ICCF - 2020 Congress Update

Monday, March 23, 2020: The ICCF 2020 Congress has been cancelled.

The National Health Services of Scotland owns the Congress venue, the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, Glasgow (Clydebank).  On Friday, March 20, the Scottish delegate was contacted by the venue and advised that the Scottish Government had instructed the venue to close its commercial operations with immediate effect until, at least, October 1, 2020.  The venue’s website contains the following message:

“The Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel is an important part of NHS Scotland. During the current challenges to our health service, the Hotel will be offering our resources to support the wider NHS effort. Therefore, we will only be accepting NHS priority-based activity until further notice.  This is a challenging time for everyone, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Consequently, the 2020 ICCF Congress cannot now be hosted by the Scottish Correspondence Chess Association (SCCA).

This news is extremely frustrating; however, we are all aware of the worldwide pandemic and the uncertainty which exists.  The SCCA is aware that the ICCF Executive Board (EB) is considering alternative arrangements and further communication will be released on behalf of ICCF in due course.