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(31 Dec 2005): ICCF AMICI issue #7 published

GM Raymond Boger, editor of ICCF's on-line magazine, has announced the publication of the latest issue. It contains a President's Message from new ICCF President IM Med Samraoui, my interview of new ICCF Financial Director IM Michael Millstone, IM Corky Schakel's report on the The Liechtenstein Museum Match (a novel friendship match) and several other interesting articles. Check out the Amici home page and choose either the on-line web version or the PDF download version of Issue #7.

(11 Dec 2005): USA Top 50 List Posted at ICCF-U.S.

ICCF-U.S. Webmaster SIM Jason Bokar has just posted a new Top 50 list for USA cc competitors. Thanks to Ruth Ann Fay of the ICCF-U.S. office for creating the list. Congratulations to the players making their first appearance on the Top 50 list: Kenneth Reinhart, James P. Monacell, and G. Robert Arnold!

(29 Nov 2005): CorrespondenceChess.Com Store

I have added a link above to the CC.COM store. Purchases made from the store provide funds to pay the bills at CC.COM, home of this site plus many other useful cc web sites. Please check out John Knudsen's store to help us pay our bills. Many thanks! -- Franklin Campbell

(21 Nov 2005): Alex Dunne Column on Webmaster

FIDE Master Alex Dunne has written about this webmaster in his Chess Life column "Check is in the Mail". Check out his November 2005 column.

(18 Nov 2005): Review by Olimpiu Urcan

I have just posted an interesting book review by Olimpiu Urcan, a chess historian living in Singapore. But it is more than a review ... it is a commentary of the work and dedication required of a historian who does a proper job of documenting important chess events of the past. The book simply provides a specific example of historical research to illustrate the important principles set forth by the author, himself a recognized chess historian. Read The path to self-damnation: the dangers of self-publishing.

(15 Nov 2005): Wanted: Opponents by Neil Brennen

When you want a cc opponent these days there are many possible resources. But back in 1876, before cc organizations were established, it wasn't so simple. Read chess historian Neil Brennen's article on one player who found a solution to this dilemma. Read Wanted: Opponents by Neil Brennen in the "On the Square" collection.

(10 Nov 2005): John S. Hilbert article on cc history

John S. Hilbert has contributed more articles to this site than any other author. Eight of his articles published here were later published in his book "Essays in American Chess History" (2002, Caissa Editions). His latest article The Reverend Charles Edward Ranken and Mid-Victorian Correspondence Chess has just been posted here in the "On the Square" collection of articles.

(7 Nov 2005): New article on the history of cc

One of our regulars here at The Campbell Report is Neil "The Historian" Brennen. He has provided something special this time with "The Queen of Chess": The Correspondence Chess of Ellen Gilbert in the "On the Square" collection of articles.

(7 Nov 2005): ICCF Award

ICCF has announced that The Campbell Report (webmaster Franklin Campbell) has been awarded the "Friend of ICCF" award during the 2005 ICCF Congress in Argentina. Congratulations to the other two sites to receive this award in 2005:

ICCF Meetings (webmaster Maurizio Sampieri)

AJEC National cc site of France (webmaster Olivier Bouverot)

(7 Nov 2005): Congratulations to Chess Today on 5th!

Congratulations to GM Alex Baburin and the entire Chess Today team on reaching their 5th birthday! GM Baburin relates that he sent his first material for publication during the Istanbul Chess Olympiad using a slow Internet Cafe connection described as "pathetic". I strongly recommend this excellent on-line publication delivered by email each day. Check the Chess Today web site to subscribe, and please mention my name (Franklin Campbell) so I can get an extra month added to my subscription!

(6 Nov 2005): Interview of Michael Millstone, ICCF FD & DE

One of the major accomplishments of the ICCF Congress in Argentina was to find a new Financial Director to fill the vacant office. Many thanks to the NAPZ Director Ruth Ann Fay (USA) for doing much valuable work with the financial records to prepare them for the new FD. You can read a number of reports from congress at the ICCF Congress Web Site, including a list of newly elected officials.

Many people aren't familiar with the new ICCF Financial Officer and Direct Entry Coordinator Michael Millstone (USA). I have just posted my Interview of Michael Millstone to the Interviews section. Read it and I think you will agree with me that this was a superb choice for this very important office.

