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Last updated 2 June 2025

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2 Jun 25 | Professor Alastair Dawson RIP: Sad news from St Andrews where Alastair Dawson has died after a short illness. A former SCCA Championship winner in 2008-09 and 2009-10, Alastair served on the SCCA Committee and wrote the Games Column for our Magazine. He was also active in the OTB game, serving as TAFCA President and a stalwart of Dundee Chess Club. He had planned to play in the Scottish Championship in Dunfermline during July. He'll be much missed by family and friends.

2 May 25 | SCCA AGM 2025 Notice: This will nominally be held at 11 West Grange Farm Steading, St Andrews KY16 8LJ at 4:00pm on Sunday, 11th May, but will be a Google Meet conference to make attendance easier. Please contact the president for Google Meet details. The agenda is:

2 Feb 25 | SCCA Best Game Prize 2024: English GM John Pugh has kindly consented to judge our Best Game Prize for 2024. We've had a couple of entries so far, but we could do with a few more to give a spread of players and styles to choose from. Please strip out commentary and send game scores to the president before the end of February. We'll aim to publish the successful entries in our Spring magazine, due out in April.

15 Jan 25 | Happy New Year and Magazine 168!: Apologies for the silence over the festive season - I was away for part of the time, then ill on my return. All the best to all our members and friends throughout 2025! John Hawkes and myself managed to complete the editing of magazine 168 in the last day or so, so I'll be sending out complementary copies by email later today, and posting a news item to allow members to download their copies from the members' area of the website. It's all been a bit of a lather, but I hope everything is in better shape now!

04 Dec 24 | SCCA 2025 Membership Renewal Documents Published: Membership Secretary Mickey Blake has made the 2025 document set available on the membership page. If you are intending to (re-)join the SCCA, please download the docs, complete your details and revert to Mickey by email or post.

23 Nov 24 | Scotland Team for North Sea Team Event Announced

International Secretary David Kilgour has announced the following team to contest the North Sea Team Event which the organisers hope to start on 1 February, 2025.

Buchan, Allan (2455)
Sneddon, Iain (2409)
Whittaker, Ian (2386)
Montgomery, Robert (2373)
Taylor, Wilf (2161)
Munro, Paul (2158)

David Kilgour will act as Team Captain.

10 Oct 24 | SCCA Magazine 167 Published: The third e-mag of the 2024 set is being distributed by email today. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be a little longer than last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

07 Sep 24 | Dr Val Nye RIP: Yet again I bring sad news - Dr Val Nye, a founder member of SCCA has died following a heart attack. Born in Surrey in 1937, he moved to Scotland in the 1960s, working at Strathclyde University where he took his PhD. He was a strong OTB player with an interest in CC, and also a club and regional organiser, He assisted Bernard Partridge and others to initiate Scotland's national CC organisation in 1977, and was its first secretary and treasurer until June 1983. We send our grateful thanks and condolences to his wife Valerie and his family. I'll certainly miss the irrepressible telephone conversations!

04 Aug 24 | Colin Beveridge RIP: Yet another of our members has left us. Colin Beveridge of Cheltenham died suddenly on 16th June aged 66. He'd not long retired and was looking forward to some relaxation. His funeral was held on 16th July and we extend our condolences to his family and friends. Colin was playing in the SCCA Championship at the time of his demise.

13 Jul 24 | SCCA Winners Updated: Winners of the SCCA Championship and SCCA League Division 1 have been updated at the end of the 2023-24 season.

12 Jul 24 | ICCF Grading List 2024/3 Published: The third quarterly list of 2024 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Alistair Maxwell.

12 Jul 24 | SCCA Magazine 166 Published: The second e-mag of the 2024 set is being distributed by email today. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be about the same as last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

07 Jul 24 | Annual Accounts 2023-24 published: Treasurer Ian Whittaker has received the green light from our auditor John Fanning, so our 2023=24 accounts may now be found on our members / downloads page.

