ICCF Belgium - Early Beginnings

Early Beginnings

The first Correspondence Chess games in Belgium were those played by Antwerp amateurs. They played between 1827 and 1829 two games against amateurs from Amsterdam. The names of the players are not known. The games, however, were kept for posterity in the book "Correspondenz-partien" by Ludwig Bledow, published in 1843 in Leipzig. Amsterdam won 2-0.

At the end of the 19th century, the "Cercle des Echecs de Bruxelles" organised several Correspondence Chess games, in 1895 against the French club of Lille and in 1899 against Paris. These games are mentioned at several places in the splendid bulletin "Revue d'Echecs" published from 1901 to 1909 by the Brussels club.

In January 1903, D. Janowski, in his column of the French weekly, "Le Monde Illustre", informed his readers that professor Isaac Rice from New-York, the well known chess sponsor, offered 1,000 francs (worth today 10,000USD) to organise an international Correspondence Chess tournament on the "Rice Gambit", whose inventor he was. The start list was closed with nine entries, including the "Cercle des Bruxelles". The moves of the eight games were displayed with diagrams, on boards on the wall of the club.

At the end of 1903, the "Cercle des Bruxelles" started also a game against the club of Antwerp.

During the first world war, two fellows, E. Lancel and L. Weltjens, organised Correspondence Chess games among Belgian soldiers during their detachment at the Belgian Nortsea station De Panne against l'Echiquier d'Aquitaine (France).

After the war, several newspapers organised small Correspondence Chess tournaments: "La Nation Belge" by E. Lancel, "Le XXe Siecle" by L. Demey. In 1926, the well-known chess magazine " L'Echiquier", published from 1925 to 1938 by E. Lancel, also offered to its readers Correspondence Chess tournaments. Apparently they had little success as no results were published.