Start Date for Preliminary Round: January 15, 2001
Closing Date: December 31, 2002
Tournament Director: Grayling Hill, Email: Gvhill@aol.com
Tournament sanctioned by: ICCF-U.S., Email: zprchess@aol.com

Use the Crosstable Menu above to check the crosstable and game reports for a specific section. There are also links to crosstables for other USA Championship events. This current page will contain information of general interest to all participants in the First Email United States Correspondence Chess Championship … watch for future announcements here.

Tournament Announcements

First Email United States Correspondence Chess Championship

Welcome to the First Email United States Correspondence Chess Championship. This is a professionally run tournament as befits the United States Championship. ICCF has recently revised its Email rules. We will use these rules with a few modifications. We think you will find that we have developed the best rules for this tournament.

Our Tournament Director, Grayling Hill, has extensive experience with ICCF Email Tournaments. His experience and energy have resulted in his recent promotion to ICCF Executive Officer. If you believe that the TD has erred in applying a rule or understanding the facts, you can appeal to the U.S. Championship General Secretary (me). All appeals end here. Frivolous appeals and silly disputes are likely to receive a draconian response. You are expected to conduct your games with good sportsmanship. That does not mean you should ever allow a player to take a move back. This is the United States Championship, not tiddlywinks.

1. Please immediately notify your Tournament Director (TD) that you have received your assignment sheet and instructions.
   
   
2. You may start sending moves to your opponents NOW, but reflection time does not commence until the start date, given above. Whoever is “on the move” on the start date will start the count. If play has not yet started, the player with the WHITE pieces will then commence the count. 63 players have entered. We have created 9 sections of 7 players each. We especially welcome those players who are trying ICCF or email for the first time. Here is the color scheme:

   Board 1 has White against 2, 4 and 6
   Board 2 has White against 3, 5 and 7
   Board 3 has White against 1, 4 and 6
   Board 4 has White against 2, 5 and 7
   Board 5 has White against 1, 3 and 6
   Board 6 has White against 2, 4 and 7
   Board 7 has White against 1, 3 and 5
   

3. The winner of each Preliminary Round Section will advance to the Final Round. Ties will be broken by the Sonnenborn-Berger method. ICCF-US will use one of its places in the Email World Championship semi-finals for the winner of the Final Round.
   
   
4. Crosstables will be published at Franklin Campbell's site: http://corrrespondencechess.com/campbell/ Go there now for a great picture of Mr. Campbell. Results may also be published from time to time in Chess Mail. If you are not already subscribing to this great magazine, contact our office for information on it. The Tournament Director will send you the final results from your section. Do not request interim results from him.
   
   
5. Ratings: If an ICCF rating exists, it has been used. If there is no ICCF rating, over the board and correspondence ratings from USCF, CCLA and APCT have been adjusted and averaged. All players have meet the 2000 minimum rating at either the club or ICCF level. ICCF ratings and an explanation of the ratings system are available for download on line at . Fixed ratings “F” are based on 30 or more games. Published ratings “P” are based on 12-29 games. Club ratings are indicated with a “C”. We are requesting that Preliminary as well as Final round games of this tournament be rated by ICCF.
   
   
6. The U.S. Chess Federation rates USCCC game results between its members. For a game to be rated, one of the players must promptly report the result to the USCF Postal Chess Secretary. The USCF does not require score sheets, but it probably helps their processing to provide your and your opponent's USCF ID numbers. Likewise, Correspondence Chess League of America rates game results between their members. Report results to CCLA's Tournament Director.
   

Email Playing Rules: Recent ICCF changes, ICCF US variations and clarifications:

Rules:
The new ICCF rules are attached to this file. At the 2000 Congress, the “Role of the Rules” was defined:

• To be flexible and fair
• To serve the players rather than to enslave them
• To ensure that the best player should win, not the best rules manipulator
• To allow both players and Tournament directors to use “common sense”
• To promote a playing environment supporting the spirit of Amici Sumus

Changes:
The major changes taking effect on 1/1/2001 are:

• The standard time control will be 10 moves in 60 days.
• Former Rule 8d, canceling leave if a player makes a move (or movers) during leave, is deleted.

One additional change concerning exceeding the time limit for the first time is not going to be used in this tournament, but you should be aware of it for future email tournaments:

• Rule 6f: “A competitor who has exceeded the time allowed shall forfeit the game.”

The 1st ETL rule was designed to help when there were problems with post offices. We will keep it here as there are many 1st time email players and there are still problems with servers.

Variations and Clarifications:

2(l) The normal accepted time of the email transmission is one day. Nol van't Riet's explanation: “Received today is zero days until tomorrow midnight.” Received today is the actual day on your server's time stamp.

9(a) Withdrawals: The ICCF-US rule is:

1. If less than half of a player’s games are completed when he/she withdraws or forfeits, all games are ruled as a loss reversing any prior result.
2. If 50% or more of the player’s games have been completed, all remaining games are ruled lost.
3. If a player withdraws “silently”, that player may be penalized by being excluded from tournaments for a time period to be determined by the ICCF-US Secretary. A bond may be required for entry to future tournaments.

Conduct of the Players: annoying, insulting, abusive, or demeaning language used in correspondence is considered a violation of FIDE rules of conduct. The Tournament Director has discretion to penalize players for poor sportsmanship.

Adjudications and Appeals: Variations to Rules 10, 11 and 13: All adjudications and appeals will be handled by the ICCF-US office. This includes appeals of Tournament Director decisions.

Other Important items: If you have to send a repeat, it is VERY important to copy the Tournament Director. Do not hesitate to direct your questions to the Tournament Director. Remember that you must report your records and results to the Tournament Director at the end of the games. Games may be included in the ICCF Game archive.

Get ready and start your engines! Good Luck and Good Chess!

Max Zavanelli, Email: zprchess@aol.com
General Secretary
United States Championship
International Arbiter