President’s Opening Speech ICCF Congress 2012 – Sydney, Australia

President’s Opening Speech

ICCF Congress 2012 – Sydney, Australia

President’s Opening Remarks

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  Finance Director, George Pyrich
  
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  World Tournament Director, Frank Geider
  
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  Marketing Director, Andrew Dearnley
  
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  Zone 1 Director, Marco Caressa
  
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  Zone 2 Director, Carlos Cranbourne
  
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  Direct Entry Commissioner, Ian M. Pheby
  
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  Title Tournament Commissioner, Gian-Maria Tani
  
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  Non-Title Tournament Commissioner, Markus Hömske
  
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  Webmaster, Gino Figlio
  

Bertl von Massow Awards and Other Awards

The ICCF President outlined the background and criteria which applied for Bertl von Massow awards: - “Medals in Gold and Silver were awarded respectively for 15 and 10 years of faithful service to ICCF, as the Delegate of a National organisation, as Member of the Executive Board, Management Committee or Commissions, for Zonal organisations or as a Tournament Director, or as Team Captain of a winning or highly placed team in an Olympiad or Continental (Zonal) Team Tournament”.

Gold Medal

Y. Dothan (ISR)

A. Gaujens (LAT)

D. Knol (RSA)

J. Mrkvička (CZE)

Silver Medal

J.A Martello (ARG)

Honorary ICCF Member

International Correspondence Chess Federation General Secretary Report to Congress

September 2014
Dear ICCF Delegates, Officials, Players, and Friends,
This year has been quite busy in the background implementing the many changes approved by the 2013 Congress in Poland. We have been dedicating this year to implementing changes, updating documentation, and starting to allocate some time to ICCF strategic discussions versus a mostly tactical approach of previous years. As you can see from the President’s report, we distributed an ICCF Official and ICCF Player survey. Response rates were overwhelming and we spent many months on analysis and preparing recommendations for future improvements and enhancements.
We have good news and bad news on the Membership front. The good news is that no Federations will be suspended this year for non-payment of dues (a few Member Federations have some outstanding balances – please refer to the Financial Director reports for additional information), but the bad news is that we have experienced no growth in Member Federations since the addition of Cape Verde Islands and Wales some years ago.
The practice of preparing and submitting proposals in advance of Congress is working quite well. This has allowed our experts in the various committees and commissions to review, discuss, and provide recommendations to all delegates prior to Congress. The Congress minutes, while quite hefty, have provided a completely transparent view into not just the Congress activities, decisions, and voting, but visibilities into the year-round work our officials do on behalf of ICCF.
As we look forward to our first Congress in Sydney, Australia, I was to express my appreciation to Brian Jones and all the hard working members of the Correspondence Chess League of Australia. Hosting a Congress is an enormous effort and the Australian team has worked extremely hard to ensure everyone attending has a wonderful and productive experience.
Justifications for many proposals have been based solely on alignment with FIDE. While we are an affiliate of FIDE, it is obvious that blind allegiance to following every FIDE rule, in many cases, does not make sense. Consequently, in our strategic thinking, we have recognized that blind devotion to FIDE may not make sense as we move further. Rather than the ICCF using the FIDE handbook as our “bible”, we are considering creating an ICCF handbook that will outline all the activities, rules, policies, and procedures of ICCF.
While researching our historical affiliation with FIDE and whether it has been deemed, not just successful, but advantageous to ICCF, I provide you some of the highlights extracted from ICCF Congress minutes concerning our relationship with FIDE. This is only provided to spark discussion about the future direction and alignment of ICCF.
A Summary of FIDE References in ICCF Congress Minutes 1986-2013

1986

The relationship with FIDE had not improved since last Congress. Unfortunately, FIDE took no opportunity to show any affinity to correspondence chess. So long as this situation continues, it must be considered that the participation of ICCF in FIDE is only a historical matter.

The ICCF Liaison Officer to FIDE reported that the proposal for an ICCF team to play in a FIDE Olympiad was no longer a possibility. It was clear to him that at present FIDE had very little interest in the work of ICCF. He suggested that in future ICCF should focus its co-operation with FIDE on joint events connected with new technology.

The ICCF Liaison Officer to FIDE reported that there had been no special activities in this area, and that there had been no invitation to ICCF regarding attendance at the FIDE Congress. He particularly asked delegates to maintain good contacts with the over the board federations in their countries.

The ICCF Liaison Officer to FIDE reported that contact with FIDE had been limited to supplying written reports based on Congress minutes; though ICCF title awards were consistently ratified by FIDE, there was no other response to ICCF. It was clear that FIDE and ICCF operate almost in different worlds, with divergent interests and perspectives, linked solely by ICCF's potential for bringing in revenue for FIDE through sponsorships.

The Liaison Officer to FIDE had reported that FIDE had not seemed to be interested in active collaboration with ICCF for some years. He indicated a wish to resign, and suggested that the position should be discontinued. Congress accepted his resignation with regret and grateful thanks, and agreed that henceforth liaison with FIDE, as with other external bodies, would be the responsibility of the President. The President informed the Congress that he had been in contact with FIDE in recent months and relationships were good and friendly.

