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| Archive of ICCF-U.S. News for 2014 | |
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| Archive of ICCF-U.S. News for 2014 | |
December 12, 2014ICCF-US Top 50 Rating List UpdatedUsing the 2015/1 ICCF ELO (player rating) lists [effective 1 January 15], Bob Rizzo ICCF-US Titles Officer has compiled the latest ICCF-US Top 50 Rated Active Players list. The biggest gainers from the previous list are:
New to the list are:
Congratulations to all of our big gainers and congratulations with a hearty welcome to Daniel and Humberto in this quarter's top 50! To access the list choose "PLAYER RANKS" from the upper left menu bar. |
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December 8, 2014ICCF-US Friendly Matches Newsletter - Issue 10The Friendly Post Issue 10 is now available. You can access it using the link in the lefthand column on this web page. The newsletter describes our historical performance, upcoming Friendly Matches, simple instructions about how to participate in Friendly Matches, highlighted games from Friendly Matches, and more. Check it out! Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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November 8, 2014Slovakia - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 54-board Friendly Match against a team from Slovakia. Our first board is being played by GM Jon Ostriker who is paired against GM Peter Marczell. Alexander Relyea is the USA Team Captain. You can find this match at the following URL: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/event?id=48919 . Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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October 31, 2014Report from the 2014 ICCF CongressDennis Doren represented ICCF-US at Congress in Sydney, and his report of highlights can be accessed from the link below. I want to first thank Dennis for taking on the National Delegate role, and all the work he did at Congress. ICCF-US was well represented with Dennis, Michael Millstone as ICCF General Secretary, and Jason Bokar as NAPZ Director. The full Congress minutes will be posted on the server when written and approved. Please make special note of the following: Franklin Campbell was awarded the Bertl von Massow Gold medal for 15 years of service. His contributions include a major role in getting the ICCF server started, websites with ICCF links, TC for Olympiad teams, and TD for many events. Congratulations, Franklin! Dennis Doren was elected Chair of the Arbiters Committee. Tony Kain was appointed to the position of Deputy to Ratings Commissioner Gerhard Binder. Congratulations to both, and thank you for all the work ahead of you! One significant rule change is that the server will immediately score a result when a flag falls. Appeal procedures remain the same. Please follow this link to see titles awarded and tournament awards for ICCF-US players. Corky Schakel, ICCF-US National Delegate |
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September 16, 2014ICCF-US Top 50 Rating List UpdatedUsing the 2014/4 ICCF ELO (player rating) lists [effective 1 October 14], Bob Rizzo ICCF-US Titles Officer has compiled the latest ICCF-US Top 50 Rated Active Players list. The biggest gainers from the previous list are:
New to the list are:
Congratulations to all of our big gainers and congratulations with a hearty welcome to the 4 debuting in this quarter's top 50! To access the list choose "PLAYER RANKS" from the upper left menu bar. |
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September 3, 2014ICCF-US Friendly Matches Newsletter - Issue 9The Friendly Post Issue 9 is now available. You can access it using the link in the lefthand column on this web page. The newsletter describes our historical performance, upcoming Friendly Matches, simple instructions about how to participate in Friendly Matches, highlighted games from Friendly Matches, and more. Check it out! Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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August 5, 2014Switzerland - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 57-board Friendly Match against a team from Switzerland. Our first board is being played by SIM Carl Siefring who is paired against SIM Andreas Brugger who just qualified to play in a World Championship final. SIM Carl Siefring is also the USA Team Captain. You can find this match at the following URL: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/event?id=45100 . Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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July 11, 2014ICCF-US USA National Federation Report 2014The 2014 USA National Federation report has been released. Please click here to see the highlights of our year as reported to the ICCF. A teaser: the report begins "2014 has been a great year for ICCF-US." Corky Schakel, ICCF-US National Federation Rep |
