*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC CHESS BITS & PIECES *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Published by the International Email Chess Club Devoted solely to E-Mail Correspondence Chess *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Volume 1, Issue 10 July 1995 Published SemiMonthly *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Editor: Sherman Klausner - klaus@interaccess.com *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ THE FOUNDER'S CORNER By Lisa Powell ********************************************************************* The title of this is: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Back in August 1994 -- a few of my readers may recall that I was still CEO/TD of IECG, which I had had started in January 1994 with a dozen players -- it occurred to me that that messages in rec.games.chess that had to do with chess via email were but a drop in a vast ocean of messages about the politics of USCF. I asked my confreres in IECG for their input, and the number of responses were a drop in the bucket. The project didn't get off the ground until I left IECG and formed IECC. The initial proposal was to add a newsgroup dedicated to chess-via-email. Sounds simple, yes? Not quite! I worked with a great guy from Group-Mentors, and it quickly became a project not unlike the description in a Broadway musical called "1776" about the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Along the way, three persons in rec.games.chess scribbled proposals to Group-Advice, the head honchos of Usenet. Guess who Group Advice asked to add those three proposals to mine -- along with a request that I also add the change of rec.games.chess.misc to replace rec.games.chess. Copies of the formal RFD [Request For Discussion] went back-and-forth between my mentor and me. At long last I was contacted by the Usenet official who would supervise the voting process, and the format for that evolved after several exchanges. All five proposed groups passed. Call for celebration, yes? No way! Except for my loyal friends in IECC, I have seen much hate mail, some private, most of it public in rec.games.chess -- which still exists because the system administrators of a hefty number of Internet-provider services have not yet gotten around to updating. For those who have not read the formal descriptions of the four new newsgroups, here they are. The split of rec.games.chess into five newsgroups has been authorized by those in charge of Usenet: Group-Advice. [edited for the sake of brevity; for information only] Subject: RESULT: rec.games.chess reorganization all groups pass Sender: tale@uunet.uu.net Approved: tale@uunet.uu.net RESULT rec.games.chess-reorg results - 452 valid votes Yes No : 2/3? >100? : Pass? : Group ---- ---- : ---- ----- : ----- : ------------------------------------------- 344 91 : Yes Yes : Yes : rec.games.chess.misc (replaces rec.games.chess) 380 57 : Yes Yes : Yes : rec.games.chess.play-by-email 345 85 : Yes Yes : Yes : rec.games.chess.analysis 308 119 : Yes Yes : Yes : rec.games.chess.politics 367 71 : Yes Yes : Yes : rec.games.chess.computer 4 invalid votes rec.games.chess.misc (replaces rec.games.chess) passed on Fri May 19 09:33:30 1995 rec.games.chess.play-by-email passed on Thu May 18 12:54:37 1995 rec.games.chess.analysis passed on Fri May 19 16:35:20 1995 rec.games.chess.politics passed on Mon May 22 09:23:39 1995 rec.games.chess.computer passed on Thu May 18 20:12:52 1995 Newsgroups line: rec.games.chess.misc forum for news/discussion related to chess. rec.games.chess.play-by-email reports/discussions re email chess. rec.games.chess.analysis analysis openings/middlegames/endgames. rec.games.chess.politics news of nat'l/international chess organizations. rec.games.chess.computer reports on game servers, databases, software. For group passage, YES votes must be at least 2/3 of all valid (YES and NO) votes. There also must be at least 100 more YES votes than NO votes. There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted. If no serious allegations of voting irregularities are raised, the moderator of news.announce.newgroups will create the groups shortly thereafter. This vote was being conducted by a neutral third party. For voting questions only contact Warren Lavallee . For questions about the proposed group contact Lisa Powell . CHARTER The rec.games.chess.play-by-email newsgroup will provide a place to disseminate news regarding the largest international organization of free correspondence chess activity; to post information regarding competition, ratings, and the teaching of chess to players new to chess-via-email. Further, the creation of this specialized newsgroup will relieve the existing rec.games.chess newsgroup of clutter by the anticipated volume of postings by the International Email Chess Club and similar organizations who elect to participate in this newsgroup. The rec.games.chess.analysis newsgroup will provide a place to disseminate reports, discussions and analysis of published and reported chess games, analysis and learned discussion of actual positions, openings, middlegames, endgames etc. The rec.games.chess.politics newsgroup will provide a forum dedicated to questions and discussions involving such organizations of the United States Chess Federation [USCF] and the Federation International Des Echecs [FIDE], as well as other national and international chess organizations. Because of the complexity of the issues, as well as the frequent heated discussions between partisans the organizations involved, it is felt that this dedicated newsgroup will prove beneficial for chess players of all international and national chess organizations. The rec.games.chess.computer newsgroup will provide a place to disseminate reports, discussions and analysis of game servers, where chess games can be played in real time, similar to playing games of chess via telephone; information and discussion about databases, games collections, chess-playing software, and other computer programs of a similar nature, either offered for sale, or in the state of development. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Interesting note: a minor flood of new members have joined IECC via rec.games.chess-play-by-email, and also from rec.games.pbm -- which is primarily devoted to playing what is generically called war games, which used to be a hobby of mine in the days when I was a game-tester for three companies who marketed computer war games. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC MEMBER OF THE MONTH Each month we introduce to our readers two different members. Michael Power Age: 39 Occupation: marine biologist Residence: St. Andrews (By-the-Sea), New Brunswick, Canada Hobbies: chess, sports, scouting I was born and grew up in Bathurst, N.B. In high school I was first exposed to chess in the early 70's during the heyday of Fischer mania and his world championship match with Spassky. I learned the moves and my favourite opening (Ruy Lopez) but that was about all. I went on to get my B.Sc. at Acadia U. in Wolfville, N.S. and moved to St. Andrews where I have a very interesting and challenging job. I work on herring which is a commercially important species in our area with annual landings of over 100,000 tons (1 ton=2204 lbs!) and about $20 million over the last decade. My job is to help monitor and assess the herring fishery by means of field sampling, research vessel surveys, collection of data from the fishery and computer modelling methods. We then 'recommend' appropriate fishing levels, which hopefully will allow for conservation of this important resource. I am married, with 3 children ages 5, 11 and 13, and family life keeps us very busy. Besides my chess hobby, I'm also very active in scouting as a cub leader and as a coach in minor hockey (which is very big here with our well known hockey school). I'm also active in many sports, especially running, hockey, volleyball, tennis and golf. Then when you factor in my daughter's horse riding lessons, son's sports activities, camping trips we like to go on, gardening our 1 acre lot; well you wonder when I have time for chess. My wife's favourite song: "Don't you ever get tired of CHESS?" My answering refrain is "No, never!" I played little chess until 1992 when I joined the CCCA (Canadian Correspondence Chess Association) after noticing a reference to it in the Saturday Globe & Mail chess column by Jonathan Berry. I found it was up my alley, as there is no chess club in our area (small town of 1500 people). It gave me lots of 'reflection' time and a chance to learn & improve. I've finished 23 'snail-mail' games in the past 3 years and have 6 more