<aloks279
gmail.com>New Rules for players, Tournament Directors and Tournament Organisers:
An email was received by all ICCF players informing about the rule changes adopted in last ICCF congress at Amsterdam, which has been summarised below: More details can be seen by going through the below mentioned proposals at the congress.
Pertaining to players
(1) The “zones” have been eliminated. The World Zone, European Zone, and Asia-Africa Zone (related to Indian Players) no longer exist. The events that used to be organized by the zones can now be run by the ICCF as “Super Regional Events” (proposal 001), though events already in progress will continue until they naturally finish. The rules for the Super Regional Events were updated (proposal 003).
(2) Clarification was made that one World Correspondence Chess Championship (WCCC) result can be used for only one WCCC qualification, not more (Proposal 008).
(3) As a trial process, some events can now be overseen by a new 3-person committee called the Tournament Management Committee (TMC) instead of by an individual tournament director. Players' procedures for communicating with a “director” and for filing claims have not been changed in any way (proposal 010). This is elaborated further in next section.
(4) The player fees to participate in ICCF norm tournaments have been made consistent across all norm levels (proposal 011).
(5) The Appeals Committee and Arbitration Committee (these being the ICCF's two boards for appeals of all kinds except adjudication decisions) now have the right to make rulings in areas not otherwise addressed in ICCF documents (proposal 022).
Pertaining to tournament directors
(1) When a player is recorded to have died, all the player's active games will be set to (ETL) losses (except when the cancellation rules at ICCF Rules section 3.19 apply). No completed game result will be altered in any way (proposal 005a).
(2) Tournament directors will no longer be required or allowed to add time to players' clocks. If a circumstance seems to require the addition of time to a player's clock, the tournament director can ask the World Tournament Director to enact that alteration (proposal 006).
(3) As a trial process, some events can now be overseen by a new 3-person committee called the Tournament Management Committee (TMC) instead of by an individual tournament director (proposal 010).
(4) In a team event, a substitute or replacement player's rating must be no more than 100 points higher than the rating of the outgoing player (proposal 015a).
(5) The Appeals Committee and Arbitration Committee (these being the ICCF's two boards for appeals of all kinds except adjudication decisions) now have the right to make rulings in areas not otherwise addressed in ICCF documents (proposal 022).
Pertaining to tournament organizers
(1) As a trial process, some events can now be overseen by a new 3-person committee called the Tournament Management Committee (TMC) instead of an by individual tournament director. An event's tournament organizer is the person who decides to use the TMC or the usual individual tournament director. Currently, only “Level 1 TD” events are eligible for the TMC option (proposal 010).
(2) In a team event, a substitute or replacement player's rating must be no more than 100 points higher than the rating of the outgoing player (proposal 015a)
. (3) The Appeals Committee and Arbitration Committee (these being the ICCF's two boards for appeals of all kinds except adjudication decisions) now have the right to make rulings in areas not otherwise addressed in ICCF documents (proposal 022).
ICCF Tournament committee
The ICCF Congress in Amsterdam last year approved a new way of managing tournaments as an alternative to using tournament directors.
Tournaments run under the supervision of the three person “Tournament Management Committee (TMC)” will run without a tournament director, and all interventions traditionally carried out by TDs will be referred to the TMC. ICCF management believes that this system will significantly enhance the player experience by increasing the responsiveness, efficiency, and consistency of tournament management. They intend to evaluate the system through objective metrics (response times, etc.) and subjective feedback from players.
Tournament organisers have been given a choice during initial trial phase to consider selecting the TMC option during setup as an alternative to appointing a tournament director.
The following server events may use the TMC (postal events must still have a tournament director).
- Promotion Classes (Open Class, Higher Class, Master Class)
- Thematic Tournaments and other ICCF unrated tournaments
- Preliminary rounds of chess 960 tournaments (excluding the Chess 960 World Cup)
- Aspirer Tournaments
- ICCF rated and unrated national tournaments
- Preliminary rounds of the ICCF Memorial <2300 Team Tournament
- Friendly Matches
ICCF Tournament Management Committee:
- IA Austin Lockwood
- IA Valer-Eugen Demian
- IA Thed Klauner
ICCF Hall of Fame (2023)
1. GM Moll, Reinhard
His achievements, for which he was newly inducted into hall of fame, are mentioned below:
World Cups:
World Cup XVIII (Diamond Jubilee) - Winner
World Cup XVII – 3rd Place
World Cup XIII – Winner
World Cup XIV - Winner
World Cup XII- Winner
World Cup XI – Winner
Champions League:
CL2017 – Winner with Underdogs 2
CL2019 – 3rd Place Board 2
German National Team:
Olympiad 20 – Winner (Board 4)
2. Mostert, Hendrik Jan
He was ICCF Honorary President who died peacefully on 29th July 2002, in Haarlem, Netherlands. He started his first correspondence games during the war in 1942, due to the imposed curfew in the Netherlands. In 1956 he joined ICCF and became tournament leader for the European Master class for 10 years. From 1966 onward, he also was ICCF-delegate for the NBC and took part in the yearly Congresses, starting in 1967 in Krems. There the NBC became a member of ICCF and Henk Mostert became its Vice-President, playing that role until 1983. In 1971, he organized the first Ladies Olympiad, and additionally became tournament leader for the European Championships. In 1983 Henk Mostert became Secretary-General, and in 1987 he was elected ICCF President during the Congress in Bloemendaal (NED), succeeding Hans-Werner von Massow. He announced his resignation in 1996. He was then awarded unanimously Honorary President of the ICCF for his long-standing performance.
