ICCF U.S.A. - History of The US Correspondence Chess Championships

History of The US Correspondence Chess Championships

The ICCF affiliate has the right to hold national championships. Plans for such a championship were begun in 1969 but the first tournament did not begin until July 1, 1972. It was probably the first tournament in the USA to use ICCF time controls. It is played in two rounds with new preliminaries beginning every 2 years. At first only the Final was rated by ICCF. After 1980 USPCF began conducting the USCCC beginning with the Fifth USCCC. It is open to players of all US clubs. A rating of 2000 or higher is required now. The winner qualifies for the World Championship semi-finals.

Originally it was hoped that there would be 15 sections with 15 players. The winner of each section would then play in a final 15 player round. Over the years the number of entrants dropped and the format had to be changed to accommodate the smaller field. When Max Zavanelli took over as ICCF-US Secretary, one of his goals was to make this the premier US event again.

Beginning with the Final Round of the 8th USCCC, he invited all former USCCC champions to participate. Previous champions had not competed, as they did not want to go through the preliminaries again. He invited each of the US correspondence chess clubs to nominate their champion to represent their club in the final. This made the field larger and much stronger. This made the 8th USCCC one of the strongest correspondence chess events held in the United States. Play is currently underway in the 12th, 13th and 14th championships.

Zavanelli has done much to promote the USCCC over the years. He is now famous for his quote: "This is the United States Championship, not tiddlywinks."