(28 Oct 2005): The Campbell Report for Sept-Oct 2005

I just posted my Sept-Oct 2005 column "The Campbell Report" from the magazine APCT News Bulletin. For all the on-line versions of my columns see Archive of The Campbell Report.

(29 Oct 2005): ICCF Congress ... first reports

As Congress time approaches (it starts tomorrow) the first reports have trickled in. South African delegate Dinand Knol and Scotland delegate George Pyrich have sent some early comments. The President's opening speach (to be delivered by Max Zavanelli) will appear on the site tomorrow about noon Eastern Time.

See the ICCF Congress Web Site for the Congress Agenda and all reports received. A number of delegates have promised to try to send reports during Congress.

(17 Oct 2005): New home for "Meetings of ICCF"

ICCF has announced that the web site "Meetings of ICCF" has a new, permanent home at the ICCF domain This excellent web site by SIM Maurizio Sampieri (ITA) contains a wealth of information on past ICCF congresses, very beautifully presented.

The separate ICCF Congress Web Site (which is hosted here at the CC.COM domain) concentrates of the most recent congresses with reports from Congress, complete minutes and photos.

(1 Oct 2005): Site reaches 200,000 hits

Yesterday the hit counter on this web page reached the 200,000 mark. Thanks for visiting, everyone.

(24 Sept 2005): FIDE World Championship

The FIDE World Championship (OTB) tournament will start in a few days, with the first games to be played on 28.09.2005. Eight top players will contest a double round robin to determine the FIDE champion. For more information see Sites of Note entry.

(12 Sept 2005): ICCF Server Tutorial in French

The French version of the ICCF Server Tutorial is now available. Thanks to Marc Smet & Charles Moeykens of the Belgium Association for Correspondence Chess for creating this new tutorial, using the English version as a guide. See: Manuel d'emploi pour le serveur ICCF.

(4 Sept 2005): ICCF Champions League Progress

The ICCF Champions League is making good progress. Nine months after the official start date 45% of the 4000+ games have finished. All games are by email or server. For a report see Champions League web site.

(2 Sept 2005): ICCF Server Tutorial in German

A German version of the ICCF Server Tutorial is now available at the BdF web site. Uwe Bekemann (GER) has performed the translation and set up the web pages. See: Benutzungshilfe für den ICCF-Webserver.

The Tutorial is now available in five languages: English, Dutch, Czech, Spanish and German. A French version is also being prepared.

(25 Aug 2005): ICCF Congress Web Site Update

I recently overhauled the ICCF Congress Web Site to give it a better look and reorganized it to give each Congress its own page. Also, thanks to Ruth Ann Fay (ICCF-U.S. office and ICCF NAPZ Zonal Director) for providing a complete list of ICCF meetings since the first one in London in 1951.

Some preliminary information about the upcoming Congress in Argentina is also given. As more information becomes available it will be added, and when Congress is underway I plan to provide reports from Argentina. One reporter is already lined up.

(2 Sept 2005): May-June 2005 APCT Column Posted

I just posted my July-Aug 2005 column "The Campbell Report" from the magazine APCT News Bulletin. For all the on-line versions of my columns see Archive of The Campbell Report.

(10 Aug 2005): Chess Journalists of America Awards

The annual CJA competition winners for 2005 were announced today. This awards program recognizes the best chess journalism published in the USA. Once again this site was named the "Best Correspondence Chess Web Site", and Neil Brennen was recognized with an Honorable Mention in the "Best Historical Article" category for his article at this site "The Process of Creation: Correspondence Play and the Growth of Chess in Texas a Century Ago". Also, congratulations to CCLA and the editor Joseph Ganem for once again winning "Best Correspondence Chess Magazine" with The Chess Correspondent.

(10 Aug 2005): ICCF Server Tutorial Reaches 1000 hits

The hit counter for the ICCF Server Tutorial posted here on 30.06.2005 has just reached 1000, making it possibly the most popular item ever posted at this site. Thanks to everyone for the input you have provided. It is serving as a model for tutorials at other sites in Czech, Spanish, Dutch and French. Hopefully, the server itself will soon provide some non-English content.