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July 11, 2014ICCF-US Team Wins Olympiad 20 Preliminaries - Section 03By winning Olympiad 20 Prelim, Section 3 the ICCF-US team of Jon Ostriker, Carl Siefring, Ken Reinhart, Dan Perry, Tom Biedermann, and Tony Kain qualified an ICCF-US team for the Olympiad 20 Finals. The team is +13 with no individual losses and one game remaining, expecting to keep the no loss record in tact. Jon Ostriker has one game remaining, and will finish first on Bd. 1. Dan Perry scored a jaw-dropping +5 in an eight game event on Bd. 4, a GM norm. Tony Kains +3 shared first on Bd. 6. All individuals will finish at least third in the nine player sections. This was tough competition, four teams in the section with a higher average rating. Congratulations to all team members! Corky Schakel, ICCF-US Olympiad 20 Preliminaries Team Captain |
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June 30, 2014Austria - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 60-board Friendly Match against a team from Austria. Our first board is being played by GM Daniel Fleetwood who is paired against GM Christian Muck. IM Kenneth Holroyd is the USA Team Captain. You can find this match at the following URL: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/event?id=44702 . Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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June 11, 2014ICCF-US Top 50 Rating List UpdatedUsing the 2014/3 ICCF ELO (player rating) lists [effective 1 July 14], Bob Rizzo ICCF-US Titles Officer has compiled the latest ICCF-US Top 50 Rated Active Players list. There are no new entries into this quarter's top 50. Biggest ratings gainer this month is IM Ken Holroyd with a 27 point increase to move from 16th to 12th in the top 50 list. Congratulations Ken! To access the list choose "PLAYER RANKS" from the upper left menu bar. |
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June 8, 2014ICCF-US Friendly Matches Newsletter - Issue 8The Friendly Post Issue 8 is now available. You can access it using the link in the lefthand column on this web page. The newsletter describes our historical performance, upcoming Friendly Matches, simple instructions about how to participate in Friendly Matches, highlighted games from Friendly Matches, and more. Check it out! Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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May 21, 2014Denmark - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 23-board Friendly Match against a team from Denmark. This completes our playing matches against the ICCF-chess playing Nordic countries within the past 5 years (including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden; excluding the Aland Islands, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland). Our first board is being played by Larry Parsons who is paired against Claus Jensen. SIM Kristo Miettinen is the USA Team Captain. You can find this match at the following URL: http://www.iccf-webchess.com/event?id=44320 . Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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May 11, 2014Israel - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 28-board Friendly Match against a team from Israel. The USA team has three GMs playing boards 1 through 3: GM Steven Ham (board 1), GM Jason Bokar (board 2), and GM Jon Ostriker (board 3). This occurred by taking advantage of the offer from the top player from the Israeli team to play multiple boards to increase the overall number of boards in the match. That Israeli player, playing boards 1-3, is GM Yoav Dothan. (That same offer was made by, and accepted for many of the Israeli players on their team.) This situation may be another first for the USA in the Friendly Matches - the first time all three of our top boards are being played by GMs! Danny Horwitz is the USA Team Captain. Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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May 10, 2014Palciauskas InvitationalIt is with great pleasure that I announce the commencement of the 2014 USA Invitational, played in honor of Victor (Vytas) Palciauskas. Victor was the 10th World Correspondence Chess Champion and one of the strongest GMs to fly the US flag. There are three sections in the VVP invitational. VVP-A is a Cat. 13 event with an average rating of 2551 and contains 10 GMs, 4 SIMs, and 1 IM. US players include GM Daniel Fleetwood, SIM Tim Murray, GM Jon Ostriker, SIM Tom Biedermann, and IM Ken Holroyd. Notably, FIDE GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2669) is also among the ranks. VVP-B is a Cat. 8 event with an average rating of 2433 and contains 5 SIMs and 7 IMs. US players include IM Wesley Green, IM Wolff Morrow, IM William Fuller, IM John Ballow, and Robert Fass. VVP-C is a Cat. 5 event with an average rating of 2363 and has 1 IM. US players include Dennis Doren, Daniel Woodard, David Sogin, Glen Shields, and Larry Dulany. To give some perspective, we had anticipated a Cat. 11 for VVP-A, Cat. 7 for VVP-B, and Cat. 3 for VVP-C. However, because of the immense interest from other countries and the great work by our ICCF-US team, we were able to organize sections of considerably higher category. Additionally, for some historical comparison: I would like to thank all of those who have helped me in organizing this prestigious event, including: Glen Shields, Corky Schakel, Carl Siefring, Tom Biedermann, and Dennis Doren were all instrumental in making this organization run smoothly. Amici Sumus, Tony Kain, VVP TO |
