committee workshop will be at 2pm on Friday, August 3rd. If you will be at the Open, please attend, and please give the rest of us an update if you can on what transpires.

It is my opinion that the USCF should immediately:
- Respond to the crisis facing American representation in ICCF in co-ordination with the CCLA, should that organization be willing able to participate, and Ruth Ann Fay to make sure the USCF and America are represented at ICCF Congress this Fall by a person who will take over the responsibilities borne by Ruth Ann Fay and Max Zavanelli;
- Make most, if not all, correspondence events available for play via web server;
- Return correspondence chess to the magazine, or at least Chess Life Online, as a monthly feature or column.

More Info About ICCF-US (Zone 3) | Funds Available

A week or so before the Franklin Campbell warning about the coming correspondence chess crisis, USCF Executive Board member Don Schultz wrote the following BINFO:

BINFO 200701362
Date 2007-06-12
From Chessdon
Status Standard Release
Release Date 2007-06-20
Subject Fide Delegates Metting Turkey NOT

Bill Kelleher has confirmed to me that there will be no FIDE Delegates meeting in Turkey in Nov 2007.

Therefore, the $4,000 allocated for FIDE Delegate and Zonal President in the 2007-08 budget can be reduced to zero.

Don Schultz

The assets are available. Now to see if USCF governance steps up and does the right thing...