on-the-go, including one friend in the Philippines with whom I now exchange long letters in our nearly 2 year old game !! (now only at move 29). I'm slowly pulling away from s-mail games, mainly because of the slow pace but also due to the cost (those stamps do add up!) I will probably keep a few games going to support the CCCA. I highly recommend this group especially for it's high quality bi-monthly newsletter 'CHECK' which is well worth the annual membership fee. E-mail chess I only stumbled upon in 1994. I still can't get over the speed of the games and then there's the cost too! In less than 1 year I have already completed 24 games with 12 more in progress. This about my limit given the amount of time and the speed of reply (about 1 day). I like to spend on my moves (and of course my 'real-life' commitments). My favourite event right now is the IECC Seminar series where I get a chance to see detailed analysis of my and other players games and hopefully this will help see me improve and break out of my current <1600 rating rut! As you may know I also have a role in the IECC as VP Communications. This came about early this year after making a suggestion to Lisa, that we should consider sending news and especially our bi-weekly newsletter via email to all our members. Little did I realize that Lisa's answer would be 'Great idea, YOU do it !', and the rest is history. So far I have been acting mainly as a news-feed to folks would don't have good access to rec.games.chess but I'm open to your ideas and suggestions. For example, how about mailings to ALL members of such things as our newsletter or new HOT topics for IECC discussion only (mainly)? Please contact me at Michael Power *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC GAME OF THE MONTH Major William D. Wall ENCOUNTER WITH THE CENTER COUNTER by Bill Wall Lisa Powell - Richard Verhage, IECC, 1995, Center Counter (B01) 1.e4 d5 [the Center Counter Defense.] 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ [A rare line. Normal is 4.Be2 or 4.Bc4] 4...Qxd7 5.Nf3 [Encyclopedia of Chess Openings gives 5.c4?! c6 6.dxc6 Nxc6 7.Nf3 e5 8.O-O Bc5 9.d3 O-O-O with a slight favor for Black] 5...Nxd5 6.O-O e6 [slightly better may be 6...Nc6 first to avoid 7.Ne5 and 8.d4] 7.d4 [White could try 7.Ne5 Qd6 8.d4] Nc6 8.Re1 O-O-O [More natural is 8...Be7 and castle kingside. Now it's a battle of who get to the king first. 8...Bd6 is no good after 9.c4 and 10.c5] 9.c3 [Not 9.c4 Nb6 10.c5? Bxc5!] 9...Be7 [The Bishop belongs on d6 to attack towards the kingside, followed by a pawn storm on the kingside.] 10.b4 [White is following the right plan of throwing the pawns towards the enemy king] 10...Rdg8?! [Perhaps 10...Bd6 now and if 11.b5, then 11...Nce7, followed by 12...h5. Another ideas is 10...h5 11.b5 Nb8] 11.b5 Nd8 12.c4 Nf6 [Black is hindering the expansion of his k-side pawns and he still needs to protect his queenside. Better is 12...Nb6. If 13.Ne5 Qe8 14.c5 Nd5 and now 15...h5 or 15...g5] 13.Ne5 Qe8 [Not 13...Qd6?? 14.c5 Qd5 15.Nc3, winning the Queen] 14.Nc3 h5 [Black probably gains nothing with 14...Bb4 15.Bb2 and 16.a4] 15.a4 g5 16.d5?! [I would continue to advance on the Q-side with 16.a5 and 17.b6. Now Black can try to simplify or stop the Q-side expansion.] 16...Ng4? [Best may be 16...Bb4 17.Bb2 exd5 18.cxd5 Qf8, leaving White with an isolated Q-pawn under attack] 17.Nf3 [White wins a pawn after 17.Nxg4 hxg4 18.Qxg4 and can hold any attack that Black tries to do.] 17...Qf8 [Other ideas are 17...Bc5 attacking the f2 pawn, and 17...Bf6 attacking the Knight on c3. Risky is 17...exd5 18.Ba3 (or 18.Bxg5) Ne6 19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.Nxd5] 18.Bb2 [Or 18.a5 or 18.h3] 18...Rh6 [Safer may be 18...Bf6 and 19...Qb4] 19.a5 [Perhaps 19.h3 first] 19...f5?! [Weakens Black's position too much. Better is 19...Bc5, trying to defend his Q-side and threaten the f2 square. Even 19...exd6 may be better than f5.] 