(4 Aug 2005): New web site for ICCF Africa / Asia Zone

Zonal Director Mohamed (Med) Samraoui (ALG) (currently living in Germany) has announced the creation of a new web site to serve the ICCF Africa/Asia Zone. The webmaster is Giorgio Ruggeri Laderchi (ITA), who is also webmaster for the European Zonal site.

(4 Aug 2005): Candidates for ICCF Positions

Zonal Director SIM Med Samraoui (ALG) and IM Dr. Claudio Javier Goncalves (ARG) have announced they will be candidates for the open position of President of ICCF. At this time of transition to using the ICCF server (not only for playing chess but also for administrative functions) it is important to have candidates of this caliber step forward to serve.

No candidates have yet come forward to run for the open position of World Tournament Director.

(25 July 2005): IA Maurice Carter on Chess.FM Radio

IA Maurice Carter (USA), a long-time cc organizer and tournament director in the USA, will be the guest on the show Fred Wilson's "Chess & Books".Check out the Chess.FM site for full information. The show will be broadcast on the Internet on Tuesday evening, July 26 at 8:00pm ET.

(30 June 2005): May-June 2005 APCT Column Posted

I just posted my May-June 2005 column "The Campbell Report" from the magazine APCT News Bulletin. For all the on-line versions of my columns see Archive of The Campbell Report.

(28 June 2005): ICCF Server Tutorial now available

I just finished a tutorial on how to use the ICCF Webserver. If you are planning to play on the ICCF server for the first time (or even if you are already an experienced server player) you may find something of interest in ICCF Server Tutorial. I have place a link in my short link list at the top of this site and added an entry in the menu system under "Special Features".


Editor R. Boger

(21 June 2005): ICCF Amici vol. 5

GM Raymond Boger (NOR) has replaced Alex Dunne (USA) as editor of the ICCF on-line magazine ICCF Amici. Though GM Boger has been publishing ICCF Amici since the first issue and has served as webmaster, the 5th issue is his first as editor (Alex Dunne served as editor for the first four issues, but he has now taken on the USCF position of CC Director).

This 5th issue has just been published and can now be found at the ICCF Amici web site. You can read the issue on-line in your browser or download a PDF or DOC file, plus the games files can be downloaded separately in various database formats.

You can also visit GM Raymond Boger's interesting personal web site.

(20 June 2005): GM Arno Nickel Interview by Chessfriend.com

Reimund Lutzenberger of the Chessfriend.com chess server has provided an interview of GM Arno Nickel titled "Adams can beat Hydra". This is of particular interest now since GM Michael Adams (ENG) will be playing the Hydra computer in a large prize-fund 6-game match June 21-27, 2005. See the announcement below. They say that Hydra has never been defeated by a human GM at regular time limits, but cc GM Anro Nickel has recently won the first two games of a projected four-game correspondence chess match. See what GM Nickel has to say about how to beat the Hydra computer.

(19 June 2005): OTB Player Web Sites

A number of top OTB chess players now have their own web sites. Following is a list for a few of the top players.

    Vladimir Kramnik
    Vishwanathan Anand ... dated, still interesting
    Garry Kasparov ... site for ‘My Great Predecessors’
    Peter Leko
    Ponomariov ... still under construction
    Alexander Morozevich ... hosted by GM Square
    Judit Polgar ... a fan site
    Peter Svidler
    Teimour Radjabov ... fan site


(click image)

(18 June 2005): Adams vs. Hydra Match

GM Michael Adams (ENG) will be playing the Hydra computer in a 6-game match June 21-27, 2005. See Hydra Web Site. They claim that Hydra (a multi-processor computer using both special hardware and software for chess) has never lost an OTB game to a Grandmaster, though GM Arno Nickel recently won two games in correspondence chess (see ChessFriend.Com). June 24 will be a rest day. The games will be shown live on the Internet. Prize fund is $150,000. Hopefully, the game will be prettier than the logo!

(12 June 2005): ICCF Champions League News

The giant ICCF Champions League correspondence chess team competition, official start date 1 December 2004, has made great progress. Almost 1200 games have finished out of the 4308 total games (27+%). Check out the web site devoted to this competition. Along with the chess, many of the teams have created wonderful team logos and web sites. If you are participating, consider sending in some comments for the Guestbook page. So far there are no entries.