30 Jun 24 | Buchan and Sneddon Tie for SCCA Championship 2023-24: Congratulations to Allan Buchan and Iain Sneddon who have finished joint first in the 2023-24 Championship with identical scores and SB ratings. We'll try to bring you annotated games from both players in the upcoming magazine 166 or the following edition. Meanwhile, you can inspect the final table by clicking on SCCA Championship 23-24

30 Jun 24 | Fourth States and Regions CC Championship: The States and Regions Correspondence Chess Championship is a biennial team event organised by the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation (WCCF) and open to representative teams from any country of the world. Teams must represent a subdivision of a country; this could be a state, county, province, territory, etc. Eligibility to play for each team is determined by the team captain, however the WCCF Executive Committee retain the right to reject any individual or team entry. Multiple teams (for example “A” and “B” teams) may be entered from the same state or region. Entries at now accepted at ICCF.com – New Events/Wales; Structure; Teams will consist of four players; each player will play one game against each of the other players on the same board. There will be one or more divisions, each division will consist of thirteen to fifteen teams. Allocation to the first division will be:; The winning team of Division One will be declared the S&RCCC Champion, the winning team and first runner up of the lower divisions will be promoted to the next division. New teams will normally enter at the lowest division except by agreement of the WCCF Executive Committee. Teams including fewer than three players from the previous season will be considered as new teams.; Rules; All relevant ICCF rules and procedures for international team events current at the start of the tournament will apply. Team captains are strongly encouraged to arrange boards by rating order and WCCF reserve the right to enforce rating order to correct a detrimental effect on norm availability. The same player may not represent more than one team in the event or occupy more than one board for the same team.; As the S&RCCC is an ICCF approved tournament, title norms may be available depending on the rating level of each board.; Time Control; The Triple Block time control of 50 days initial time, 50 days bank, and 5 days added for each of the first fifty moves will be used with Guaranteed Time applying after Move 50.; Entry; The States and Regions Correspondence Chess Championship had been approved by ICCF as an Open tournament;; The entry fee for each team is 20.00 Euro Direct Entry. Entry may be made via the ICCF Website only – for teams who wish to enter via their National Federation, contact should be made with them to confirm the necessary payment.; Entries will close on 3rd August 2024; games will commence shortly afterwards. There are no prizes, however certificates will be awarded to members of the winning team of each division, and free entry will be offered to the winning team of the first division for the following season.; Qualifications; Division 1; Division 2; Division 3; If you have any further queries, please contact David Kilgour on international.

12 Jun 24 | Graham Morrison Funeral

Graham's funeral will be held on Tuesday 18 June. If you wish to attend, please contact a member of our Executive Committee.

11 Jun 24 | Upcoming Friendly Internationals

David Kilgour reports that we have arranged a match against USA and are working on another versus Poland. Both will be played over 15-20 boards. If you are a new member this year or have recently changed your email address, please contact David on international to indicate your availabilty.

11 Jun 24 | Rudolf Kolesknikov Memorial Team Tournament

David Kilgour reports that our team for this event is:

629031 Lloyd, Geoffrey 2281

620192 Kilgour, David A 2287

620565 Taylor, Wilf 2110

620367 Maxwell, Alistair 2060

620393 MacGregor, Colin A 1923

620635 Burridge, Raymond John 1776

20 May 24 | David Cumming RIP

Inverness Police report that David was found dead at home on 5th May. Further details have been hard to come by, but those of you engaged in games with him will have noticed long delays in replyimg to moves. We'll publish further details as they become available.

14 May 24 | Graham Morrison RIP

Shortly after our AGM we were shocked and saddened to learn of the death of board member Graham Morrison from a stroke. Graham had only been with us for a year during which he played a significant role organising and playing in the 200th anniversary of the Edinburgh v London match played by post in 1824. Graham lived with his wife Lynne (nee Houstoun) in Lytham St Annes in recent times, after a highly successful chess career in Scotland and England. More news as we get it.