The President reported that, though there had been little contact with FIDE, they had recently appointed FIDE Treasurer, David C. Jarrett (ENG), as the FIDE delegate to ICCF. It was disappointing that, despite several reminders, that FIDE had not updated the ICCF information on its “affiliated member’s pages” but it was hoped the new FIDE delegate to ICCF would arrange this, and there would be a better working relationship in future.

The ICCF President reported that good contact had been restored with FIDE and that David Jarrett, the FIDE Treasurer, had been appointed as FIDE official representative to ICCF. He had met David earlier in the year and was delighted that David and his wife Valentina have accepted the invitation to come to Portugal for the early part of the Congress. They had shown a great interest in ICCF and developing closer working relationships between FIDE and ICCF. The ICCF President indicated that he would be attending the FIDE Congress in Bled.

The Zonal Director expressed his disappointment at the unsatisfactory results of discussions with FIDE officials and/or delegates.

ICCF is most delighted to be able to field a team in the next FIDE Olympiad, to be held in Torino (Italy) during May 2006. This news was welcome by Congress and it was unanimously voted in favour of such participation.

The ICCF President referred to the ill-fated issue of an ICCF team participating in the 2006 FIDE Olympiad and George Walker (SUI) presented his observations on how he perceived that FIDE officials had viewed the ICCF entry to their Olympiad. He suggested how ICCF should try to deal with FIDE and build new and stronger relationships with that organisation. This was exactly what the President had decided and he had invited Honorary President Alan Borwell (SCO) to become the ICCF Liaison Officer to FIDE.

ICCF Liaison Officer to FIDE, Alan Borwell reported that relationships with FIDE were good and very recently he had contact with FIDE Executive Officer, David Jarrett (ENG) who had hoped he might be able to come to Benalmadena. Alan reported that the ICCF President had asked him if he could attend the forthcoming FIDE Assembly, in Antalya, Turkey, from 14-17 November. He had arranged to do this and will report to the Executive Board. He hoped to make personal contact with delegates from many countries, which were not currently ICCF members. (NB, no new members were admitted to ICCF for the following five years).

Alan Borwell (SCO), as ICCF liaison officer to FIDE, hoped to attend the FIDE Congress in Dresden in November. If he were able to attend, he would make contact with FIDE Delegates, especially those of countries, which were not ICCF members. It would be helpful if an attractive ICCF information pamphlet could be prepared for distribution. (NB, no new members were admitted to ICCF for the following four years).

There were opportunities to work more closely with FIDE on matters of mutual interest, including schools/junior chess, marketing in collaboration with Global Chess and ICCF gaining more member countries via FIDE members.

(NB, no new members were admitted to ICCF for the following three years). A formal application had been received from Cape Verde (CPV) but it was noted that it was not a FIDE member and therefore should not be granted full membership.
2010

ICCF Honorary President, Alan P. Borwell (SCO) has announced he was stepping down as the ICCF FIDE Liaison Officer.

Three new federations admitted to ICCF.

Cape Verde finally admitted to ICCF.

Sincerely,

ICCF General Secretary

[General Secretary Note: because many participants travelled to Congress to receive special medals and certificates, we rearranged the agenda to provide medals and certificates early in Congress to accommodate these participants and avoid conflicts with the excursions later in the week.]
Prior to the awards presentation, the Qualifications Commissioner had one proposal that required a Congress decision.
Tournament Rules – Reminder - Tournament Director for Title Tournaments

As you know each title and title tournament has to be verified by me (if it conforms ICCF rules) before I place it in my report. Reminder about rules related to TD selection, obligatory for all ICCF officers and member federations, was placed in President's Report - September 2013. Short summary is presented below. It is high of importance since it has an influence on awarded titles this year and in the future. Requirement for an International Arbiter (IA) is for all title tournaments: 1° events of category 7 and above - obligatory 2° events of category 6 or lower - if possible In case of event category 7 and above NF may ask another federation or ICCF for support, if TD holding IA title is missing. Expression "if possible" does not mean that requirement has to be diminished or neglected. It should be read by organizer that if NF has IA in its human resources he should be exploited. However, it would be acceptable and good practice (for cat 6 and lower) to appoint TD aspiring for IA title (who has met say 75% of the requirements - it is just a thought and something to discuss in Sydney perhaps) and supported by his mentor or another IA. Title tournament cannot be the first tournament to start of a TD career for sure. Rules that some tournaments are to be controlled by TD holding IA title were introduced more than 10 years ago. The first documented information is placed in the minutes 2002 (Appendix J "Invitation tournaments"). Then Arbiter Manual introduced this requirement in the minutes 2005 (Appendix I "Arbiters Manual"). Then in 2012, Appendix "Invitation tournaments" was refreshed (just minor changes) and inserted directly to TR (Appendix III) - thus reminding that "Arbiter Manual" is also valid ICCF document and has to be observed. Unfortunately, some organizers did not follow these obligations in the past and this is subject to sanctions described in Code of Conduct. Member federations should be penalized for infringement or ignorance of this rules and norms should not be confirmed. However, my proposal is following:

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  to discontinue disciplinary action with penalty/sanctions for TD & TO (events started before 2013);
  
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  these events shall NOT count towards the IA title or application for IA title to be rejected;
  
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  to accept NF applications for titles for players (several cases in this report!), even though norms were gained in tournaments (started before 2013) where TD was not holding required IA title. I believe that players should not be penalized as a result.