“Now we have the completed preliminary results of the ISC 2020. The reports of the Solving Tournament Manager (STM): Preliminary results Cat.1 | Preliminary results Cat.2 | Preliminary results Cat.3
This year we had 885 solvers (cat-1 202, cat-2 241, cat-3 442) from 47 countries and 48 tournaments in 31 countries.
Thank you to all local controllers. You make this tournament to a great success.
I want to give a special thank to
- Ivan Denkovski, Luc Palmans, Marjan Kovacevic and Neal Turner for selecting the problems
- Luc Palmans for the preparing of problem and solution sheets.
- Borislav Gadjanski for his help with all activities concerning Mat Plus and daily updates of results on Mat Plus
- all Local controllers who uses the STM for their results”
Axel Steinbrink, Central controller of ISC 2020.
The first ISC was organized in 2005 and was an immediate success. …more →
The idea of a multiple locations solving tournament was appealing, but there was also some scepticism. Of course, there were some issues, because everything was new. With trial and error in the next years the rules were slowly established. Internet, e-mail and social media made life of the controllers more easy. The Solving Tournament Manager, created by Misha Mladenović, is an incredible aid. But also the websites of WFCC (Julia Vysovska) and Mat Plus (Borislav Gadjanski) are pivotal for our competitions. We take this all for granted, but too quickly we forget all the hard work it takes.
Every year the first category of ISC welcomes some 200 solvers, many of them the best of the world. Winning this prestigious tournament is only for the happy few. The second category is much liked because the less experienced or occasional solver can enjoy a nice day of solving close at home, and still compete against the rest of the world. The introduction of a third category for kids proved to be a spark of genius. Thanks to the efforts of some local controllers, several hundred kids were this year introduced to problem chess.
The 16th edition of the ISC will be in many ways a marking point for future tournaments. Experienced solving directors provided us with interesting problems, which lead to a selection of quality problems to solve. Especially Ivan Denkovski should be mentioned, because his review of the final proofs avoided some embarrassing errors.
We can’t praise enough the central controller Axel Steinbrink for his hard work, and without him the tournament would not be such a success. He developed the rules and the procedures of this complicated competition. As you all could witness in the past days, the tournament ran smoothly, with daily updates of the results, and a minimum of complaints. One reason of the success of this year (almost 900 solvers!) is undoubtedly that the ISC is such a well organized competition.
Everyone who was ever involved in a WCSC or ECSC-championship knows how hard this work can be: supervising several hours the competition, and then marking a few hundred solving sheets in the remaining hours, while all the solvers impatiently wait for the results. But this cannot be compared with the ISC. In the past days, Axel not only collected all the results and made all the rankings. Most of all he meticulously checked the more than 1300 solving sheets “with terrible handwriting, and corrects tens of careless local controllers” (dixit Marjan Kovacević). Thanks, Axel!
Finally, we thank all the participants for their efforts, congratulate the winners, and look forward to the 17th edition!
Luc Palmans, Central controller of ISC 2020, Spokesman of WFCC Solving Committee
Some words of gratitude to Axel Steinbrink, by the local controllers:
“Axel is the right man, in the right place, at the right time! He’s a perfect combination of a busy bee with an eagle eye!” (Paweł Stawarz, Poland)
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“Аксель тактичен, обьективен, в своих выводах аккуратен, безошибочен и точен как часы.” (Borisas Gelpernas, Lithuania)
“Axel is an unsung hero of the ISC: the man who creates pleasure for hundreds of solvers, checks thousands of papers with terrible handwriting, and corrects tens of careless local controllers. All in time, all with smile.” (Marjan Kovačević, Serbia)
“How he sees it all?! Experience or subtle intuition? So fast, precise and enthusiastic! Dear Axel, let it be always the same joy for you as you give to all of us!” (Julia Vysotska, Latvia)
“It was hard work for Axel! Thank you much Axel.” (Tongon Sumiya, Mongolia)
“Всё возрастающая популярность ISC турниров это заслуга, прежде всего, главного арбитра и идейного вдохновителя соревнований Акселя Стейнбринка (Германия). В подобных случаях на Руси говорят – арбитр от Бога! Даже не могу представить, как можно реально выполнить тот масштабный объём работы, который он проводит! Сотни листов с решениями, на разных языках, разным почерком. А вы видели, какими каракулями пишут дети до 13 лет? И весь этот огромный поток информации Аксель внимательно анализирует, исправляет ошибки региональных судей, ведёт активную переписку с ними. При этом отмечу высочайший профессиональный уровень А. Стейнбринка в подборе заданий, с чёткой градацией по уровню сложности и возрасту участников. Я сотрудничаю с Акселем, а он провёл 15 из 16 турниров, всё время. Могу отметить его поразительную обязательность: на все письма он оперативно отвечает, хотя его загрузка колоссальная! Огромная благодарность Акселю не только от меня, но и от десятков тренеров, детей, их родителей, а также рядовых решателей со всех регионов России! (Oleg Efrosinin, Russia – Volgograd)
“Axel is the Beverly Hills Cop of the ISC! (For those who don’t know that Hollywood flick: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills_Cop Axel is the name of the hero, played by Eddie Murphy).” (Shankar Ram, India)
“Хочу отметить, что в этом году бьём работы был значительно больше. Однако качество работ судейской коллегии просто поражает. Я, как местный контролер, прекрасно понимаю какой сложной и большой была работа судей. Я хочу выразить свою благодарность Акселю и всей его команде за быстрое и четкое судейство. Судьи не только быстро находили неточности присуждения местных контролеров, но и поясняли причину допущенных ошибок. Уверен, что только благодаря слаженной и четкой работе судейской коллегии, турнир получил огромную популярность во многих странах мира. Надеюсь на дальнейшую плодотворную работу.” (Aleksandr Derevchuk, Ukrain)
“The enormous work Axel does in ISC needs appreciation from the entire chess problem fratetnity. It is men like him who are ‘behind the scene’ carrying loads of work silently make the event a successful one. May his tribe flourish!” (CGS Narayanan, India)
“Я уже давно наблюдаю за судейской работой Акселя. По моему мнению, это высококачественная работа. Не только в турнирах ISC, но и во всех, включая чемпионаты мира, подборки композиций всегда интересны и всегда сбалансированы по стилям и по трудности. Про таких людей говорят так : человек на своем месте. Крепкого здоровья, Аксель, и удачи во всем! (Alexander Azhusin, Russia – Tver)
16th ISC problems and solutions:
Problems cat.1 | Problems cat.2 | Problems cat.3 | Solutions cat.1 | Solutions cat.2 | Solutions cat.3
ISC 2020 Winners | Full Report
Last year, the solving committee worked on a set of guidelines for the directors of rated solving tournaments. The preliminary text was accepted at the last WCCC in Vilnius. Julia Vysotska wrote a Russian translation, for which we are very grateful.