3. Tani, Gian-Maria
Currently Gian-Maria holds the position of Title Tournament Commissioner since the year 2011. Gian-Maria’s career started in 1977 as TD in several groups of the 4th ICCF World Cup (preliminary, semifinal and final). Later Gian-Maria became TD for Thematic Tournaments (1978 – 85) and fort he WT/M Tournaments (1986 – 2000).
In addition to this Gian-Maria took over as Thematic Tournament Officer (1996 – 1998), as World (Postal) Tournament Officer (1999) and in 2011 as Title Tournaments Commissioner In the period 1998 – 1999 and 2003 – 2010 Gian-Maria was the Zonal Director for Europe and member of the Executive board.
Furthermore, Gian-Maria was member of several important ICCF Commissions: the most important one is his membership in the Rules Commission in the nineties, which drafted the new ICCF Playing Rules (with Reg Gillman as chairman).
The following distinctions were awarded to Gian-Maria so far:
- 1982 International Arbiter
- 1988 Bertl von Massow Silver Medal
- 1994 Bertl von Massow Gold Medal
- 2007 Honorary Member
- 2016 Lifetime Achievement
Status of Events
AA/C19/Final, 19th Africa Asia Zonal Championship Final
Mr Gautam De and Mr Akkaraju Sailesh Chandra are playing in this event started on 30/06/22 and both of them have scored 3.0 points out of 6 and 7 completed games respectively out of possible 8 games so far.
21st Africa Asia Zonal Championship S-Final C
Gautam De, Tanmay Srinath and Rabirashmi Roy are playing in this event. Gautam De has scored 6.5 out of 10 and is topping the table and has acquired IM norm. Tanmay Srinath is tied at second position with two other players at 6 points. One of his games is given below:AA/TC05, 5th Africa Asia Team Championship
India has fielded three teams captained by Om Prakash Mohanty, K. Prabhanandan and Rakesh Agarwal. Team A captained by Om Prakash Mohanty is leading the event table with 26.5 points with 57% score. One of the winning games from Team A on fifth board is given below:
AA/TC04, 4th Africa Asia Team Championship
India has fielded three teams in this tournament. India A is captained by A. Dutta Gupta, India B is captained by Alok Saxena and Africa Asia B is captained by Ambar Chatterjee. India B is placed 3rd at present with 29.0 points and 72% score while Indonesia C with 32.5 points is topping the table with 69% score.
ICCF Olympiad 23 Preliminaries - Section 2
We have sent a team of top AICCF players for the ICCF Olympiad 23 preliminaries. The team consists of
- SIM K. Sasikiran
- IM T. Pavan Kumar
- CCM Rakesh Kumar Chouhan
- CCM Gautam De
- CCM Lalit Kapoor
- CCM Om Prakash
WC43/ct/3, WCCC43CT 3
K. Sasikiran has been selected to play in this event. The winner and the runner-up qualify for a WCCC Final, provided that they have obtained a positive result (> 50% of the possible points). This event is also organized by Tani, Gian-Maria.
Alex Dunne Memorial Invitational – A
K. Sasikiran has been invited to play in this tournament. Any USA player who scores within the top 5 of the two most recently “completed“ USA Invitational - section As earns a qualification for the USCCC Finals. This event is organized by Doren, Dennis M. SIM Morrow, Wolff is topping the table with only win in this tournament.
Kurt Stein - A, Kurt Stein Memorial - Section A
K. Sasikiran has been invited to play in this tournament. All the games in this strong event have ended in a draw.
2nd IZIT Final, 2nd Inter-Zonal Individual Tournament – Final
Mohan Turaga and Lalit Kapoor are playing in this event. Mohan Turaga has acquired IM norm with 7.5/14 score in this tournament. His drawn game with leader of the board is given below:
WS/SIM/A/15, WS/SIM/A/15
Mr. T. Pavan Kumar is playing in this vent and has scored 6.5/13 . His short winning game is given below:
DE15A/SF 1, DE15A Semi-Final SF 1
Rabirashmi Roy has participated in this event.
There are 13 Semi-Final groups, and the winner of each Semi-Final group and any tied players after tie break rules (number of wins, then SB) are applied will qualify to play in the Final. The best runners-up may qualify for the Final depending on the results from all Semi-Final groups.
No player may qualify for more than one place in the Final. The winner of each Semi-Final group will receive a prize of 50 Euros. In the event of players scoring equal points in first place, this prize will be shared. All prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of all Semi-Final groups of this tournament.
Final Prize fund:
First place 500 Euros
Second 300 Euros
Third place 150 Euros
In the case of players scoring equal points, this prize will be shared. This event is organized by Ruggeri Laderchi, Giorgio.
Rabirashmi Roy has finished with 7 points out of 14. His drawn game with the leader of the board is given below:
FRIENDLY MATCHES:
INDIA-BULGARIA match started on 12th April 2023 and the match is at present tied at 11-11 with four games of Alok Saxena and Nilesh Vyas pending. Most of the games have ended in a draw. One of the games with positive results for India is given below:
India-Netherlands match has started on 20th July 2023 with 24 boards. India is leading score line 17-16. This is a very close match. Ayush Somani has won both his games. One of his winning games is given below: Yusley Cardenas has played on two boards for India and has won three games and lost one for India. One of his winning games with black is given below: India-USA match has started on 30/10/2023 and India is leading by 7.5-6.5 score line. Here most of the games are drawn and the lead for India comes due to the default win by Nilesh Vyas against his opponent.India-Mexico match has started on 20/11/2023 and India is leading by 2-1 mainly due to default win of Yusley Cardinas against his opponent.