Click for larger picture of Gold Book
(click image)

(Updated 8 June 2005): Alexandra Kosteniuk and ASIGC

"Alexandra Kosteniuk takes Frascati" ... that is the title of the ChessBase article describing a simul by Russian women's champion Alexandra Kosteniuk against "Twenty strong opponents, all masters of the ASIGC (Italian Correspondence Chess Association)". The ASIGC web site supplies more pictures and reports (in Italian). Andrea Mori has confirmed that all 20 opponents hold the ASIGC title of (National) Master, something that could have been questioned otherwise as the CB report also labels them "the correspondence chess professionals" (my emphasis). This event appears to explain the recent pictures of Kosteniuk holding the "ICCF Gold" book ... it was apparently presented to her by someone in ASIGC. She scored +15 =5 (no losses).

A nice piece of promotion by ASIGC! "The simul was organized to close the ASIGC Congress which was held in Frascati during the 'Chess week' that started the Italian preolympic year (Chess Olympics will be held in Turin exactly one year from now)", said Andrea Mori. The "ICCF Gold" book is highly recommended. It is a marvelous compilation of information about the history of correspondence chess and of the ICCF and affiliated National Federations.

Wim van Vugt

(5 June 2005): New article by Wim van Vugt

What would be the ideal time control for ICCF correspondence chess events? There's probably no one right answer, but Wim van Vugt presents his analysis of the situation in his article The ideal time allotment. Read Wim's recommendations on this hot issue in the cc world. What will the coming ICCF Congress in Argentina do about time controls when they meet in October/November 2005? Hopefully, the delegates to Congress will read this article before making any decisions.

(3 June 2005): ICCF Champions League Guestbook

The ICCF Champions League web site now has a Guestbook page.

(1 June 2005): ICCF Champions League Relegation Scheme

The details of how teams with be promoted/relegated in the ICCF Champions League team tournament to Leagues A, B, C, D next season have been posted at the Champions League web site.

See: Promotion / Relegation System

(31 May 2005): New article on Computers in CC

The issue of the use of computer chess engines in competitive correspondence chess comes up frequently in discussions. Is it cheating to use chess engines? Are the users unethical? Or is it a simple fact of life in the cc world, just another tool to be mastered in order to improve the quality of the game? See my new article Computers in the World of Correspondence Chess in the "On the Square" collection of articles. You won't find all the answers, but you might find an interesting summary of the current status of computers and their effect on our game.

(30 May 2005): ChessChick at The Campbell Report!

With the unfortunate demise of the excellent chess web site Tales of 1001 Knights webmaster S. F. Strahan has agreed to my proposal that the very interesting and popular columns of ChessChick be archived at The Campbell Report. Check them out at: ChessChick Archive. Thanks to webmaster Susan Strahan ... and, of course, to ChessChick!

(25 May 2005): France Wins 5th North Atlantic Team Tournament

This 11 team/10 board ICCF team event has ended with France scoring a convincing win with 62½ out of 100 games. Second place went to the USA team with 58 points just ½ point ahead of Canada and Spain. The other teams participating were Ireland, Iceland, England, Scotland, Wales, Norway and Portugal. Thanks to USA Team Captain N. Eric Pedersen and NAPZ Director Ruth Ann Fay for providing information.

The crosstables can be seen at the ICCF web site under the "Invitationals teams" link, or you can go directly to crosstable. This event was dedicated to the memory of John F. Cleeve. Medals should be awarded at this year's ICCF Congress in Argentina.

(25 May 2005): ICCF Congress Web Site

I have updated the ICCF Congress Web Site with some information on this year's ICCF Congress in Villa La Angostura Neuquen, Argentina 29 October - 5 November 2005.

(12 May 2005): M-Tel Masters

The M-Tel Masters OTB tournament is underway with Kramnik winning in the first round. There's a special rule to prevent short draws. Live coverage is available at the official web site and at ICC. ChessFM radio is also covering the games, starting at 7:30am ET. See Sites of Note entry.

