The international correspondence chess federation

In its early days, ICCF created two international titles and then later introduced further titles. It awards the international grandmaster (GM) and international master (IM) titles from 1953, international arbiter (IA) titles from 1966, lady international master (LIM) titles from 1975, lady grandmaster (LGM) titles from 1990, and senior international masters (SIM) from 1998. More details can be found in the webbook "Celebrating 60 years of the ICCF" at page "ICCF Titleholders".

Chairmen of the Qualifications Commission were: until 1983 - Horst Rittner (GER) and until 1996 - A. A. (Nol) van 't Riet (NED).

In 1996 functions of the Qualifications Commission had been reallocated (tournament rules, tournaments, awards of titles) and Qualifications Commissioner (awards of titles) should be able to do the job alone.

From	To	QC Name	Fed
1996	2003	George Pyrich	SCO
2003	2008	Eric Ruch	FRA
2008	2009	Ron Langeveld	NED
2009	2013	Neil Limbert	ENG
2013		Mariusz Wojnar	POL

One of my most important duties is to propose improvement of rules and regulations. With this report let me submit few proposals.

Las year in my report to the congress I presented my findings after extensive revision of basic document for QC, which is Tournament Rules. It was agreed by delegates that my input will be considerred by current congress meeting. In attached document (Appendix 1) I proposed specific wording in order to deconflict internal inconsistencies in few paragraphs. I included also procedure for the award of titles.

In 2014 I attempted to reproduce the norm table, but found that although I could reproduce most of the values in the table, there appeared to be several errors. This was highlighted in my report to congress last year. Congress agreed that a corrected version of the norm table would apply to title tournaments starting from 1.1.2015 following verification.

Unfortunately further problems were subsequently discovered with the methodology. As the original calculations were not documented, it became clear that to reproduce the tables and correct any errors would be an impossible task.

The Executive Board, therefore, decided to continue with the previous norm calculations from 1.1.2015 rather than confuse the issue any further.

These problems were reason that ICCF Services Director Austin Lockwood and me were looking for solution. Researching the issue we exchanged hundreds e-mails, made numerous simulations and consultations. The result of that is proposal submitted by both of us under ICCF 2015-019: Revised Norm Calculations. See details in Appendix 2.
Proposal covers two phases:

• 
  Phase One, Method Development and Documentation (August 2015 to Spring 2016)
  
  • 
    Appendix II of the ICCF tournament rules will be rewritten, based on solid statistical principles and in consultation with a professional statistician. This document will be presented to ICCF Congress in 2016 for ratification.
    
• 
  Phase Two, Implementation (Summer 2016 to 31.12.2016)
  
  • 
    If the proposed revisions to the ICCF title regulations are accepted by Congress in 2016, the ICCF webserver will be updated, and the new regulations will apply to tournaments starting from 1.1.2017 onwards.
    

The lack of computational power is no longer an issue, all ICCF tournaments (including postal events) are now managed on the ICCF server; this means that complex calculations can be performed reliably, consistently and without error.

ICCF can now adopt a far more sophisticated system for measuring tournament performance based on solid statistical principles, therefore making the award of title norms fully commensurate with performance in title tournaments.

We are very grateful to Nol van 't Riet, one of the fathers of the current ICCF rating and title systems, for his support and his patience in explaining the background to the current system, and also for his positive comments on this proposal.

It's very large revision, in fact a complete re-write of the Arbiters Manual. Changes in related rules are required. It is high of importance since it has an influence on awarded IA titles in the future.

Below I quote some changes related to IA title:

• 
  Change in the mentor program.
  
• 
  New rule that TDs are not allowed to play in tournaments they direct, and backup TDs are not allowed to play in tournaments they might direct except for national events, friendly matches, and unrated events.
  
• 
  New requirement that every TD pass a test to demonstrate familiarity with the new manual(s), this test to be administered on the server at the convenience of the TD.
  
• 
  Change in the quantitative requirements for obtaining the IA Title if through directing server-based games. Although all postal-based requirements will stay the same (1000 games over a minimum 4 years), the server-based quantitative requirements will become 2000 games over a minimum of 2 years. The qualitative requirements will not change.
  
• 
  The list of ICCF qualifying tournaments for IA-related experience has been expanded, now including Chess 960 events and some previously omitted zonal events, including to be counted retroactively to determine qualification for the IA Title.
  

In my normal day-to-day role as QC 132 title tournaments have been initiated since 2014-10-01 (see list below).

Federations submitted two applications for IA title, however they were rejected because of negative recomendation from ACO - candidates didn't met criteria for the title in either case.

Gold and silver medals were presented at the ICCF Congress 2014.

Gold medals were presented at the ICCF Congress 2014.

*Referred from 2014 - to be presented in 2015 in Cardiff!