Irish Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA)

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ICCA June 2002 Newsletter

First of all, the search continunes for someone to take over the production of the newsletter. Anyone interested and willing to help should contact Tim Harding.

This year's AGM will take place later in the Autumn. If you wish to nominate a location for the meeting or have a special point to raise please contact Jack Killane.

As you have probably noticed, there has been a recent change of ICCA webmaster. Cathal Connolly has taken over from Tim Harding who has done an excellent job of re-designing the site and updating the contents. Please feel free to e-mail your comments/news/games for review and posting on the website.

New Events (very important)

ICCF World Cup XIII preliminaries: Details are available on the ICCF website. Moves may be made by post or e-mail. The closing date for entries is 31/08/2002 and the tournament is expected to start before the end of the year. Players of all strengths are welcome to take part and the entry fee is 18 Euro or 11.75 stg. Entry details should be sent to Jack Killane (Irish players) or David Blair (UK players) before mid-August indicating whether postal or e-mail play is preferred. Please include the appropriate contact address with your entry.

World Championship XXVI Semifinal: This combined postal and e-mail tournament will start on 1/9/2002 and the closing date for entries is 15 July. Anybody interested in filling the one remaining vacancy on the Irish team should contact Tim Harding immediately (definitely before June 30) and say whether postal or e-mail correspondence is preferred. Only players rated over 2200 will be considered and if no one has put their name forward by June 30, then the place will go to Alasdair Alexander. The entry fee is 32 Euro or 20 stg. Please consider that this will be a demanding tournament that may not be suitable for players wishing to take part in the e-mail olympiad later in the year.

European Championship Semifinal: This tournament, which is open only to ICCA members resident in Europe is expected to start in January 2003. The entry fee is 32 Euro or 20 stg. There are two places available for this competition and players should indicate whether they have a preference for post or e-mail. Team selection will take place during October so anyone interested should let one of the committee know before October 1.

2nd E-mail Olympiad: The tournament will start on December 1, 2002. So far seven players have indicated an interest in this event. If anyone else would like to be considered for the team (6 players) they must contact Tim Harding before the end of August. The team will be picked by the ICCA selection committee in September. Board order will be decided in October after the new ratings are available.

Friendly against France/Switzerland: Anybody with an interest in taking part in this friendly tournament (open to players of all strengths) is asked to contact David Salter immediately. Please indicate whether you would like to play against one or both teams and if post or e-mail is preferred.

ICCF Postal Olympiad: For this event which is due to start late this year or in 2003, the ICCA would like to hear from players rated 2200+, not on the e-mail olympiad team.

European Team Championship: The next tournament will probably begin late in 2003. Further details will be provided in due course.

Regular ICCF Events: These events (normal competitions, Master Norm and Grandmaster Norm tournaments) remain open for entry at any time upon payment of the appropriate fee.

Other News

New Titles
Congratulations to W.Desmond Taylor (Northern Ireland) and Tim Harding on being awarded the title of Senior International Master.

The ICCF Congress is being held in Seixal, Portugal from October 5-12 and Tim Harding will be attending as Irish delegate.

Wolfgang Heidenfeld Memorial
Four games are still in progress, three of which will affect the overall results.The crosstable can be seen here. ICCA President David Salter needs one point from his two remaining games to earn the IM title so we wish him well. When the event closes, the "Best Game Prizes" will be judged by Wolfgang's son, FIDE IM Mark Heidenfeld.

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ICCA is the 32-county governing body organising correspondence chess activities for Irish players living at home or abroad. A non-profit-making organisation, we run the national championship, Irish teams and other activities. We are affiliated to ICCF and the Irish Chess Union (which controls "over-the-board" chess here).