Correspondence Chess in England

History

CC in England has a long and noble history. The first noteworthy event was the inter-city series of matches between teams from London and Edinburgh which commenced in 1824. Such inter-city matches were the most common form of CC at this time and other cities soon joined in such as Leeds, Liverpool, Doncaster and Manchester.

Organised matches between individual players began to be popular in the 1850’s with tournaments arranged by various newspapers and journals. Examples include the "Home Circle" tourneys, "Cassell’s" Tourneys and the "Gentlemen’s Journal" tourneys. Some tournaments were privately organised by individuals such as William Nash (1880’s) and inter-county matches also began at around his time.

However, it was with the formation of the British Correspondence Chess Association (BCCA) in 1906 that we really begin to see properly organised national tournaments with a common set of Rules and formalised structures. The BCCA is still going strong today having celebrated its 100th birthday in 2006 and is now generally recognised as the oldest ongoing CC organisation in the world. (See "The Official History of the BCCA 1906-2006" by DJ Rogers)

In time other organisations sprang up such as the National Correspondence Chess Club (formed 1932), the Social Correspondence Chess Club (formed 1940), the Postal Chess Club (formed as a sideline by Baruch Wood’s magazine Chess) and the British Correspondence Chess Society (formed 1962). Such fragmentation is not common in other countries in the world where CC is popular and has caused some problems unique to Britain. This eventually led to the formation of the British Postal Chess Federation (BPCF) in 1962 whose aims were to bring unity to CC in Britain with regard to the national individual championship and the selection of teams for international tournaments. However, the individual organisations within the federation maintained their own identity with regard to domestic CC and this situation still exists today. The BPCF changed its name to the British Federation for Correspondence Chess (BFCC) in 1999.

Further complications in the "British" picture arise from Scotland and Wales establishing their own separate admission to ICCF in 1981. It could be said that the BFCC ought to be called the "English" federation or EFCC but, with the Welsh CC organisation having perished and with active CC players in Northern Ireland, the federation has retained its British title. But the BFCC selects only English teams for ICCF team tournaments.

The latest member of the BFCC is SchemingMind.com Internet chess club founded in 2002 and open to members from all over the world and not just the UK. SchemingMind now play their own friendly matches against ICCF nations on the ICCF webserver; the modern world has truly arrived!

Finally, mention must be made of the greatest achievement of a British CC team which was winning the gold medal in ICCF Olympiad IX!

The BFCC currently comprises the following clubs or associations:-

Tournaments

The BFCC organises the following tournaments:

Other notable tournaments

British Federation for Correspondence Chess

BFCC

Standing SIM Ian Pheby and International Secretary Andrew Dearnley. Seated BFCC Secretary Duncan Chambers, Assistant International Secretary Neil Limbert, Stan Grayland (BCCA) and BFCC President Keith Escott. Photograph by Austin Lockwood (SchemingMind.com).

Correspondence chess is a great way for players of all levels to enjoy the game; all the organisations linked to above welcome new members and membership of any BFCC member organisation allows you to enter international events organised by ICCF.