20.Na4?! [20.h3 forces 20...Nf6. Now White can play 21.a6 or 21.b6! and break through Black's weak Q-side.] Bb4 21.Bc3 Bxc3 [Interesting is 21...exd5 22.Qxd5 Bxc3 23.Nxc3 Rd6 24.Qc5 Kb8] 22.Nxc3 Qc5? [Black should play 22...exd5 to get rid of his backward pawn. If 23.Nxd5 (threatening 24.Ne7+) 23...Re6] 23.Qd4 Qxd4 24.Nxd4 Re8 [What else? If 24...exd5 25.Nxd5 Rf8 26.h3 Nf6 27.Nxf5, winning a pawn.] 25.b6 [Simply 25.dxe6, threatening 26.Nxf5] 25...a6 [If 25...axb6 26.axb6 cxb6 27.Nxf5] 26.bxc7 [Or 26.dxe6 or 26.h3 Nf6 27.bxc7] 26...Kxc7 27.c5 [Still like 27.h3 and after 27...Nf6, 28.dxe6 threatening 29.Nxf5] 27...Kd7 28.dxe6+ Nxe6 29.Nxf5 Rg6 30.Rab1 Rb8 31.c6+! Kd8 [Not 31...Kxc6 32.Ne7+ and 33.Nxg6] 32.Rxb7 [Or 32.Red1+ first, then 33.Rxb7. Another idea is 32.Nd5 and 33.Nde7] 32...Rxb7 33.cxb7 Kc7 34.Rb1 [Quicker is 34.Ne7 preventing ...Rg8. After 34...Rh6 or 34...Rg7, 35.Rb1] 34...Rg8 [Or 34...Kb8 35.Ne7, threatening 36.Nc6+] 35.Nd5+ Kb8 36.Nde7 1-0 *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ IECC Chess Academy Toshi Takeuchi SR VP IECC Chess Academy We currently have two activities in progress in the IECC chess academy, and we are just beginning a new activity on how to open a chess game. If you are interested in participating in any chess academy activity, then please respond via email to: tt@wag.caltech.edu Activity 1: Group analysis of chess games to be played within the academy. Idea: This will give members a chance to have their playing analyzed by both their peers and a more experienced group leader. Logistics: 1. The player will be paired with his/her peers by the Seminar Director (SD). 2. Two games will be played, one against white, one against black. The players can use ANY opening. 3. After black's fifth move, the games will stop temporarily. The games will be sent to the SD, so that he can edit the games and comments. These edited comments will be sent to the group leader and the participants in the seminar. 4. From that point, the other players will analyse and make comments on the games. NO BASHING ALLOWED!!!!! 5. After the Seminar Director finishes his/her analysis and commentary, the game resumes from either where the game left off or where the SD feels there was a fatal blunder. 6. After the next black fifth move, repeat steps 3-6 until the game is over. Activity 2: Group analysis of completed IECC games. Idea: Sometimes we play games, especially against higher rated players, where we fall apart, but don't exactly know where we went wrong. As a group we will analyze the game to discover better strategies methods to generate effective plans of attack. Object of analysis: 1. In each game, what is the first critical point? 2. What were the viable candidate moves at those points? 3. Evaluate those moves. Logistics: 1. Interesting games will be chosen by instructors or submitted by group members requesting help. 2. One person from the group (the person who played the game), will submit an analysis to the other group members, who will discuss the analysis and add comments. 4. The final results of the group analysis will be sent to the instructor, who will evaluate the plans outlined by the group. Activity #3 How to open a chess game **New activity. The details are not set yet. We are seeking advice and instructors. Idea: Learn how to get into the middle game with good chances for a win. Learn how to think ahead at least 2 or 3 moves and work with candidate moves. **************************************************************** IECC Advanced Studies Group Thomas Malloy VP IECC Advanced Studies Group Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz taught that a player should not attack unless one has an advantage, and that if one does possess an advantage, one must attack. All well and good. "But how do I know if I have an advantage?" There are several books written teaching various methods of evaluating a position. I'd like to share one with you. It is called the Point Count System, and was invented by I. A. Horowitz. Most chess computers present numerical evaluations of each position of the game. The Point Count does the same thing. (Positional Point Count Table) Plus points. These elements are each worth + 1 point 1. Control of the center. 2. Pawn on the 4th vs pawn on the 3rd 3. Mobile pawn wing 4. Strong outpost station. 5. Superior development 6. Greater Space 7. Bishop pair 8. Bishop v Knight 9. Half-open file 10. Control of a useful open file 11. Rook(s) on the seventh rank 12. Passed pawn 13. Outside passed pawn 14 Protected passed pawn 15. Advanced pawn 16. Qualitative pawn majority 17. Advanced Chain 18. Advanced Salient 19. Better King Position. 