14 May 24 | 2024 AGM Highlights

At the AGM via Zoom on 12 May, the following items were noted:

Unaudited accounts showing a surplus of £592 were produced by Ian Whittaker.

John Fanning FCA will continue as our auditor.

SCCA membership subscriptions remain unchanged.

We have secured sponsorship for EFCC teams playing SCCA League chess from 2025.

Members can download AGM and Executive Committee minutes from the members download page. Full financial details will follow later once John Fanning examines our 2023-24 accounts.

4 May 24 | SCCA AGM 2024 Notice

This will nominally be held at 11 West Grange Farm Steading, St Andrews KY16 8LJ at 4:00pm on Sunday, 12th May, but will be a Zoom conference to make attendance easier. Please contact the president for Zoom details. The agenda is:

Apologies

Minutes of Previous AGM and Matters Arising

President's Remarks

Secretary's Report

Treasurer's Report

International Secretary's Report

Election of Office Bearers

Appointment of Auditor

Proposed Subscriptions and Fees

Presentation of SM Title and Certificate to Robert Montgomery

AOCB

12 Apr 24 | ICCF Grading List 2024/2 Published

The second quarterly list of 2024 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Alistair Maxwell.

12 Apr 24 | SCCA Magazine 165 Published

The first e-mag of the 2024 set is being distributed by email today. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be about the same as last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

11 Apr 24 | ICCF 9th WebChess Open

ICCF is delighted to announce the start of the 9th WebChess Open tournament on the server. This announcement is posted on the ICCF website and distributed to all national federations. Working in collaboration with ICCF, the Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, Giorgio Ruggeri Laderchi, will organise the tournament.

The WebChess Open Tournament is a tournament open to all correspondence chess players worldwide, with or without any previous ICCF experience. The tournament is played over three rounds (preliminary, semi-final, and final). Winners from each group in each round advance to the next round.

After standard tie-breaks in ICCF rules [1.3.4]: the player with the lowest average rating on the commencement of play. After tie-breaking, if necessary, a small number of best placed 2nd place players will qualify for the final semi-final stage.

The preliminaries will start on 15th June 2024. The semi-finals will start in June 2026 (sooner if all preliminary groups are completed). The semi-finals will be played with Silli System, if necessary. The final will start in June 2028 (sooner if all semi-final groups are completed).

All games will be played by webserver with the triple block system. Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 700 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 5 days). Please note – without guaranteed time in the preliminaries and in the semi-final and final with guaranteed time.

All games will be rated with title norms possible. Title norms are not available in the preliminary round.

Entry Fee: 6,00 Euros per entry. Entries: Multiple entries are allowed.

Although the number of preliminary groups each player may enter is unlimited, no player will qualify for more than two semifinal groups (or one semifinal group, if played with Silli System) or more than one place in the final.

Registration: New players to ICCF can enter 1 section for free. They have to register directly at www.iccf.com. All extra entries should be paid if they wish to enter more than one section. They should send their contact information: name, email address, and country to Giorgio Ruggeri Laderchi / NTTC ([email protected]). Players may use Direct Entry (DE) or registration via the national federation (MF).

Each preliminary and semi-final group winner will receive a voucher prize, value to be confirmed before the start of the preliminary round. It is expected that these we are around 20 and 50 Euro respectively, but the actual amount will depend on entries, and the final shall have a 2.000 Euro prize fund (900 Euro for 1st place, 700 Euro for 2nd place, 400 Euro for 3rd place (prizes will be shared on equal points). All prizes will be given only after the completion of each stage.

[Rule 1.3.1] Any promotion to a higher section or (other-than-norm) prize or event-related title in an ICCF event requires a plus score from all non-cancelled games, no matter the final placement in the completed section (that is, no matter if first, second, third or fourth place).

Registration Deadline: The closing date for all entries is 31st May 2024. Pairings will be issued as soon as possible after that date.

All chess players are heartily invited to enter this tournament, both for the enjoyment of games and for friendly contact/communication with players worldwide.

