President's Report
Thursday, December 31, 2015: New Year Message
International Correspondence Chess Federation
Eric Ruch
ICCF President
To all Correspondence Chess Friends,
As 2015 ends, I would like to extend my warmest wishes to you and all those dear to you for a very healthy, happy, and successful New Year. I also wish to extend my sincere thanks to all officials and delegates for their devoted work on behalf of ICCF during the last year.
The 2015 ICCF Congress in Cardiff approved a number of major decisions which will be implemented in 2016 and have been included in the major release of the server in December, for example, the complete rewriting of the tournament director's manual, the introduction of new Correspondence Chess Master and Expert titles, the online proposal and voting process, etc.
It is too early to present the complete figures, but it is likely that 2015 will be another record year for ICCF tournament entries and I thank all volunteers who are given their time for the benefit of the development of correspondence chess and of course the players who are enjoying playing in ICCF tournaments. In 2015, we have also renewed our collaboration with major sponsors and many of them are highly valuing the theoretical values of the games played by correspondence. This proves once again the importance of correspondence chess in the development of new ideas in chess openings!
The further modernization of the rules and taking advantage of the advanced technology of the server will help us to increase services to the players. The work and the role of the tournament directors have been completely reviewed and the Congress has approved a major revision of the tournament director manuals--- this effort will be completed next year by the introduction of the tournament organizer manual.
The three working groups implemented in Cardiff - (a) time controls and more generally about time management philosophy in CC tournaments, (b) finance, and (c) the modernisation of the ICCF rating and titles – have started their work and will present their conclusions and proposals during next year’s Congress.
I look forward to meeting you in Bremen in August for the 2016 ICCF Congress.
In closing, let me once again extend to you my best wishes for the New Year. I hope that 2016 will bring satisfaction in all your endeavors, personal, professional, and chess!
Amici Sumus,
Eric Ruch
ICCF President