20. Offside pawn majority. Minus Points. Minus points can be divided into two categories: weak pawns and weak squares. Each is worth -1 point Weak pawns 1. Backward Pawn 2. Doubled pawn 3. Isolated pawn 4. Hanging pawn 5. Hanging phalanx 6. Crippled majority wing Weak squares 7. Weak square complex 8. Holes 9. Compromised King position 10. King held in center 11. Cramped position 12. Bad Bishop Now that we are counting positional factors we have to modify the piece values you learned as a beginner. When using point count evaluate the pieces as follows: Pawn 3 Knight 9 Bishop 9 Rook 15 Queen 27 King 9 This system in intended as a guideline. These are general values that are subject to modification according to the position. For example in some instances superior development is worth a lot more than one point. You may have noticed that tempo advantages don't seem to be counted. The reason for that is that time advantages don't mean much until you convert them into something tangible. When you have a tempo advantage try converting it into one of the plus points. Our basic plan than is to collect plus points for ourselves, and inflict minus points on our enemies. Next issue we will look at game using the point count method. Till then try it out yourself. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ ARCHIVAL NOTES By Ken Boys *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Sometimes it's difficult to bridle one's desire to exaggerate. It would be quite difficult for me to accurately state the percentage of reports we receive which are in an acceptable format. I must say the percentage of the reports which are acceptable is definitely increasing and I wish to thank those who do so. Please report your completed games in the below format. Note the few alterations which are necessary for the PGN program. [Site "M-21"] [Date "1995.1.28"] [Round "1"] [White "Fisher, Bobby"] [Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail"] [Result "1-0"] 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 4.d3 Bc5 5.e4 Nge7 6.Be3 b6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.c3 Bb7 10.0-0 Ng6 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Bxc5 bxc5 13.f4 f6 14.Qh5 Qe7 15.Qxg6 1-0 Notes: [Site "M-21"] Swiss Tournament = [Site "Swiss #?"] Quad Tournament = [Site "Quad #?"] Pyramid Match = [Site "Pyramid"] Trio Match = [Site "Trio #38"] Knock Out = [Site "KO-?"] Match = [Site "M-?"] [Round "1"] Use the number "1" for all games except in Matches similar to Swiss. In those, use the proper round number to clearly identify the game. [Date "1995.3.3"] [Date "Year.Month.Day"] [White "Fisher, Bobby"] [White or Black "Last and First Names "] [Result "1-0"] if White wins [Result "0-1"] if Black wins [Result "1/2-1/2"] in the case of a draw. 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 Previous descriptions of this report indicated an unnecessary space between the move numbers and the moves. Example; 1. Nf3 Nc6 2. g3 h6 3. Bg2 e5 = Incorrect ^ ^ ^ 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.g3 h6 3.Bg2 e5 = Correct *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Chess Trivia and Humorous Happenings Reader's comments on their funniest or most unusual chess-related events or observations. Editor: Major William D. Wall Further on theme that some chess players are eccentric, often to the extreme. Former world champion Emanuel Lasker may have been a brilliant chess player and mathematician, but he was lousy at business. He tried to breed pigeons and enter them in poultry shows. He tried for many months and failed. All the pigeons he bought were male. Henry Blackburne was a sore loser. In one game that he lost, he picked up his opponent, Steinitz, and threw him out a window. Lucky for Steinitz that the tournament was on the first floor. Former world champion Jose Capablanca once refused to pose with a beautiful Hollywood film starlet, saying. "Why should I give her publicity?" He once had the mayor of Havana clear a tournament room so that he could resign a game (against Frank Marshall in 1913). William Russ was a leading American compiler of chess problems in the 19th century. He adopted an 11-year-old girl and proposed to her when she turned 21. When she rejected him, he shot her 4 times in the head, then shot himself. She survived, he did not. His chess book, published posthumously, was entitled AMERICAN CHESS NUTS. We would have loved Woody Allen. Weaver Adams wrote a book