ICCF congress in Dresden

This year I participated for the first time at the ICCF (international correspondence chess federation) congress.

I had always dreamed that I would one day be invited and get a nice IM title. Alas, this will have to wait for some time, as I have too much work with the server and not enough time to play correspondence chess on the level required for an IM title. But I was invited to the ICCF congress to make a presentation about the server.

On Saturday my wife and I visited Dresden. Here are some photos (you can click on the photos to see them bigger):

The photos show: (1) me in front of the Zwinger, (2) Semper opera, (3) Hofkirche and Residenzschloss , and (4) Frauenkirche.

It was impressive to see that many of the buildings which had been completely destroyed in the second world war have been rebuilt using the original plans. This includes the Semper opera and the Frauenkirche.

On Sunday there was the opening of the congress with several speeches and votes. Here you can see me sitting at the computer during congress.

This picture was published by Uwe Bekemann at the congress website.

I did the presentation of the server together with Alan Borwell and Gerhard Binder. I read on TCCMB that some people had problems with the internet access in the hotel. I did not have any problems. In fact, there was wireless access in the hotel, and it must have been broadband, too. I was able to make a backup of the server and run a report against it - I could then present the very latest server statistics.

In the evening there was the opening banquet. Six correspondence world champions were present:

 

(1) From left to right: Gert Jan Timmerman, Ivar Bern, Fritz Baumbach, Tunc Hamarat, Horst Rittner, and Grigorij Sanakojew, (2) Gert Jan Timmerman, Ivar Bern and myself discussing the gambit match between Timmerman and Umansky, (3) congress postcard with autographs of all six world champions present.