Correspondence Chess

Invented by Professor J.W.D. Wildt of Gottingen, Germany. A Chess game played using the postal service or by electronic means (using a modem). The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was founded in 1961 and publishes a monthly magazine ‘Fernschach’ in German for traditional Chess players. This was a very popular way of playing Chess in the 19th century due to the price of a postage stamp being reduced to one penny in 1840. Correspondence notation is used for transmitting the moves of a game. Each cell is defined by two digits (the file first, the rank second) i.e., A-PA5-$E02/E04 translates into 5254. %K = 5171. A promoted piece is shown by a 5th digit i.e., 1, 2, 3 and 4, for Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight. According to the ‘The Chess Players’ Chronicle of 1878, the first Chess game to be played by telephone, was between F. Thompson, editor the Derbyshire Advertiser, and a friend on January 25, 1878. The first county telephone match to be played in England was between Norfolk and Gloucestershire in 1934. The first telephone Chess match was between Cardiff and Swansea on March 18,1884.