Author Archives

This post explores the social and communications life of CC. Contrary to other types of chess there is not much news and sources that discuss correspondence chess. Blitz and rapid chess have seen enormous activity over the last 15 months during COVID. Online chess has clearly made these forms of chess popular. Problem chess and … Continue Reading

This post reviews the WZ Individual Championship Final #1 that ended on 4/30/2021. Cuban IM Alberto Pérez López won with a 8.5 score over 14. The Champion won with 3 wins, two of them with Black, with the following score of 7.5 shared by 3 players that each won 1 game. The table can be … Continue Reading

This post lists the number of players by country in the ICCF World Zone for the 2021/2 rating list, valid from 4/1/2021 to 6/30/2021. There were 1,055 players in the WZ in the period, with an average rating of 2100, and an average of 261 games per player.

This post outlines the origins of CC and presents what we know of the first games played by correspondence before actual records exist. The quotes in this post are from the book “Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987” by the renowned historian Tim Harding giving the page number. The first instance of CC being … Continue Reading

This post discusses postal chess as precursor to modern CC. Up to the turn of the century postal was still the main way of playing CC. With the advent of email and servers CC has become digital although postal chess is still played. What can we learn from this type of chess? First is how … Continue Reading

This post explores the need to adjust default parameters of chess engines to play correspondence chess. As part of playing CC the need to understand and control chess engines is necessary. Familiarizing yourself with available parameters for engines you use is important. Some engines default options are to play against humans without their full strength … Continue Reading

This post discusses opening preparation in CC. What are key activities to do with ongoing games that run months? What should be the focus of preparation for correspondence chess? Preparation in OTB chess takes place usually before every tournament or game, providing an opportunity to prepare openings and other improvements or to tailor them to … Continue Reading

With computer use now an essential skill in correspondence chess, studying past computer chess trends can strenghten CC playing. I look here at anti-computer and centaur chess. Just as we have to study openings, endgame theory, and all aspects of chess to guide engines’ analysis or use databases, studying computer chess is an essential part … Continue Reading

This post compares the WZ and ICCF number and share of Tournament Directors Level 2 and International Arbiters. For comparison the count and share of players is provided. There is no data available for Level 1 TDs. The comparison shows that the share of WZ TD Level 2 and International Arbiters is comparable to the … Continue Reading

This post examines the number of WZ players titles compared to the whole of the ICCF, by looking at the list for 2020/2. The comparison shows that the WZ has a very similar profile of ICCF titles than the whole of the ICCF combined. There is a similar level of GM, SIM, IM, CCM and … Continue Reading