“Special times require special measures. About the origin and the rules of the first (and hopefully the last) Lockdown Solving Tournament you can read in an earlier article. The response was very nice: 67 solvers took part last Saturday. The level was quite high: 6 out of the top 10; some 40 out of the top 100.”
− Luc Palmans, Spokesman of Solving Committee
→ See the results and photo gallery in the Presentation of Lockdown Solving Tournament!
The Corona pandemic made an abrupt end to all the solving competitions. At the moment we can’t predict when we will meet again. With a few small steps we will try to fill the gap.
The two first tournaments which had to be cancelled because of the pandemic were the Dutch and the German Open. To compensate the regular participants of these tournaments we decided to organize a special “lockdown” competition, where the solvers receive the problems by mail at a specific moment and have to solve them immediately. In the Netherlands Wim Velker organised already two such tournaments for the local solvers and this proved to be a great success.
After some deliberation about who to invite, we decided to accept also all +2300 solvers (past and present) worldwide. In the attached pdf you will read all the rules which are specific for this special tournament.
→ In short: (show/hide)
Of course, this tournament is not for rating, norms, World Cup points, prizes or money. We are aware that this is far from the real stuff, but it’s the best we can provide at this moment.
At best, consider this as a good training session where you can compete with the other solvers. Take it seriously, but don’t take it too seriously!
— WFCC Solving Committee
Solvers’ ratings as of April 1st 2020 produced by the Solving Tournament Manager are published! 13 tournaments of the 1st quarter 2020 are included: Open Solving A. Suetin Memorial 2020, A. Suetin Memorial 2020, 43rd International Polish Championship 2020, 16th International Solving Contest 2020 Cat. 1, 16th International Solving Contest 2020 Cat. 2, 14th Urals Problemist Cup, RGSU-Cup 2020 as 3rd Alexander Pochinok Memorial Tourney, Open Solving of Championship Central Federal Region of Russia (CFO) 2020, Finnish Chess Solving Championship 2020, Solving Championship of CFO 2020, Winton British Chess Solving Championship 2020, Winton British Chess Solving Championship 2020 Cat B, 29th Branko Atanacković Memorial 2020.
The top ten remain the same solvers but some of them have exchanged their ranking. The largest three gain has again been achieved by junior solver Boris Chervonenkis (RUS / +62.94), this time ahead of women junior solver Aleksandra Safronova (RUS / +52.13) and junior solver Ural Hasanov (RUS / +51.16).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE have decided to postpone the Chess Olympiad 2020 for the next year. Therefore, the recently announced Olympic Tournament in Composing is canceled. FIDE, in collaboration with WFCC, have decided to organize for 2020 the 8th FIDE World Cup in Composing 2020.
As a result of the growing COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people’s lives all around the globe and taking into account the reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicating the constant increase in the number of cases worldwide, WFCC has decided to postpone the 15th European Chess Solving Championship that was scheduled for 24-26 April 2020. The event will be held in Poltava, Ukraine in 2021 (the exact weekend will be announced at a later stage).
With regard to the 63rd WCCC / 44th WCSC 2020 that are scheduled for 3-10 October in Rhodes, the organisers will monitor the situation as evolves and will decide by the end of April or May. At the moment, in Greece flights are suspended, all schools, universities, retail shops and hotels will be closed until at least end of April and citizens are not allowed to move freely around the country (except for going to their jobs if they are still operating, to the supermarket, or to a doctor).
Stay home and be safe! – Harry Fougiaxis, WFCC president.
The All-Russian Public Organization “The Chess Federation of Russia” (CFR) and, at the request of the CFR, the Commission for Chess Composition (CCC) announce an International Chess Composing Tournament dedicated to the 44th World Chess Olympiad of 2020.
The chess composing tournament will be conducted in the following eight sections: twomovers; threemovers; moremovers; endgame studies; helpmates; selfmates in 2-12 moves; fairy compositions; retros and proofgames.
Executive Director of the tournament: Vitaly Medintsev, vitalymedintsev@gmail.com
Send your entries by May 10, 2020 | Regulations (PDF)
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.
Guidelines for solving tournaments: English | Russian
We hope that tournament directors take a look at this text before they start to prepare their next solving tournament. They should pay specific attention to the selection of the problems and studies, and to the points’ distribution (in particular of moremovers and studies). These guidelines give the necessary instructions and recommendations.
After each tournament the director will receive feedback from the solving committee with a quality check document. We hope that the directors will take notice. The ultimate goal is that in the future all rated tournaments will be organised in a consistent manner, no matter who is the director. This will be to the benefit of the solvers. After all, their rating is based on the results in these tournaments.
Solvers’ ratings as of January 1st 2020 produced by the Solving Tournament Manager are published! 9 tournaments of the 4th quarter 2019 are included: 26th Belgian Championship 2019, 28th Kedainiai chess solving cup tourney 2019, Open Solving Championship of Tula region 2019, 2nd Pavle Orlov Memorial 2019, 12th Albino Cup 2019, 30th Henk Hagedoorn Memorial 2019, New Year’s Tournament 2020, 18th Warsaw Grand Prix 2019 – Open, 18th Warsaw Grand Prix 2019
The only mentionable change within the ranking of the top ten solvers is the move of Piotr Murdzia (POL) from 3rd to 2nd place. The largest three gains have been achieved by junior solver Boris Chervonenkis (RUS / +68.95) ahead of junior solver Maksim Romanov (RUS / +63.32) and Evgeny Kopylov (RUS / +60.36).
Wishing you
a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
Solvers’ ratings as of October 1st 2019 produced by the Solving Tournament Manager are published – including the first solving tournament with rating calculations according the new rating system! 9 tournaments of the 3rd quarter 2019 are included: Open Solving Tournament Yaroslavl 2019, Open Tournament to Launch Chess Compositions in Memory of Leo Kapusty (1919-1990), 2nd Ukrainian Cup 2019, 27th Czech Chess Solving Championship 2019, 3rd Russian Women Chess Solving Cup 2019, GPNTB Solving Cup 2019, Open Solving Tournament of WCCC 2019, 43rd World Chess Solving Championship 2019, 35th Open Swiss Solving Championship 2019.
The ranking of the top ten solvers had only a few changes within the group. The largest five gains have been achieved by women junior solver Aleksandra Safronova (RUS / +236.47!) ahead of junior solvers Ivan Novikov (RUS / +125.5!), Roy Ehrlich (ISR / +80.84) and Maksim Romanov (RUS / +79.67) and GM Martynas Limontas (LTU / +78.98).