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April 22, 2014US Correspondence Chess Championship 21 SemifinalsThe US Correspondence Chess Championship 21 Semifinals are open to all players with a USA flag 2000+ rated by ICCF, CCLA, or USCF/FIDE (Correspondence or over the board). There will be 7 player sections, winners qualify for the Finals. Two way ties both advance, three way if it does not mean too many Finalists. More than three will require a tiebreak: most wins, S-B, or Forecast rating. Entry fee is $20, multiple entries allowed with additional entries $15. Forecast or fixed ratings close to 2000 may be used to fill out sections. Start date is July 4. Entries may be submitted any time before June 15. See iccfus.com, Store. Time control will be a new server option: 150 days for first ten moves, 15/10 after that. This will allow more time in the early part of the games, about the same amount of time through 50 moves as 40/10, and will allow games to conclude faster after that. Seeding will be by rating, across all sections and within sections. Finals will be 13-17 players, with invitations to highest rated available to fill the section as needed. As always CCLA and USCF will be invited to nominate a player, and a past Champ may be invited. Co-champs will be declared if there is a two way tie in the Finals. If more than two there will be a double round robin playoff. Corky Schakel, ICCF-US National Federation Rep |
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April 4, 2014GM Daniel M. Fleetwood Posts Historic ResultLet me preface this report by saying that I am a statistics junkie. Growing up, I collected baseball cards and could recite all of the key performance figures on my favorite players. I was researching the strongest tournaments played in ICCF, intrigued by the observation that the two strongest ICCF World Championship finals were Category 15 and were started in 2003 and 2004. My internet search discovered that someone had already done the research and compiled a nifty webpage with links to all ICCF tourneys of Category 15 and above to date -- Celebrating 60 years of the ICCF - Top ICCF Tournaments by Mariusz Wojnar (POL). This brought to light a recent outstanding accomplishment by one of our members.
The 14th highest rated ICCF tournament ever, according to this list, (average rating 2606) is the 2011 10 Jahre Schachschule Pirs in Deutschland Gruppe A , a memorial tournament conducted by Deutscher Fernschachbund (BdF - ICCF Germany). Two of America's strongest GMs obtained invitations and competed for honors in this daunting field, Daniel M. Fleetwood and Stephen E. Ham. Daniel, who entered the tourney with the second lowest rating in the field, won three games in 2013, sewing up the tournament victory with 6.5 of 10 to finish a full point ahead of his nearest rival! His performance rating of 2718 may be the strongest ever achieved by an ICCF-US member. Congratulations to Daniel on completing a signal achievement. With one game left, Stephen could still tie for second. Dan Perry, ICCF-US Webmaster |
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March 25, 2014ICCF-US Top 50 Rating List UpdatedUsing the 2014/2 ICCF ELO (player rating) lists [effective 1 April 14], Bob Rizzo ICCF-US Titles Officer has compiled the latest ICCF-US Top 50 Rated Active Players list. Welcome IM Keith A.Rodriguez back to the Top 50 List, returning in the #49 slot. Biggest ratings gainers this month are SIM Dr. Carl L. Siefring and Daniel S. Woodard with 19 point rating increases from the previous list. Congratulations to all! To access the list choose "PLAYER RANKS" from the upper left menu bar. |
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March 20, 2014Germany - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 162-board Friendly Match against a team from Germany. This is the largest Friendly Match in the history of the ICCF-US! Our previous record was 157 boards in a 1995 Friendly Match, also against Germany. (See the newsletter "The Friendly Post" issue 7, for more details.) This match is literally twice the size of our largest match of more recent time of 81 boards in the Russia-USA match that began a year ago. In this new match, GM Daniel Fleetwood is playing Board 1 for the USA versus GM Wolfgang Brodda. Our ICCF-US Treasurer SIM Thomas Biedermann is the USA Team Captain. Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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March 20, 2014India - USA Friendly Match StartedICCF-US has begun play in a 21-board Friendly Match against a team from India. We continue making history in our Friendly Matches. This time, it is because of the matchup on Board 1. The USA's highest rated active ICCF player GM Alik Zilberberg, currently tied for 37th highest in the world among ICCF players, is playing Board 1 for the USA versus FIDE GM Sasikiran Krishnan, tied for the 73rd highest rated player in the world on the current FIDE list. This is the first time since a match 6 years ago (against England started April 2008) that both players on Board 1 in an ICCF-US Friendly Match are rated over 2600, that earlier match also involving GM Zilberberg! This time, the opposing player is from the FIDE list, and is a newcomer to ICCF play. Our ICCF-US National Representative IM Corky Schakel is the USA Team Captain. Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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March 20, 2014ICCF-US Friendly Matches Newsletter - Issue 7The Friendly Post Issue 7 is now available. You can access it using the link in the lefthand column on this web page. The newsletter describes our historical performance, upcoming Friendly Matches, simple instructions about how to participate in Friendly Matches, highlighted games from Friendly Matches, and more. Check it out! Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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February 4, 2014New ICCF-US Board MemberPlease welcome Carl Siefring to the ICCF-US Board. Carl has been a leading player for ICCF-US for many years, and has represented ICCF-US on international teams and in other major events. He will contribute to the planning and continued growth of ICCF-US invitationals, as well as help develop plans for future USCCCs (where he is a recently crowned co-champ). Thanks for volunteering, Carl! Corky Schakel, ICCF-US National Federation Rep |
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January 25, 2014USCCC Champions List Added to SiteAs we head toward the Finals of the 20th US Correspondence Chess Championship we add a new page to the site to commemorate the players who have risen to the top of ICCF-US play by winning the US Correspondence Chess Championship, our USCCC Champions and Co-champions! Select the "List of USCCC Winners" menu item from the menu on the left hand side to display the page. Thanks to Dennis Doren who compiled the list for inclusion on our ICCF-US wiki page . Dan Perry, ICCF-US Webmaster |
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January 16, 2014Announcing Three New ICCF Titles EarnedThe ICCF-US Office is pleased to announce that three members of our Federation have recently earned the following Correspondence Chess Titles:
Hearty congratulations to Liam, Bryce and Bobby for their well-deserved recognition! Robert Rizzo, ICCF-US Titles Officer |
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January 6, 2014And Since the New Year Is Time For New Starts ...ICCF-US has reduced prices on ICCF tournament entries for the New Year (in reflection of changed prices from ICCF and a more positive exchange rate versus the Euro)! As always select the "ICCF-US Store" hyperlink at the top of this column or the corresponding menu item in the left column to see the new prices and / or submit your entry. Of course, you may still and are encouraged to enter many of these tournaments through the direct entry feature of the ICCF site, as the US price will normally be slightly higher than direct entry. So make your New Year's resolution now to stock up on games at these reduced prices! Thanks to ICCF-US Treasurer Thomas Biedermann for putting together the new price structure. Dan Perry, ICCF-US Webmaster |
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January 5, 2014Canada - USA Friendly Match Started - both server and postal sections!ICCF-US has begun play in a 52-board Friendly Match against a team from Canada, this match involving two sections: one consisting of 43 boards being played through the ICCF server and the other involving 9 boards being played through postal transmission. This is the first postal transmission Friendly Match play for the ICCF-US since a postal match was played starting in April 2010 against France - shy of 4 years ago! Chris O'Connell is playing Board 1 for the USA versus Paul Morley in the server section. Andrew Katz is playing Board 1 for the USA versus Richard Labonte in the postal section. SIM Tom Biedermann is the USA Team Captain for the server section. Stanley Jarosz is the USA Team Captain for the postal section. Dennis Doren, ICCF-US Friendly Match Organizer |
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January 1, 2014Happy New Year!
ICCF-US and your webmaster wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. Perhaps this is your year to see how far you can go in the World Championship cycle (the preliminaries are open now if you qualify) or maybe you want to meet interesting closely matched opponents in friendly matches with other countries. This may be your year to make some progress on an International Master, Senior International Master or even Grandmaster title. Whatever your aims for this year ICCF offers you top international games to help you pursue your chess journey. Wishing you good chess in 2014, Dan Perry, ICCF-US Webmaster |
Last updated 18-July-2016
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