9 Apr 24 | Counties & Districts Correspondence Chess Championship 2024

Russell Sherwood of Wales, on behalf of the Joint British Committee (formerly BCCA) is pleased to announce the 2024 Counties and Districts Correspondence Chess Championship.

As in the past the event will be made up of 3 Divisions of teams of 8 players, using the Hutton pairing system. As each player only undertakes 2 games, this is an ideal event for both new and experienced players.

The closing date for entries is the 7th of April, with an expected start date of the 21st of April, leading to an end date of 22/02/2025 with any remaining games going to Adjudication. The entry fee is £15 per team and entries should be sent to the Tournament Organiser, Russell Sherwood, who will confirm payment options.

Players in established teams should contact their team captains. New players wishing to take part should contact Phil Beckett (ENG) , David Kilgour (SCO) or Russell Sherwood (WLS) for encouragement and advice on possible teams. As a reminder, place of birth, education or residence are all valid qualification reasons for team membership.

16 Mar 24 | Rudolf Kolesknikov Memorial Team Tournament Announced

Non Title Tournament Commissioner Giorgio Ruggeri Laderchi has made the following announcement:

ICCF is glad to announce the VII ICCF Team Tournament for players rated <2300 – in memoriam Rudolf Kolesknikov.

All ICCF member federations (that are not currently suspended) are invited to enter their teams to this event, which will be played on the ICCF webserver over two rounds: semi-final and final. The first three teams in the final will receive medals.

Each federation may enter two teams. All players in a team must be rated <2300 on the ICCF rating list 2024/2 or on the current FIDE list. In addition, all players must be full members of the federation they represent or be registered on the ICCF server for the country of the federation they represent for the duration of the tournament.

The preliminaries will start on July 1st, 2024. There will be 6 players in each team. A maximum of 3 players may be replaced during the tournament.

Further tie-breaking procedures: After standard tie-breaks in ICCF rules, the team with the lowest average rating on the commencement of play.

The right to be promoted from the semi-final shall be determined by the ICCF Non-Title Tournaments Commissioner and approved by the Executive Board at the start of the tournament. The intention is to have a 13 Team final.

The entry fee will be at the rate of €4 per player, i.e. €24 per team. There will be no further entry fee for the final.

Time control will be Triple Block (Duration of Tournament: 700 days; Initial Clock: 50 days; Initial Bank: 50 days; Increment: 5 days). Please note – without guaranteed time in the semi-final and in the final with guaranteed time.

Team entries have to be sent by the national federations to the Non-Title Tournament Commissioner Giorgio Ruggeri Laderchi ([email protected]) not later than June 10th, 2024. No replacement or board change will be allowed after that date, unless exceptional circumstances occur.

All entries should include the following details:

board order

name and ICCF code of the players

name, ICCF code and e-mail address of the Team Captain

If you are interested in organising a team and/or taking part in a team, please contact: David Kilgour by mid-May, 2024.

Rudolf Kolesnikov (1938–2023)

Rudolf Kolesnikov was born in Tbilisi, prize-winner of tournaments held in Tbilisi and Lviv. FIDE International Arbiter (2001), Honoured Coach of Ukraine (2006). He started playing chess at the age of 10 and was in the youth national team of Georgia in 1953. After graduating from the Tbilisi Institute of Railway Transport Engineers, he was assigned to the Lviv Railway, where he worked until retirement.

Organiser and arbiter of many correspondence tournaments in Ukraine, ICCF IM (1991), ICCF IA (1999). Captain of the national team in the 5th European Team Championship (preliminaries and final).

Actively engaged in the popularization of chess, the author of more than 600 articles in almost fifty printed mass media. In 1990, he was accredited as a correspondent of the Lviv Railway newspaper in Novi Sad at the 29th FIDE Chess Olympiad. The author of the books "Correspondence chess in Ukraine" 1994, "My memorable face-to-face and correspondence meetings" 2019.