(9 May 2005): Historical Article by Neil Brennen

"The Historian" is back again with his 10th article at The Campbell Report. It was first published in the January-February 2005 issue of Texas Knights, the official journal of the Texas Chess Association and is republished here with permission of the author. Read The Process of Creation: Correspondence Play and the Growth of Chess in Texas a Century Ago by Neil Brennen in the "On the Square" collection of articles to experience postal chess in Texas a century ago. Chess has such a wonderful and rich history!

(4 May 2005): Review by IM Robert Rizzo Posted

A new DVD "Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine" is scheduled to be released in the USA later this month. This look back at the match, which Kasparov lost to Deep Blue, is certainly fascinating for a number of reasons. Should you get a copy? Read IM Bob Rizzo's review in the "On the Square" collection of articles to help you decide.

(24 April 2005): Chessville Celebrates 150th Issue

Congratulations to the Chessville publisher and staff on the occasion of their 150th issue! Publisher David Surratt has been providing chess enthusiasts with this excellent (free!) weekly email chess newsletter for three years, and it has just gotten better and better. I have placed a description of Chessville on my Sites of Note page, where you can read more about it. Chessville has marked this occasion with the introduction of their new logo, reproduced here. I encourage all chess enthusiasts to visit their web site and sign up for a free subscription.

(30 April 2005): March-April 2005 APCT Column Posted

I just posted my March-April 2005 column "The Campbell Report" from APCT News Bulletin. For all my on-line "The Campbell Report" columns see Archive of The Campbell Report.

(20 April 2005): My "Live" Webserver Games

One excellent feature of the ICCF Webserver is the ability to display games "live", normally with a 3-move delay (this delay is a variable set by the TD). Just go to the crosstable for the event and click on any of the result squares. I have set up a page using frames to make it easy to follow my personal live games. The little "crosstables" on the page call up the games between my opponents. I have added a link above (in my favorite links list) labeled MyLiveGames. If you go to the ICCF Web Server and click on "Tables and results" on the left navigation bar you can find links to the various server events (some are grouped under a header you must click on first). The events with "live" coverage are now labeled clearly.

(3 April 2005): 1st Webserver USCCC Starts

The 1st Webserver United States Correspondence Chess Championship (1st WS USCCC) preliminary round is about to start. The final assignments went out today for the event formerly referred to as the 3rd Email USCCC, renamed since it will be played on the new ICCF Server. Six sections of seven players each have been formed. The exciting news is that four of the sections will be displayed live to the public, with a 3-move delay in each game.

IA Ralph Marconi will direct all sections of this championship event, which officially starts on April 17, 2005. The crosstables can be found on the ICCF Webserver by clicking on "Tables and results". Near the bottom of the listing of events are links to the six sections, "1st WS USCCC-P01" through "1st WS USCCC-P06". The games of sections P03-P06 can be followed by going to their crosstables. Just click on any result to see the final position (you can replay the entire game) or, if the game hasn't finished, on the "dot" in the crosstable representing the unfinished game. For an overview of the entire event, check out the crosstable page set up in the ICCF-U.S. crosstable archive. If you're interested in how the ICCF server functions, check out the Server Screenshots at my personal domain for a few examples.

(1 April 2005): Confidential Email Posted Today!

I just posted the Confidential Email from The Historian sent to me by Neil Brennen, otherwise known as The Historian, to the "On the Square" collection. We all know how important it is to post confidential emails as soon as possible. Read it and see why this chess historian was so upset and concerned. If you have your own concerns you can send me a confidential email as well ... that is, if you want your views circulated ASAP!

(13 March 2005): CJA Awards Program Announcement

I just posted the 2005 Chess Journalists of America/Cramer Journalism Awards Joint Announcement at the CJA web site. Various categories of chess journalism published between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005 will be eligible. To be considered the items must be in English and have been published in a USA print publication or on a web site based in the USA. For samples of items that can be judged, see last year's winners.

(1 March 2005): Jan-Feb 2005 APCT Column Posted

I just posted my January-February 2005 column "The Campbell Report" from APCT News Bulletin. For the last eleven plus years of "The Campbell Report" columns see Archive of The Campbell Report. Note that APCT will be shutting down in the near future. I plan to continue writing my column till the magazine ceases publication, probably in about two years.


