To all Correspondence ChessFriends,

 Every year at the same period it is now an established tradition for the ICCFPresident to send to all Delegates, ICCF officials, Correspondence Chessfriends all over the world and their families, his seasonal greetings, wishingto all of you a Happy New Year 2010.

Some days ago, the final version of the Minutes of the Congress held in Leeds last September has been distributed to all Delegates and they are now available of iccf.com so that you can read what has been decided by the Delegates and what will be implemented by the Executive Board throughout the year. But, as players, I am sure that most of you will be mainly interested in the decisions that will affect your tournaments in 2010 and I will focus on them.

 A new regulation for the Correspondence Chess World Championship, from the Preliminary sections to the Final has been approved in Leeds and will enter into force on January, 1^st. Our objective is to be able to start one Final every two years from 2012 on. These finals will include nodes to allow all players to compete for the Correspondence Chess World Champion title, whatever is their preferred mode of sending the moves. The Final 25 has started on December 10^th, and two players will use the nodes for playing. For many players, the main change will consist in a fixed start date every year for the Preliminary, Semi Final and Candidate sections and you will need to organize your chess season accordingly.  

The 4^th season of the very popular ICCF Champions League will be started in January. The structure of the League has been adapted and reduced to three divisions to make it more attractive for new teams to enter the league. The future objective is to complete each season within two years to increase the interest of the players and make the Champions League one of the major tournament in ICCF calendar.

Another popular competition open to all players is the Webchess Open. The start of the preliminary section of the 4^th edition is scheduled for September 2010.

The final of the first ICCF Veteran World Cup has started on December 21^st, while the preliminary sections of the second edition are progressing since last summer and a new edition will be started every year, demonstrating the growing interest of correspondence chess amongst the senior citizens.

A new form of Rapid Tournaments has been introduced after the Congress and ICCF is also evaluating the future of the school tournaments and the possibility to introduce Chess960 on the server.

Moreover many of these tournaments (and others such as the promotional tournaments, World Cup,…) are rewarded with prizes for the best placed players offered by ICCF sponsors, in the form of chess books, database,…

Nevertheless, this large variety of tournaments played by server and by post can only be offered to the players if volunteers are ready to help. ICCF is fortunate to have a fantastic team of volunteers who can be proud of their achievements but it is also a good time for making a wish. A wish that more volunteers will join our team to help those who are currently organizing all the tournaments, those I have mentioned before and all other tournaments that you can play in ICCF, in your zone and in your national federation.

 I wish you a Happy New Year 2010!

Amici sumus,

Eric Ruch

ICCF President