1 Mar 24 | SCCA 2024 Domestic Events Started

Many thanks to Mickey Blake who has initiated all our major domestic individual and team events again this year. You can access the x-table links via the following pages: championship; premier; open A; open B; open C; league 1; league 2; and league 3.
Challengers fixtures for 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 are arranged in mini-tables on the SCO-Challengers page of the webserver.

29 Jan 24 | ICCF Qualifications from former Zones Championships

There have been enquiries from players about what will happen in the transition period with qualifications earned in former Zones Championships. This note confirms that:

qualifications from the former EU Zone are transferred to the Super Regional EU Championships

qualifications from the former World Zone are transferred to the Super Regional RoW Championships

In special cases qualifications from the former Zones Championships may be transferred crosswise, i. e. qualifications from the former RoW Championships may be transferred to the Super Regional EU Championships and vice versa. This is the case when a NF moved from the Rest of the World to Europe or vice versa.

qualifications from the former EU Zone are transferred to the Super Regional EU Championships

qualifications from the former World Zone are transferred to the Super Regional RoW Championships.

In special cases qualifications from the former Zones Championships may be transferred crosswise, i. e. qualifications from the former RoW Championships may be transferred to the Super Regional EU Championships and vice versa. This is the case when a NF moved from the Rest of the World to Europe or vice versa.

All qualifications earned in the former Zones Championships will expire 3 years after the end of the tournament in which they were earned.

ICCF Officials:

Leonardo Madonia; Super-Regional Tournaments Commissioner

Alberto Martello; Super-Regional tournaments Commissioner - Deputy RoW

Austin Lockwood; Super-Regional tournaments Commissioner - Deputy Europe

Uwe Staroske; World Tournament Director

29 Jan 24 | SCCA Best Game Prize 2023 Reminder

Just to confirm that this year’s judge will be IM Valer Eugen Demian of Canada, and we’ll announce the winning entry by end-March. There are still a couple of days left for you to send your submissions, so please direct them to me at my president email address. The main stipulation is that games must have been completed in 2023. Multiple entries are allowed. If you do enter, good luck!

27 Jan 24 | Maigonis Avotinš Memorial Event

The well-known and much liked Latvian ICCF delegate Maigonis Avotinš who died shortly after the ICCF Amsterdam Congress in 2023, is to be commemorated in an event organised by fellow Latvian Artis Gaujens. The playing format will probably be the Silli system, 10 games/player, but the total number of players isn't yet known. It is hoped to start in early February. Please indicate your interest as soon as possible via David Kilgour.

25 Jan 24 | SCCA Magazine 164 Erratum

One of our sharp-eyed readers has pointed out a typo in the Hawkes File article of magazine 164. If you download mag164.pdf from the secure Members' page on the website at your convenience, all should be well. Apologies for the slip!/dd>

10 Jan 24 | ICCF Grading List 2024/1 Published

The first quarterly list of 2024 is published on the website today. Look under publications/grading list to see the web page, or go to members/downloads for the pdf version. For further information, please contact Alistair Maxwell.

10 Jan 24 | SCCA Magazine 164 Published

The fourth e-mag of the 2023 set is being distributed by email and post today. As usual, members will be asked to download their e-mags from the secure Members' page on the website, while complimentary e-mags will be attached to the email. Download times will be about the same as last quarter. If you have any problems with this edition, please drop me an email at: webmaster and I'll do what I can to help. Enjoy the read!

06 Jan 24 | ICCF President's New Year Message

To all Correspondence Chess Friends,

As 2023 has ended, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you and all those dear to you for an extremely healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. I also sincerely thank all officials and delegates for their devoted work on behalf of ICCF during the last year.

The new rating system adopted by Congress has been implemented, and the first ratings using the new system have been published.

As for all other projects, ICCF needs more volunteers for our projects, and I ask all Member Federations to help us by relaying this message to their members, who will be ready to give some of their spare time.

Let me extend my best wishes for the New Year again. 2024 will bring satisfaction to all your personal and professional endeavours.

Amici Sumus,

Eric Ruch

ICCF President

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