entitled, WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN. After publication he played in a tournament in Dallas and lost all his games as White and won all his games as Black. JULY ALMANAC - PART 1 by Bill Wall July 1, 1927 Start of the first chess olympiad, held in London. There were 16 teams, won by the Hungarian team. July 1, 1947 Start of the first World Correspondence Chess Championship. There were 78 players, eventually won by Cecil Purdy. July 1, 1949 First FIDE Grandmaster list, containing 17 Grandmasters. July 1, 1971 First publication of a FIDE rating list, containing 600 names. July 2, 1904 Erik Lundin born in Stockholm, Sweden. Won the Swedish championship 10 times. Became an honorary GM in 1983. July 2, 1958 Hal Bogner born in New York City. Hal is an International Arbiter and founder of Chess Labs. July 3, 1908 First wireless chess game between two ocean liners. July 3, 1949 Viktor Kuprechik born in Minsk. Russian Grandmaster (1980). Took last place in the 1969, 1974, 1976 USSR championships. July 3, 1975 Henry Grob died in Zollikon, Switzerland. Mr. 1.g4. Swiss champ in 1939 and 1951. International Master (1951). July 4, 1863 Samuel Lipschutz born in Ungvar, Hungary. Insurance salesman. Was U.S. chess champion from 1892 to 1895. July 4, 1973 Leonid Stein died in Moscow at the age of 38. GM (1962). Soviet champ 1963, 1965, 1967. July 5, 1862 Horatio Caro born in Newcastle, England. Published analysis of the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6) in 1886. July 5, 1982 Charles Hunter died in Horley, England. Won the 1961 British postal championship. He was the world's fastest speaker. July 6, 1818 Adolf Andersen born in Breslau, Germany. Considered the world's strongest chess player until Paul Morphy defeated him in 1858. Became professor of mathematics in Breslau (Wroclaw). July 6, 1927 Jan Donner born in The Hague, Netherlands. GM (1959). Dutch champ in 1954, 1957, 1958. July 8, 1845 Henry Charlick born in London. Moved to Australia and became Australia's first chess champion in 1887. July 9, 1813 First newspaper chess column started in the LIVERPOOL MERCURY. The chess column lasted six years. July 10, 1884 Paul Morphy died in New Orleans of apoplexy at age 47. Considered one of the best chess players of all time. July 11, 1965 Start of Greenland's first official chess tournament. July 11, 1972 Start of the Fischer-Spassky world championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland. July 14, 1830 Henry Bird born in Portsea, England. Pioneered 1.f4. July 14, 1937 Claude Bloodgood born in La Paz, Mexico. Chess master serving a life sentence in Virginia for murder. July 15, 1928 Pal Benko born in Amiens, France. Grandmaster (1958). Has taken or shared first place in 8 U.S. Open championships. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* THE NEWBIE CORNER +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Ever since the recent rec.games.chess split referred to in The Founder's Corner, new members have been joining IECC at a much faster rate than formerly. And a large percentage of these new members are new to playing chess via email. As a matter of record, the Newbie program of IECG was started by Lisa Powell, then CEO/TD of IECG, in reply to a message of distress from a player, AH -- a former resident of Toronto whose job had transplanted him to Hong Kong. AH wrote a message documenting his distress at the less-than-coherent replies he was receiving from an opponent in Australia. In short, his opponent had no idea of the methods and etiquette of sending coherent moves messages via Internet. Bingo! IECG launched its Newbie program. All the players joining IECC since its birth were experienced in the technique of chess-via-email -- until this new surge of interest generated primarily by the split of rec.games.chess attracted a larger audience of both active chess enthusiasts, and those many chess players who had "retired" from the game because circumstances of their lives had made competition less accessible. To IECC, the Newbies and the many players asking to join the free IECC Chess Academy programs are every bit as important as the clash of our highest rated players in tournament and match competition. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* IECC ..... The Friendly Chess Club! *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*