"The Historian"
Neil Brennen
(28 February 2005): New Article on Correspondence Chess History in USA

Chess historian Neil Brennen has provided another article covering an aspect of American cc history and the need to preserve valuable records for future generations. In particular, he highlights two important players who died without an adequate record left behind of their chess accomplishments, Peter Rimlinger and Leon Stolzenberg. I am pleased that I had an opportunity to meet each of these gentlemen once in competition. One of my games found its way into this article. Read this article to learn a little about these two excellent chess players. And also read Neil's valuable suggestions for helping future chess historians by insuring the preservation of your chess history.

Read the appropriately named Sculpting in Snow by Neil Brennen, who is affectionately known to his friends as "The Historian", based on an attempted insult by a nameless author on a nameless chess newsgroup.

(18 February 2005): USA Players Needed for first server championship

This year the 3rd Email USCCC is being held on the ICCF server, the first USA championship to be held on a server. This is a great opportunity for USA players to try out this excellent method of playing chess. I personally far prefer this method of play over email. It is convenient, easy to use and really works well. You can check out the server at http://www.iccf-webchess.com/ or view my screen shots.

We need more players. The start date has been pushed back till additional players sign up. Play will be in 7-player preliminary groups with all play all (round robin). We are one player short of filling five full sections. Better would be enough players to fill out several more sections. This is a short path to reach a championship final with only seven players in a prelim group. It's a chance to try out the fabulous new ICCF server. And it's a chance to meet some top USA competition and to play for a championship. I will definitely be participating and encourage all qualified USA players to consider this event. To qualify you must be a member of USCF, CCLA or APCT and have a minimum rating of either 2000 or 2100 OTB. For the official announcement see: 3rd USCCC Announcement.

(10 February 2005): ICCF Statutes, as approved by 2004 ICCF Congress

To facilitate discussions about the ICCF statutes, I have posted the latest version, as approved by the ICCF Congress in Mumbai, India, 2004.
-- Franklin Campbell, webmaster

(8 February 2005): Tales of 1001 Knights web site to close down

Webmaster S. F. Strahan has announced that the domain for the Tales of 1001 Knights web site will expire on 1 April 2005 and will not be renewed. I suggest if you haven't visited this entertaining site in the past that you check it out before it goes away. Many thanks to Susan Strahan for her service to the chess community with this site and other contributions. My first published enterview was of a columnist at this web site known as ChessChick (see ChessChick On-line Interview). Don't miss ChessChick's interesting columns.

I also just added a link to my Chess Links page for the Baysholiss Collection. It should contain material of interest to anyone interested in chess history. If you have a little time to kill I suggest reviewing the sites listed on my Sites of Note page. There are a lot of interesting chess web sites out there.
-- Franklin Campbell, webmaster

(6 February 2005): Joop J. van Oosterom New World Champion

ICCF has announced that Joop J. van Oosterom of The Netherlands has clinched the world championship of correspondence chess. 15 players representing 10 nations participated in this all-play-all final round of the XVIII World Championship Tournament. The battle for 2nd place is still underway with the following players still in contention: Wolfram Schön (GER) 5½ (5 games remaining), Hans-Marcus Elwert (GER) 7½(2), Mikhail Umansky (RUS) 7½(1), Mrs. Olita Rause (LAT) 5½(3), Daniel M Fleetwood (USA) 5(4), Soltau, Achim (GER) 8(1), and Patrick Spitz (FRA) 5(3). This event began 1 June 2003 and has an average rating of 2614. The crosstable. The Grandmaster norm is 7 points.

J. J. van Oosterom received his Grandmaster title in 1993. He is currently the highest rated player in ICCF with a rating of 2754, just ahead of Sweden's GM Ulf Andersson at 2737. He is better known in the OTB world as the sponsor of the annual Melody Amber Tournament in Monaco, where a dozen elite players play both blindfold and rapid games.

