ICCF Acting President Max Zavanelli (USA) gave a speech in English language which was also read in Spanish by GM Guillermo Toro. The Acting President said that the major decisions for ICCF had been taken by past Congresses, and it was our task to only deal with minor changes and improvements at this congress: ICCF needed to continue with what had already been started - we could draw upon our successful past to move forward in the future.

He said we must keep in mind that ICCF is an organization of federations, not individuals, and that one person is not so important. We must also remember that every federation has a different environment, structure, and situation. Our ability to accommodate all, the true meaning of Amici Sumus, is the secret of our success. This means that when we have a democratic vote and it is not unanimous, then we must pay attention to even a single dissenting voice. Of course there can be philosophical differences. But we should avoid disagreements and instead allow players to choose what suits them best. We can let players play by post, by email, by webserver or by any other means. We should encourage organizers to be flexible and creative in their design of tournaments and time control. We must support all forms of correspondence chess. We must not argue over what form as that - like a chess opening – is a matter of preference, but we can recommend and tell others of improvements.

Additionally, ICCF should not forget that the needs of ordinary players can be quite different from that of the top players. The ordinary player wants an entertaining and pleasant experience with the minimal amount of accounting, recording, distractions, and difficulties in getting timely moves from his opponent, and ICCF must provide that. Too many of our rules are designed for the World Champions and not for players who wish to just enjoy a game of Chess. The web server technology is a huge step in the right direction toward this goal.

And lastly, we must not forget the organizers and administrators who work long and hard on a volunteer basis so we can have tournaments. Without organizers, we would have no tournaments and our great players would have no opportunity to show their ability and win glory. In correspondence chess, we have been blessed with another type of top player, world champions who are humble, who are human beings, who are true to Amici Sumus. ICCF has been blessed with great workers and organizers – especially in the world tournament office. The work of Pedro Hegoburu, Daniel Finkelstein, and many others this year had been extraordinary.

In the heat of competition, sometimes a player can have misunderstandings and abuse the tournament director if he does not get his way. Also our TD’s are human; they must interpret the rules and guidelines and make decisions. We should encourage even our most experienced TD’s to ask advice of other senior TD’s when the situation is unusual. And as the former President Josef Mrkvička, correctly pointed out, we must not shout at our volunteers.

So the Acting President proposed that our theme for this Congress would be the spirit of Amici Sumus, that of accommodation to the views and opinions and situations of others.

The President then paid tribute to the memories of all CC friends who had passed away since the Mumbai 2004, including the CC Grandmaster Simon Webb (ENG), long-year ICCF Tournament Director Harro Otte (GER), Vaclav Rut (CZE), Alvaro Rosa (POR), Giancarlo De Lorenzo (ITA), Alberto Laurencena (ARG) and delegate and Senior International Master Ilja Hristov (BUL). Delegates stood in two minutes silence to the memory of all departed CC friends.

Ending the two-minute silence, the ICCF Acting President declared the 2005 ICCF Congress, duly opened.