Houskova
32, 326 00 Plzen, Czech Republic
Tel. +420 37 7455375 Fax +420 37 7455374
Email: josef.mrkvicka@volny.cz
4th November 2003
Dear
Friends,
National
delegates attending the ICCF Congress in Ostrava, unanimously approved detailed
plans and funding arrangements for the agreed dedicated ICCF Webserver system.
The ICCF
Congress agreed unanimously that a significant contribution should be transferred
to a new Development Fund, which would be used for the ICCF Webserver system
and for other future projects. It was also agreed, that further sources of
funding should also be sought for the Development Fund, including individual,
group and corporate patron schemes and other specific fund raising methods.
ICCF
has been working closely with Chess Base GmbH to develop the technical design
of the system and ChessBase has pledged to support the innovative standards,
which we will use. ICCF is grateful for
this assistance and welcomes close ongoing relationships with ChessBase GmbH.
The
ICCF Congress in Ostrava also appointed Iain Mackintosh (SCO) as Project
Manager. He is a very experienced IT
and general manager and he is currently finalising the membership of the project team.
Design and development work is progressing well and the first events should be running on the new system around mid-2004. The ICCF schedule of events will be phased for Webserver tournaments over future months and new types of event will be developed, to exploit technology which will be available.
The
Steering Group responsible for the system is Josef Mrkvicka (CZE), Chairman, Alan Borwell (SCO), Nol van ‘t
Riet (NED), Pedro Hegoburu (ARG), Grayling Hill (USA), Chris Lüers (GER) and
Iain Mackintosh (SCO)
Member
Federations and Zones will be able to use the ICCF Webserver system, for their
own events.
The new system
will provide administrative assistance for other methods of play e.g. postal
and Email, and will also include streamlined facilities for rating, title
awards, result reporting, game archiving etc.
We hope that
ICCF players, officials and all member federations will give their full support
to the project team, and to the Webserver facilities, as they become available.
With
best wishes,
Amici
Sumus
Josef Mrkvicka
ICCF President