(26 January 2005): Proposal to Improve ICCF Communication

Back in August of 2002 I submitted a document to ICCF proposing a comprehensive job description for the position "Press Officer". It was my opinion that ICCF needed to put more effort into communication with the public (including its own players) and chess journalists. Nothing came of that proposal, but the ideas presented still seem valid to me and still should be put into place. The recent failure (in my opinion) to properly publicize World Champion Tunc Hamarat's offer to play matches against the Rest of World to raise money for the ICCF Development Fund reminded me of this proposal, and I decided to publish it now in the hope it may provide some encouragement for making improvements. See Proposal for ICCF Press Officer Job Description and Web Site Design.
-- J. Franklin Campbell (former ICCF Press Officer)

(22 January 2005): ICCF Congress Minutes 1997-2004

I have just updated the ICCF Congress Web Site to provide the official minutes (where available) for the last eight ICCF Congresses (1997-2004). These minutes document the important decisions made by the governing body of ICCF, the delegates at the annual ICCF Congress. Thanks to ICCF Honorary President Alan Borwell for providing these important documents. Thanks to CC.COM for hosting the ICCF Congress Web Site.
-- J. Franklin Campbell (ICCF Congress Web Site Webmaster)

(19 January 2005): Interview with ICCF Honorary President Alan Borwell

I just posted Interview with Alan Borwell by Per Söderberg (SWE) to the Interviews section. Per interviewed Alan Borwell (SCO), previous treasurer and president of ICCF and now Honorary President of ICCF, in November, before the recent resignation of ICCF President Josef Mrckvicka, so it doesn't cover that important ICCF news. It was originally published in Swedish in the Swedish print cc magazine Korrschack in issue 4/2004 dated December 2004. Thanks both to Alan Borwell and to Per Söderberg for their permission to publish the interview here and for their help in preparing it for publication here.

(19 January 2005): NAPZ Tournament Index

The NAPZ Tournament Index page shows links to the crosstables for the championship events of the North American/Pacific Zone (NAPZ) of ICCF plus championship events of the countries in that zone [Australia (AUS), Canada (CAN), Hong Kong (HKG), Japan (JPN), Mexico (MEX), New Zealand (NZL), Singapore (SIN), USA (USA)]. I just added a link for the new Championship of Canada 2005 - KE61 server tournament and moved the link for the just-finished 2nd Email USCCC Preliminary round to the Archive of Finished Tournaments, which lists many of the completed events from the past.

(17 January 2005): US Championship Archive Updates

During the last two days I have made two major updates to the USCCC archives. 708 games are now available from the preliminary round of the 6th USCCC (1982-1984) and 103 games from the just-finished preliminary round of the 2nd Email USCCC. Special thanks to Chris Ferrante for manually inputting the games of the 6th USCCC Prelims.

(3 January 2005): Nov-Dec 2004 APCT Column Posted

I just posted my November-December 2004 column "The Campbell Report" from APCT News Bulletin. For the last eleven years of "The Campbell Report" columns see Archive of The Campbell Report.

(3 January 2005): APCT Announces Closure

Helen and Jim Warren have just announced their planned retirement and the closing of the USA correspondence chess organization APCT (American Postal Chess Tournaments). They will accept entries to tournaments for several more months. Then all events will be played to a finish and the magazine APCT News Bulletin will continue publication during this period. For approximately 35 years APCT has been one of the leading USA cc organizations. APCT News Bulletin has been named the best cc magazine in the USA by CJA on many occasions. The only cc team championship of the USA was won by APCT (see NTC-1 Report). Editor and tournament director Helen Warren was named along with GM Robert Byrne as the first recipients of the CJA Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to Helen and Jim Warren on their long, distinguished careers of service to the cc community. APCT will be missed but will remain an important part of USA cc history. Thanks for everything, Helen and Jim!

(2 January 2005): Important Updates to ICCF Web Site

The ICCF Web Site has been updated with important new information reflecting changes made by the 2004 ICCF Congress in Mumbai, India. The changes I particularly noted are:

  • Link to the World Tournament Director's web pages
  • New playing rules for events starting 01.01.2005 and later
  • New Webserver playing rules
  • Code of Conduct now provided on the "ICCF Rules" page
  • Tournament Rules now contain "Live" display regulations
  • 2004 Mumbai Congress minutes available for download
  • Outgoing ICCF President Josef Mrkvicka's farewell message
For news items posted in 2004, go to Index2004.htm.
Snapshot taken from end of December 2004
For news items posted in 2003, go to Index2003.htm.
Snapshots of site from September 1999, April 2001, June 2001.

Webmaster: J. Franklin Campbell
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