ICCF U.S.A. - History

History

The Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA) was the first American chess club to become an ICCF affiliate. It was created in 1917 as a merger of four clubs, one of which was a Canadian club. The number of Canadians in CCLA diminished after the Canadian Chess Association took over the Canadian Correspondence Chess Championship.

CCLA accepted the invitation of the International Correspondence Chess Association (ICCA) to become a member in 1946. Participation began in 1947 with a team of 100 players competing against teams from Belgium, England, Finland, France, Holland, and Sweden conducted by ICCA. The first time the US was invited to play in an ICCF Olympiad event was in 1958. This was the Final Olympiad III team tourney in which the USSR was invited also to enter a team for the first time.

Walter Muir took over the CCLA post of ICCF-US Secretary in 1969. Muir started playing chess in 1917 and didn't stop until shortly before his death in December 1999. Muir's father was Canadian. As a result, Muir was active in both US and Canadian chess. He won the Canadian CCA championship 8 times between 1928 and 1942! He is the first native born American to earn an ICCF Master Title. He had 520 games rated by ICCF at the end of 1997. He was awarded an Honorary Membership in ICCF in 1998.

Muir's promotional efforts increased US participation in ICCF events. He worked with John Cleeve of Canada to establish an ICCF North American Championship Invitational Tournament with five Canadian and 10 USA players to be selected by the ICCF Secretaries of both countries. The North American Champion would be seeded into the World Championship Final. Today the winner is entered in only the ¾ final. The 1970 ICCF Congress agreed to this. The winner of the First North American Invitational Chess Championship was Robert G. Cross of the United States in 1971.

In 1974, John Cleeve was the first North American to attend an ICCF Presidium meeting, at that time in Nice, France. The knowledge received there was useful to both countries to create opportunities for their players. Walter Muir realized that the USA needed an ICCF affiliate that could represent members of all US clubs. He created the United States Postal Chess Union (USPCU) to be that US affiliate. He drafted a constitution with a President and Advisory Council with himself continuing as ICCF-US Director. Muir also began recruiting top non CCLA players to compete in ICCF events as well as to compete in the CCLA member only US Championship. The cost of the USPCU operation was borne entirely by the fees paid by US players participating in ICCF events. This did not solve all the problems since CCLA was still the official delegate to ICCF. By 1977 CCLA also presented a draft of an "umbrella organization" that was acceptable to ICCF.

The United States Postal Chess Federation, USPCF, became that organization with its own constitution. Initially it provided access for international postal play for members of CCLA, United States Chess Federation (USCF), American Postal Chess Tournaments (APCT). Knights of the Square Table (NOST) and The Chess Connection (TCC) later joined. Robert A. Karch served as ICCF-US Secretary for over 5 years. The organization had financial problems in part because it could not charge membership dues to cover the increasing ICCF dues. The US was faced with the possibility of being dropped from ICCF because of this and because of problems with some players.

There was a meeting in Chicago of USPCF with all major organizations in attendance. It was unanimously proposed that Max Zavanelli become Secretary. The USPCF Constitution would be in force. Max Zavanelli took over as ICCF-US Secretary in June 1987. He was faced with the challenges of putting USPCF back in good financial standing and of enforcing a new dropout policy because US players had caused problems in several tournaments by dropping out silently. Zavanelli was the first ICCF-US Secretary who could regularly attend ICCF Congresses and who became active in ICCF affairs.

When Zavanelli took over, Victor Palciauskas was the only active GM as Hans Berliner had retired from correspondence chess. There are now 6 more GMs; Alik S. Zilberberg earned the title in 1994, Joseph A. de Mauro in 1997, and Robin Smith and John C. Timm both earned the title in 2004, and Dr. Jason Bokar earned the title in 2007. Of the seven Americans who had received IMs through 1988, only three were active. There are now, 29 active IMs and 14 active SMs. Two ladies, Dr. G. L. Langan and Dr. C. A. Rosenfield, have attained the International Ladies Master title since 1988.

The number of International Arbiters increased from 3 to 9 under Zavanelli. The US IA's are D. R. Adamson, Dr. G. S. Benner, Dr. T. Bullockus, J. F. Campbell, M. Carter, T. Dougherty, A. A. Jones, B. Koppin, K. Rodriguez, J. B. Skeels, A. Wright, W. K. Underwood, and Prof. M. Zavanelli.

In 2007, Ruth Ann Fay received the Bertl von Massow award for meritorious service.

USPCF under the direction of Max Zavanelli organized the First National Team Championship Tournament early in 1991. USCF, CCLA, APCT, TCC, and NOST each entered a team on 50 boards. Dr. G. S. Benner, ICCF International Arbiter, was the Tournament Secretary. The event was won by APCT. This was a one time event because The Chess Connection had financial problems and ceased operation during the event.