Response to Recent Editorial Allegations
Tuesday, April 15, 2025: The ICCF Executive Board has been made aware of a speculative editorial published by a well known chess magazine, which contains unfounded insinuations concerning the integrity of four players.
We wish to clarify the following points:
- Prior Investigation: The allegations referenced in the article were already known to the ICCF and were subjected to a thorough investigation. This included an independent professional consultant's forensic analysis of server logs and a comprehensive review of financial records and transactions. No evidence of impropriety was discovered during these investigations. ICCF will, of course, investigate the validity of any new evidence discovered.
- Unsubstantiated Connections: The article suggests a link between the alleged incident and an ICCF official without providing any supporting evidence.
- Lack of Due Diligence: The magazine did not contact any of the four individuals mentioned for their comments, nor did it reach out to the ICCF to inquire about the details of the investigations conducted.
- Overlooked Evidence: Information provided by the Welsh Correspondence Chess Federation clearly refuted the narrative presented in the article and was disregarded by the editor.
- Irrelevant and Derogatory Statements: The article includes several derogatory and unsubstantiated statements about the individuals concerned, which bear no relevance to the incident in question.
The Executive Board considers this to be irresponsible journalism and has formally requested a retraction from the publication.
Furthermore, we have observed that the unfounded allegations from the editorial have been propagated and amplified on social media platforms.
We would like to remind all players of the ICCF Code of Conduct. Incidents involving harassment, the dissemination of unfounded allegations in public forums, attacks on a player's family, and smear campaigns are unacceptable. Such actions will be investigated by the ICCF Disciplinary Committee, and the most severe sanctions will be imposed on individuals found to be engaging in these malicious and vexatious activities.
The ICCF remains committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and sportsmanship within the correspondence chess community.
/s/
ICCF Executive Board